Who are the teams to fear in 2013? 2013 NL Ranking List.

[RedTruck]

My rank.

15. Miami Marlins
14. Cubs
13. Rockies
12. Diamondbacks
11. Mets
10. Padres
9. Brewers
8. Pirates
7. Phillies
6. Cardinals
5. Dodgers
4. Braves
3. Giants
2. Reds
1. National



Central wise, no one scares me. The cardinals haven't really improved, and have lost a few minor pieces here and there. Plus they are aging.

The pirates, again, there a team that will rely on how far andrew mccuthchen, and there star pitching prospects take them. I'm not concerned with them either.

Everyone else in the central isn't a contender in my opinion.

NL West is intersting. Giants basically remain intact, and bring Brian Wilson back into the closing mix. They already had a great bullpen with Sergio Romo and closer, so the mix of Romo and Wilson should definitely be a powerful duo.

With the dodgers I remain skeptical. On paper there team is quite strong, they obviously have a great rotation with Kershaw, Greinke, Beckett. They have a great lineup with Gonzales, Kemp, Crawford and the likes..but I still think that you can't simply buy a team either. I think they'll be hot out of the gate once again, but injuries, and an underperforming beckett and greinke will be there downfall.

Arizona actually has regressed. They haven't made any improvements in my opinion so far, and were absoultely FLEECED in the indians/reds 3 way trade.

There GM, Mr. Towers should be fired if you ask me. Awful, awful, awful trade for them. The very Definition of clueless gm.

NL East should be a great place to watch. I really do think that the Nationals are the crowning jewel of the NL. They have an incredible staff with straussburg, gio, and haren and company, and have added a great lead off hitter in denard span.

There bullpen took a minor hit, but I'm sure they could make a move to shore that area up.

The braves are interesting, though besides BJ Upton, they haven't really done much to improve themseleves. With them losing Chipper Jones, I sort of expect to see a team that sort of needs guidance, and will be a bit mediocre in performance. To note, look how the team performed when Chipper was out of the lineup and on the DL with that strain. The team went like 5-15 without him...I expect them to be middle of the pack.

The braves did though improve there bullpen with aquiring Waldo from the angels. There bullpen will be lights out with Kimbrel and company following.

Phillies...they should be better, considering they underperformed mightly in 2012....and the moves they've made like adding Micheal Young aren't awful either.

NY Mets, I think they'll start off strong, and will quickly fade. Losing Dickey will probably result in a huge loss to there rotation. I expect them to battle the Marlins for cellar dweller seats.

Miami Marlins will be the Astros of 2012. 100 losses ahoy.

[Maker_84]

Giants scare me the most because they're the defending champs and they produce in the clutch

[bigredmechanism]

Originally Posted by Maker_84

Giants scare me the most because they're the defending champs and they produce in the clutch

Same here. Their pitching is also the cream of the crop. I think we could have won the whole thing last year, though, and adding Choo only makes what was a 97 win team seem stronger to me.

We may not get 97 again, as it is a tough feat to accomplish, but I think we are the favorites for the central. Bottom line is we gotta get it done in the playoffs.

[Maker_84]

Originally Posted by bigredmechanism

Same here. Their pitching is also the cream of the crop. I think we could have won the whole thing last year, though, and adding Choo only makes what was a 97 win team seem stronger to me.

We may not get 97 again, as it is a tough feat to accomplish, but I think we are the favorites for the central. Bottom line is we gotta get it done in the playoffs.

Their pitching isn't as good as the Reds they wouldn't have beaten us had Cueto not got hurt where they were better was with RISP and i expect a healthy Votto and Choo will remedy that.

[bigredmechanism]

Originally Posted by Maker_84

Their pitching isn't as good as the Reds they wouldn't have beaten us had Cueto not got hurt where they were better was with RISP and i expect a healthy Votto and Choo will remedy that.

True. Cueto going down was a blow, but Latos stepped up for us big time in game one. I'd still take their staff over ours, but it's very close. I agree that that if healthy, our lineup should be much improved.

Frankly, once the regular season is done, you need to get hot. It's all a crapshoot, really. 97 wins means nothing on the first day of the postseason.

[RedTruck]

Originally Posted by bigredmechanism

True. Cueto going down was a blow, but Latos stepped up for us big time in game one. I'd still take their staff over ours, but it's very close. I agree that that if healthy, our lineup should be much improved.

Frankly, once the regular season is done, you need to get hot. It's all a crapshoot, really. 97 wins means nothing on the first day of the postseason.

If Chapman becomes a solid addition to the rotation, than I would probably take our rotation.

Cueto, Chapman, Latos, Bailey...seriously those are all 4 potential aces right there. Bailey just needs to be that constant playoff version that we witnessed on a day in and day out basis, and not have GABP to mess with his head.

Oh, and I prefer Leake over Zito as well..if were discussing number 5's.

[Salukifan2]

Speaking specifically about the central i totally agree. Cardinals only acquired a lefty specialist which was there primary goal of the offseason. but that doesn't make them a 95 win team next year. The bucs acquiring russel martin doesn't really push them over the top imo. And the brewers who were in a position to make only a couple moves that could really make them relevant again have sat on their hands so far.

Things in cincy are looking pretty good right now

[HometownHero]

The Dodgers should be up a spot in my book, they also just added Skip Schumaker from the Cards to their ever growing talent pool.

[Salukifan2]

Even after everything the dodgers have done i still don't think they are better than the giants. If they expect a world series with all that money out there i think they will be disappointed

[HometownHero]

Originally Posted by Brittingham.Sam

Even after everything the dodgers have done i still don't think they are better than the giants. If they expect a world series with all that money out there i think they will be disappointed

I think everyone is under valuing the Dodgers, they got off to a 32-15 start last year before guys started to get hurt left and right. Losing Kemp and SP murdered if they can stay healthy and Billingsley and Crawford don't have any set backs they have just as good as shot as anyone else to make it.

Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Josh Beckett and Chad Billingsley is a legit playoff rotation and one of those could get knocked out by Ryu who was one of the best pitchers in the Korea Baseball Organization.