Rox Pile’s Colorado Rockies, NL West predictions for 2022

What are our NL West predictions?

Tyler Paddor:

1. Dodgers (106-56)
2. Giants (94-68)
3. Padres (85-77)
4. Rockies (77-85)
5. Diamondbacks (67-95)

Kevin Larson:

1. Dodgers (98-64)
2. Giants (90-72)
3. Padres (85-77)
4. Rockies (75-87) 
5. D-Backs (69-93)

We’re not really going to see much different this year in the NL West than we have in years past. The Dodgers will continue to reign supreme, the Giants will stay competitive, the Padres will inevitably make us believe in them early and then hilariously falter late in the season, the Rockies won’t be worse than last year and the D-Backs are just along for the ride on MadBum’s dirt bike (that can’t be good).

Nathaniel Sunshine: 

1. Dodgers: 107-55 (They got better over the offseason and desperately want that ring)
2. Giants: 88-74 (They might even reach a playoff spot, but I don’t think they can recreate the miracle season they had last year)
3. Padres: 83-79 (They were the worst team in the league after their rotation fell to injuries, and I hate to see any team fall to something like that. They have added some more depth this offseason, but they still have several injury-bugged players on their roster
4. Rockies: 78-84 (The Rockies will be far from the worst team in baseball, but they aren’t anywhere close to the best. There is very little depth past the initial roster, especially in pitching. If injuries become pervasive enough to take out even a small number of the pitching staff, a total collapse into the worst team in the sport is entirely possible)
5. Diamondbacks: 62-100 (They did very little this offseason in free agency and are not much better than the team that lost 110 games last year

Duane DaPron: 

1. Dodgers 98-64 (Newly acquired Freddie Freeman takes Dodgers back to top of NL West despite mediocre season on the mound from Clayton Kershaw)
2. San Francisco 97-65 (Giants do not repeat as NL West champs although division title is not decided until the final day of the season)
3. San Diego 89-73 (The Padres will show improvement with under new manager Bob Melvin but cannot overtake the Dodgers or Giants)
4. Colorado 80-82 (Kris Bryant helps the Rockies improve six wins from a year ago but fall short of a .500 season)
5. Arizona 73-89 (D-backs aren’t as bad as they were in 2021 but are still no match for the rest of the NL West)

Noah Yingling: 

1. Dodgers (97-65) (They are the Dodgers. Need I say more?)
2. Giants (86-76) (They regress a lot but this is still enough to get the second NL Wild Card spot)
3. Rockies (84-78) (I’m the only of us that has them in third place but to be in contention entering the final series, they will have to be. I’m also the only one that has them with a winning record.)
4. Padres (82-80) (The Padres don’t have Tatis for a few months, the rest of their offense is not very good on paper unless Wil Myers plays all his games at Coors, and the rotation has been spotty with effectiveness and injuries.)
5. D-Backs (73-89) (The only reason why the D-Backs had 110 losses in 2021 is because they had a two-month stretch where they went 8-50. That along with some of their players developing and the regression of the Dodgers and Giants means that the D-Backs and Rockies gain some ground on them.)

Kevin Henry: 

1. Dodgers (101-61)
2. Giants (90-72)
3. Padres (85-77)
4. Rockies (80-82)
5. Diamondbacks (70-92)

Yes, the Giants will take a step back in the division standings, but it’s still not enough for the Padres or Rockies to catch them in the standings. San Diego is perhaps the biggest mystery team in the whole division. How will they start the season without Fernando Tatis, Jr. and how kind of impact will have Bob Melvin have in his first year as manager? The Padres were on track for a postseason run last year until their entire rotation fell apart and they suddenly had to rely on Jake Arrieta to eat some innings. That didn’t work out so well.

Again, it’s a tough NL West and the Rockies will improve, but not as much as if they were in another division like the AL West.