Winning Division Games Will Be Crucial In 2013

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the NL West will be a three-team race. San Fransisco, Los Angeles and Arizona will all be in contention come September. In 2012, the D’backs finished 38-34 against opponents within their division. This record needs to change in 2013. No disrespect to my hometown team, but I don’t think the Colorado Rockies will be in playoff contention this year. The same can be said about the San Diego Padres. That leaves three teams to fight it out and the record within the division will make all the difference.

Arizona will play Colorado 19 times in 2013 with the first game occurring on April 19th

The Diamondbacks will play 19 total games against the Rockies this year, with 13 of them coming before the All-star break. Arizona finished 10-8 against Colorado in 2012 and I’d like to see the number increase this year. There has been a lot of commotion in the Mile-High city this off season and things might be rough for the Rox. Along with Colorado, the D’backs will play 19 games against San Diego this year. If Arizona wants to make a playoff push, they must win games they are “supposed to win.” Obviously, I know the season has not started but I’m basing these thoughts on opinions that I have for the season. The Snakes had a losing record against the Padres last season and for a playoff berth to happen, a losing record can’t exist.

Now for the important stuff: winning games against the best in your division. LA has made some off season moves that have them in position to potentially be very powerful in 2013. We will see Los Angeles 19 times in 2013 and if Arizona can be victorious in 12 of those games, the D’backs should be in good shape. Arizona gets its first bite of the Dodgers on April 12-14 for a weekend series at Chase Field. As far as San Fran is concerned, Arizona plays them yep, you guessed it, 19 times. Arizona finished with a .500 record in 2012 against the Giants so if the Diamondbacks can repeat with that, or at least some sort of winning record against the boys from San Fransisco, then we should be looking alright.

These thoughts are entirely speculation but that is what I love so much about baseball. We, as fans use our knowledge to predict what we think may happen to our respective teams and with the season coming closer, we will soon find out how accurate we really are. The Diamondbacks will play 76 games against NL West opponents in the 2013 campaign and if Arizona can win between 45-50 games(I know it sounds like a long shot) then come October we will be sitting pretty. Really pretty.

Pitchers and catchers report in 12 days.