espn actually giving us some love? hell has officially frozen over Five reasons Dodgers are biggest lockBy David Schoenfield | ESPN.com — 3 hours agoIn the video here, Eric Karabell and I debate whether the Dodgers are the biggest lock in baseball. Eric's argument is there's no such thing as a lock and he presents some valid issues facing the Dodgers. The discussion was sparked by Baseball Prospectus' projected standings, which have the Dodgers as the only team winning as many as 90 games -- and 98 at that.I don't necessarily have the Dodgers as my No. 1 team, but here are five reasons they are the biggest lock to win their division.1. Clayton Kershaw and Zack GreinkeMy dad's generation got to watch Sandy Koufax. We get to watch Clayton Kershaw. He's led the National League in ERA the past three seasons, on his way to matching Koufax's 1962-66 run of five consecutive ERA titles. He's the best pitcher in baseball and owner of perhaps the best pitch -- a curveball that is almost unhittable. Batters hit .096 against it in 2013, with zero extra-base hits, zero walks and 80 strikeouts. They called Dwight Gooden's curve Lord Charles, and Vin Scully once dubbed Kershaw's breaker Public Enemy No. 1, though it hasn't caught on the way it should.Then there's Greinke, who quietly went 15-4 with a 2.63 ERA in his first year with the Dodgers. After missing a few starts in April and early May with a fractured collarbone, Greinke hit his stride once he was healthy and went 9-2 with a 1.57 ERA over his final 16 starts. Think about that: The Dodgers may have a Cy Young winner in 2014 and there's a decent chance it won't be Kershaw.2. Yasiel Puig is going to have a monster seasonI get it. Puig is unpredictable off the field and thus unpredictable on it. He could hit .300 with 30 home runs or hit .240 with 15. I lean to the former and expect Puig to be one of the leading MVP candidates in the National League. Here's one I reason I believe in Puig:First 52 games: 6.3 percent walk rate, 23.9 percent strikeout rateSecond 52 games: 10.5 percent walk rate, 20.9 percent strikeout rateThe great hitters control the strike zone and Puig showed drastic improvement in this regard as his rookie season progressed. And remember, this was after drawing no walks in 58 at-bats in spring training. Another reason I like him is he can hit to the opposite field -- five of his 19 home runs went to right-center or right field and he hit .348 when going to the opposite field.Here's another way to look at it: Puig's heat map on batting average for 2013. Where do you pitch him? He kills the inside pitch, in part because he stands off the plate. You can go outside, but he's good at going to the opposite field -- and getting better at laying off pitches off the plate. Good luck, pitchers.ESPN Stats & InfoPitchers have nowhere to hide against Puig.3. Four good outfielders isn't a bad thingEveryone seems worried about the crowded outfield picture. Matt Kemp's relatively harmless "I'm not a fourth outfielder" comment stirred the media into a minor frenzy. Here's the deal: Yes, it probably won't be easy for Don Mattingly to deal with four egos if Puig, Kemp, Andre Ethier and Carl Crawford are all healthy. But these things usually work themselves out, via trade, injury or subpar performance. Depth is a strength, not a problem.4. A dominant bullpenI love this bullpen, one that I think will be the best in the game, with apologies to the Braves, Royals, Pirates and other strong units. You start with Kenley Jansen, who struck out 38 percent of the hitters he faced last year. Brian Wilson is back after a strong performance down the stretch and in the postseason. You have Paco Rodriguez and J.P. Howell from the left side; they combined to hold opposing hitters to a .180 average. Chris Withrow is the sleeper guy out there, a guy with a good arm who never put it together as a starter in the minors, moved to the bullpen and saw his fastball tick up to 96 mph on average, a reason batters hit .165 off him. You have Jose Dominguez who made nine big league appearances last year; he's been clocked at 100 mph.After all that, you still have veterans Jamey Wright and Chris Perez, who saved 123 games for the Indians the past four seasons.5. The most winnable divisionWhile there are reasons to believe in the Diamondbacks, Giants, Padres and even the Rockies, the Dodgers would appear to have the biggest gap over their division rivals than the other division favorites.The Red Sox have to battle the Rays and Yankees. The Tigers finished just one game ahead of the Indians last year and the Royals weren't much further behind. The A's and Rangers should be locked up in another duel. The Braves and Nationals will be co-favorites in the NL East. And while the Cardinals will be the heavy favorite in the NL Central, you don't have to stretch your imagination for storylines in which the Reds or Pirates take the division.Those reasons make the Dodgers the easiest lock of any division.And I didn't even mention Hanley Ramirez. __
no jinx... but we do look fairly strong so far... I want to see what happens when we rip off a 50-11 stretch at the beginning of the season rather than the end
cautiously optimistic to be sure as almost always, i think it all comes down to pitching and we look strong there; both starting and in the pen
We are the biggest lock and we damn well should be. If all things work out we have a top 3 bullpen, top 3 Rotation and best line up in the game. Not to mention we finally have MiLB and MLB depth to pair with our enormous pocket book to make a deal to get more assets if needed. It is amazing to me when people freak out like they are in the comments section, NOBODY knows what is going to happen this year, but if things play out like they should, the Dodgers should be the best team in baseball. It is funny that people mention injuries like they can only derail our season.
I don't have a problem with espn picking us to win. However, if the ckockskuckers put the team picture on the cover of the magazine my ass is gonna go sniper on those mkotherfkuckers.
The other reason: say everything we are counting on goes wrong and the shit hits the fan -- the Guggs aren't afraid to throw money at it to fix it.
everyone has an off day... But are we going to open a prediction thread?? I'd like love to see us go 100-62 and with this team that should not be difficult
Whether or not we are "locks" remains to be seen....we've been locks before, and still only sniffing the WS... We should be banging it out this year though; I sure hope so. It's definitely time, without a doubt. We look locked and loaded going in... What I really don't get is why the division is considered so weak. Does anyone think AZ hasn't improved with Trumbo? Goldschmidt and Trumbo look like a pretty good RBI duo to me...maybe it's their pitching. And Posey, the little faggot, and the new improved Sandoval could launch SFags to being damn tough...and their pitching is pretty good, IMO. Of course, the new slimmer version of Pablo could suck I imagine. I don't think overall any of them equal us, but weak...IDK. No weaker than other NL divisions are after the projected frontrunners are listed on the top spot. I think we win it, but will have a dog fight all year long from most of them. The AL (who cares ?), is a bit different, however. The ALE is one hell of a division.