D-backs are doing things right, but NL West up for grabs

The positivity around the upcoming Diamondbacks season continues to reach new heights, with local and national attention, but the chance of repeating as National League West champions or going further into the playoffs is still up in the air.

“I think when you look at the National League, there’s not that super power,” ESPN’s Pedro Gomez told Arizona Sports 620’s Burns and Gambo. “And that’s why when you say, ‘Are the Arizona Diamondbacks the best team in the National League,’ you don’t reject it because there is no juggernaut in the National League.”

The west title is up for grabs, as Gomez emphasized that the Giants will come back competitive, the Dodgers have a good roster despite front office problems, and the Rockies made some significant moves in the offseason.

But even looking outside of the western division, there are no Angels, Red Sox, Rangers or Tigers like there are in the American League.

The Milwaukee Brewers, who knocked the D-backs out of the playoffs last year, lost slugger Prince Fielder to the Detroit Tigers, and the defending World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals lost Albert Pujols. There aren’t many home run machines in the NL, so the playing field has leveled-off.

“That’s why there’s any number of five or six teams that could be playing in the World Series out of the National League,” Gomez said.

But even though the race to be NL Champions will be tight, the Diamondbacks are nationally looked at as a ball club that is on the right path.

“The national thought is that they are absolutely doing things the right way. They’ve got a good club, a good roster; the pieces they have all fit in together,” Gomez said. “They have a very, very hard lined manager who’s not going to let them get their heads swelled up like, ‘Hey we’re the division champs, people have to bow down to us.’ That’s not the way Kirk Gibson manages, that’s not the way he is in the club house, so he will keep their heads on straight.”

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