The Atlanta Braves

The Braves failed to make the playoffs on the final day of the 2011 season. They had a record of 89-73 in 2011. They are hoping to make the playoffs this year, but they will have to fight for it.

The Braves were always notorious for having good pitching. Tim Hudson is still proving that he can pitch at the age of 35. In 2011 Hudson finished with 16 wins and a 3.22 ERA over 215 innings. Jair Jurrjens had a 13-6 record with a 2.96 ERA over  152 innings. Tommy Hanson is 25 years old and had 11 wins with a 3.60 ERA and 130 innings. Brandon Beachy pitched 141 innings with a 3.68 ERA. Derek Lowe went to the Indians, so he will probably be replaced by Mike Minor or top prospect Julio Teheran.

The bullpen for The Braves is very strong. Craig Kimbrel is the closer and he had 46 saves and a 2.10 ERA with 127 strikeouts. Jonny Venters is the left handed set up man for The Braves. He had a 1.84 ERA with 96 strikeouts. Eric O'Flaherty had a 0.98 ERA over 73.2 innings pitched. Peter Moylan was injured or most of the season, but the side arm pitcher has a career 2.60 ERA.

Freddie Freeman had a break out rookie year. He had a .346 OBP with 21 home runs and 76 RBI's. Chipper Jones played 126 games, but still managed to get a 123 OPS+, which is good for a guy his age. Micheal Bourn is a textbook example of great lead off hitter. He had a respectable OBP of .349 and a SLG of .386. For a lead off hitter you want those 2 numbers to be close to each other. Bourn also has speed, that's always good to have as a lead off hitter. This season will be Brian McCann's break out season. McCann has consistently been an all star and hit well as a catcher, but he will break through this season and emerge as a superstar.

Jason Heyward will have to return to the hitter he was in 2010. In 2011 He wasn't making contact and wasn't getting on base. If he can hit 20+ home runs along with Freeman, McCann, and Jones The Braves can have a fighting chance for the wildcard. It is likely that there will be a second wildcard this year I think The Braves will win the second wildcard.

The Arizona Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks finished 2011 strong, winning the NL West. They had a record of 94-68 and may very well repeat something similar to that in 2012.

A major part of The Diamondbacks' success was their young and effective starters. Ian Kennedy won 21 games for The D-Backs and Daniel Hudson won 16. Their ages are 27 and 24 respectively. In the 2011-2012 offseason they traded for another young starter in Trevor Cahill. Although Cahill didn't win 18 games with a sub 3.00 ERA like he did in 2010, the 23 year old had a 12-14 record with a 4.16 ERA over 207 innings. That is good enough to be an effective number 3 starter in the NL West.

The Diamond Backs have a young and effective offense as well. Lead by Justin Upton in right field. Upton had a .369 on base percentage, 31 home runs and a .529 slugging percentage, giving him a 141 OPS+. Another offensive superstar in Phoenix is Chris Young. Although his OPS+ is only 103, he can hit home runs and get on base. In 2011 he had a .331 on base percentage and 20 home runs. Miguel Montero is their young catcher. He is 28 years old and is in the prime of his career. Montero had a 121 OPS+ in 2011 making him one of the best offensive catchers.

In the bullpen is Takashi Saito, JJ Putz, and the newly acquired Craig Breslow. Saito and Putz had ERA's close to 2.00 and Breslow had an 3.79 ERA. That adds up to a decent back end of the bullpen.

The Diamond Backs play in the National League West which isn't a powerful offensive division. It is oriented around pitching and The D-Backs definitely have that. They will compete well with Th.es Giants and it can go either way.

Japanese Cowboy

Yu Darvish signed with the Texas Rangers last night for 6 years $60 million.This will keep the Rangers as competitors with the Angels. If he performs well, the Western divisions will be stacked with great pitching. Darvish pitched to minuscule ERA's and high number strikeouts in his seasons with Japan. Now the Japanese right hander will be pitching 6 years in Texas, lets see how he performs.

With all the big name pitchers off the market, only Edwin Jackson and Roy Oswalt remain. The western divisions will be loaded with excellent pitching.

Rangers: Davish
Angels: Weaver, Haren,Wilson, Santana
Mariners: Hernandez
Giants: Lincecum, Cain
Dodgers: Kershaw, Billingsly
Diamondbacks: Kennedy, Hudson, Cahill

Those are 13 names that can put up great numbers. Those fans on the west coast sure are lucky.