Three years ago, the San Diego Padres were outscored by 42 runs and had to win their final game of the season just to finish above .500 at 82-80. That Padres team also won the laughing stock division of baseball, the NL West, by five games.

Fast forward two years and that same Padres team would have been tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers…for fourth with an 82-80 record. Last season, the NL West was the most competitive division in baseball with four teams finishing above .500. Both the division and wild card were not decided until the final day and after a play-in game as the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, and Padres all finished within a game of each other. If the Padres would have been playing in either of the other National League divisions, they would have won the division. Instead in the NL West, they missed the playoffs.

This year the battle could be just as highly contested as only the San Francisco Giants won’t bring a high-caliber team to the field each and every day. Arizona won the division last season but went out and made some huge trades. Colorado rode a late season hot streak all the way to the World Series. San Diego is determined to return to the playoffs after losing their last three games cost them a trip last season, and the Dodgers are looking to end one of the longest World Series droughts in the franchise’s storied history.

Here are our previews and predictions for all five NL West teams including last year’s records, key additions, key losses, projected starting lineup, projected rotation, overall outlook, fantasy impact players, and our prediction for this season:

2008 Arizona Diamondbacks Outlook
2008 projection: (91-71), 1st place
Team MVP: Randy Johnson

2008 Los Angeles Dodgers Outlook
2008 projection: (90-72)
Team MVP: Russell Martin

2008 Colorado Rockies Outlook
2008 projection: (88-74), 3rd place
Team MVP: Garrett Atkins

2008 San Diego Padres Outlook
2008 projection: (84-78), 4th place
Team MVP: Chris Young

2008 San Francisco Giants Outlook
2008 projection: (63-99), 5th place
Team MVP: Tim Lincecum

Also, check out our NL East, NL Central, AL East & AL West previews and check back for the final team-by-team preview of the AL Central.

Derek Rang
Rosenblogger
Shotgun Spratling

If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy these related posts: