Colorado Rockies: The six teams to watch out for in 2018

We’re a month out from Spring Training which means it’s time to look at the projections and analyze what could happen at during spring training and what baseball looks like heading into the season. With the end of any offseason comes the new season with nearly every team looking to contend. The Rockies already have to deal with a competitive division, but they should be on high alert when it comes to the following teams in the MLB.

1. Arizona Diamondbacks

Well of course, the Dbacks were going on this list. They did very much out play the Rockies in the NL Wild Card game, which is why they’re first on this list. In all honesty, I’m not sure they would’ve done as good without trading for J.D. Martinez so props to their front office for that trade. They did pretty well for themselves last season being first in the Wild Card and second in the NL West. Part of the reason why they got there is that they got stellar pitching performances out of Zack Greinke, Robbie Ray, and Archie Bradley.

As a team their ERA was 3.66 and a whopping 1,482 strikeouts, which was second best in the National League. Batting was impressive you got great hitting from Paul Goldschmidt, who came in third in the NL MVP race, Jake Lamb, and J.D. Martinez. All three put up 29 or more homers, Goldschmidt had the most with the Dbacks as he had 36 (Martinez had 29 with the Dbacks but 45 for 2017 total). Although those guys were the top dogs, that doesn’t mean the rest of team didn’t come in clutch, which they did. It’s very obvious that Martinez won’t be coming back to Phoenix which may be just what the Rox need to get the first Wild Card spot.