Sportsbook lines favor the Los Angeles Dodgers to win what should be a very competitive National League West this season. The Dodgers are +175 to win the West at the Internet sportsbook with Colorado and San Francisco the second choices at +240.
Sportsbook odds list the Arizona Diamondbacks as the 4-1 third choice while San Diego is a longshot at 25-1. The Dodgers didn’t do much in the off-season to improve so they will have to count on getting better years out of players like Manny Ramirez. It was not a very good year for Manny and whether the Dodgers win the West will probably depend upon Manny. The Dodgers still have a lot of talent with Andre Eithier, James Loney and Matt Kemp. The pitching staff is not that good. The Dodgers lost Randy Wolf in the off-season and he was arguably their best pitcher a year ago. Los Angeles badly needs Chad Billingsley to have a good year. They do have Clayton Kershaw and then it is a mix and match with Hiroki Kuroda, Vincente Padilla and maybe Russ Ortiz.
The Rockies could be the team that overtakes the Dodgers this season. They lost Jason Marquis in the off-season but they get back Jeff Francis from injury. If Francis returns to his form then the Rockies have a real shot. The Rockies have a better rotation than the Dodgers with Aaron Cook, Ubaldo Jimenez and Jorge De La Rosa. The offense relies upon Troy Tulowitzki and an older Todd Helton.
San Francisco is the other contender at the sportsbook in this division. The Giants have two-time NL Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum to go along with Matt Cain and Barry Zito. The problem for the Giants a year ago was their offense. They actually won 22 games last year scoring three runs or less. They do have some offensive talent though led by Pablo Sandoval. A lot of things went right for the Giants last season as they had 28 come from behind wins. They could slip back a bit this season.
Arizona is also considered a threat at the Internet sportsbook to win the West. They picked up Edwin Jackson in the off-season and he is a good number two behind Dan Haren. The number one starter should be Brandon Webb but who knows when he will be ready to pitch again. Conor Jackson is poised to bounce back from last year’s injuries and the lineup looks pretty good with Mark Reynolds, Justin Upton, Stephen Drew and Chris Young. The Padres really have no chance as they have Adrian Gonzalez and not much else.
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