NL West New Powerhouse?

If there's one thing that this postseason of baseball has showed us, it's that the future of the National League West is very promising. A division once looked at as the worst in baseball, the N.L. West now has some of the best young talent in recent memory. The days of sub five hundred teams and postseason failure are over.
The proof is evident by the fact that two N.L. West teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies, are now playing in the National League Championship Series for a chance in the World Series. Both the Diamondbacks and Rockies' rosters are very young. Only a combined total of eight players on both rosters have had previous playoff experience.
The Arizona Diamondbacks are lead this post season by the youths of Chris Young, Stephen Drew, and Justin Upton. Young batted .237 this season with 32 HR and 68 RBIs. Shortstop Stephen Drew, and rookie outfielder Justin Upton are having incredible postseasons with batting averages of .444 and .429, respectively.
The Rockies are relying on the young talents of outfielder Matt Holiday, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, and closer Manny Corpas, who is technically not a rookie because he played more than 45 games last season. Colorado has one 19 of its last 20 games including the postseason, which includes a three game sweep of the Chicago Cubs.
It's not just the Rockies and Diamondbacks with emerging youthful talent. Practically every team in the N.L. West, with their deep farm systems, has young developing stars.
The Los Angeles Dodgers' Matt Kemp, James Looney, and pitcher Chad Billingsley have had great years. Second year catcher Russell Martin and rookie closer Takashi Saito played in their first all-star game this past July. With veterans like Nomar Garciaparra and Jeff Kent guiding these young talents, the future looks bright in L.A.
The San Fransisco Giants have two developing pitchers on their roster in Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain. Each had seven wins with ERAs of 4.00 and 3.65, respectively.
The one exception maybe the San Diego Padres, but this is simply because their young athletes have now been in the league for a few years.
The National League West has some of the best young talent in all of Major League Baseball. Nearly every team in the west is using the same template to develop their players, consisting of good economics and deep farm systems. With all the talent pouring out of these farm systems, the National League West will be a force to reckon with in the upcoming years.

The Exciting Finish in the MLB Season

The hunt for October is over. This was an exciting year for Major League Baseball. We saw new records, such as Barry Bonds breaking the home run record, but what made the season great were the teams competing for the playoffs. We saw teams pull off a magical season and saw teams blow a lead into the playoffs.

What would it have been like if the New York Yankees did not make the playoffs? This year we will not find out because for the thirteenth consecutive year the New York Yankees have made the playoffs. On May 29 the New York Yankees were 21-29, which is unbelievable for a franchise with high salaries they pay for their players. After that beginning of the season, people said that Joe Torre, the manager of the Yankees, would be, fired. The Yankees also at one time were in pitching trouble with having 10 different starting pitchers in its first 30 games of the season. After beginning 21-29 on May 29th they became the hottest team and went 70-38. They finished with a record of 94-68. This was one of the biggest stories of the season because the Yankees were 9.5 games out of the AL Wild Card. Then at the end they won the AL Wild Card to finish off a great story for this team. Alex Rodriquez, who had 54 homeruns, 156 RBIs, and143 runs, leading in all categories in the MLB helped make this happen. Although, they had a struggling pitching year, the Yankees offense was amazing. They lead the AL in homeruns and lead the MLB in RBIs, batting average, runs, and hits. The Yankees high powered offense helped them to be a great offense in the MLB.

Another exciting race that happened was in the NL East, which included the Philadelphia Phillies coming back to win the NL East and the New York Mets choking at the end. The New York Mets had a great record through May 31st by going 34-18, but they went 40-42 from June through August. With only 17 games left, the Mets had a 7 game lead over Phillies. The Mets lost 11 out of 16 games towards the end of the season. Even though the Mets, lost at the end of the season, the Phillies still had to play well. They went 12-3 towards the end and the two teams were tied with only one game to go. The Phillies beat the Washington Nationals 6-1, and the Mets lost to the Florida Marlins 8-1. Due to Mets lose the Philadelphia Phillies won the National League East. The Phillies were able to win as they had, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Jimmy Rollins, who all had a terrific season. The Phillies led the NL in batting average RBI’s, runs scored, and was second in homeruns. The Phillies and the Mets help made the National League East an exciting race.

Probably the greatest story to come out of the playoff race is the Colorado Rockies. Many Rockies fans believe that it was a magical year since the Rockies have not made the playoffs since 1995. The Rockies were the hottest team in September, going 20-8. The Rockies won 13 out of 14 games at the end including 11 games in a row. The team set a franchise record going 90-73. The Rockies had the best hitting average in the NL, led by their NL MVP candidate Matt Holiday. He had the best hitting average and the most RBI’s in the NL. The biggest reason why the Rockies are still playing in October is the teams fielding. They have the fewest errors in MLB and setting a record with the best fielding percentage all time in MLB with .989.The San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies played a tiebreaker to see who would get the NL Wild Card and get to play the Philadelphia Phillies. After a long game in Colorado, the Padres had the lead in the bottom of the thirteenth 8-6 with their ace closer Travis Hoffman. This is when the Rockies would rally tying the game 8-8 with Matt Holiday on third. Jamey Carrol would have a sacrifice fly and Matt Holiday would score, which many fans have argued over whether or not he was safe. The umpire called Holiday safe and the Rockies would continue on with their magical season into the playoffs after beating the San Diego Padres.

Now that the playoffs have started who will win the World Series. Unfortunately, the playoffs have not been as exciting like the end of the regular season; three teams got swept and most of games were blowouts. With the divisional series over close to being over, the question is who will win the ALCS, the Boston Red Sox vs. the Cleveland Indians/New York Yankees, and the NLCS, the Arizona Diamondbacks vs. the Colorado Rockies. All we can hope is that these playoffs get more exciting like the end of the regular season was.