2011 NL West Prediction: Arizona Diamondbacks Will Win Division

The Diamondbacks were booted to second place in the division last night, after holding onto first place in the NL West for three days. It was the first time they that they had found themselves that high in the standings since 2008. Still, this was beyond anyone’s expectations for the team this year. The Diamondbacks have been helped by a few overachieving players such as J.J. Putz and David Hernandez, along with injuries and poor performance from division rivals.

But in baseball, in order to win a team has to have a bit of luck, and a bit of bad luck has to fall on their opponents. This is especially so for teams that don’t have the benefit of having a bottomless pit of money to throw at free agents.

At the beginning of the season, if anyone were to say that the Diamondbacks would win the NL West, that person would have been branded as being either the most ignorant or most myopic baseball fan in existence. But now, even though the season has almost four months left, winning the NL West is certainly within the realm of possibility.

The Giants have been hit by injuries, and players such as Aubrey Huff, who had a career year in 2010, have fallen back to Earth. Despite having very good pitching, offensively the Giants rank 14th in the National League in runs scored.

The Rockies, who were also a front-runner for the division title at the start of the season, have had injury problems of their own, and their three most dominant players, Ubaldo Jimenez, Carlos Gonzalez, and Troy Tulowitzki, have all had very mediocre starts to the season.

The Padres, who led the division most of the 2010 season, lost their best offensive player in the offseason, and they resemble more of what people thought they would be. The clock rang midnight for the Padres at the end of the 2010 season.

So while the Diamondbacks may not have a player hitting .300, the division is certainly there for the taking. The question is whether or not the front office will take any action to bolster the lineup if the team is still in contention at the end of July.