2017 MLB Picks – National League West Division Odds & NL West Expert Picks

2017 MLB Picks – National League West Division Odds & NL West Expert Picks: The odds makers at Bovada Sportsbook have posted the odds to win the 2017 MLB National League West Division and the Los Angeles Dodgers are listed as the -210 favorites. The Dodgers are followed by the San Francisco Giants at +240 odds, Colorado Rockies at +900 odds, Arizona Diamondbacks at +1600 odds and San Diego Padres at +5000 odds. Read below to see what order our MLB expert handicapper, Sonny LaFouchi(aka The Legend), sees the NL West Division ending up this 2017 MLB season. Be sure and visit NSAwins.com all season long for the best 2017 MLB Baseball picks and daily LIVE 2017 MLB Odds.

2017 MLB Picks – National League West Division Odds & NL West Expert Picks

1. San Francisco Giants(87-75 last season, 92-70 prediction for 2017) – The San Francisco Giants have not won the National League West Division since the 2012 season and have finished runner-up to the Dodgers the last three seasons. We look for that to change this season as the Giants are in great shape to win the NL West and make a run at their 4th World Series Championship since 2010. The Giants have two bonafide aces atop their starting rotation in southpaw Madison Bumgarner and righthander Johnny Cueto. Pitching is the strength of this team as they finished with the 4th best team ERA last season and should be amongst the league leaders again this season. The Giants struggled offensively last season as they ended up just 19th in the league in runs scored and 28th in home runs but they know how to manufacture runs when they need to and their excellent pitching staff negates the need to be among the most explosive offenses in the game. If the Giants get in the postseason they will be the team that nobody wants to face.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers(91-71 last season, 90-72 prediction for 2017) – The Los Angeles Dodgers have owned the National League West Division for the last four seasons but that success hasn’t translated to postseason glory as they have not won a World Series since 1988. The Dodgers will once again be a strong contender to win the NL West this season but we see them coming up just short. The Dodgers have the best pitcher in the game in lefthander Clayton Kershaw but he hasn’t been the same dominant force in the postseason that he’s been in the regular season. Kershaw should once again lead a strong Dodgers pitching staff but he only pitched 149 innings last season and sooner or later all the innings he’s pitched over the last handful of years is going to make him slip a bit. It happens to all the great ones. The Dodgers will be good but they didn’t add anything significant enough in the offseason to improve much from last season.

3. Colorado Rockies(75-87 last season, 77-85 prediction for 2017) – The Colorado Rockies have been one of the bottom feeders in all of baseball the last five years and we see no reason to believe they won’t be again this season. The Rockies have won 64, 74, 66, 68 and 75 games the last five seasons and should win in the 70’s again this year. The Rockies main problem is a woeful pitching staff that finished 27th in the majors in ERA last year and won’t be much better this season. It’s always hard for the Rockies to have a strong pitching staff with half their games played in Denver’s high altitude but it’s even harder when the talent is minimal. On the flip side, the Rockies offense is potent and can score runs with the best of them as they were 2nd in runs scored last season. Expect a lot of high scoring games from the Rockies this season but they’ll lose more than they win.

4. Arizona Diamondbacks(69-93 last season, 71-91 prediction for 2017) – The Arizona Diamondbacks finished in 4th place in the NL West last season and they should end up there again this year. The Diamondbacks had the worst ERA in the majors last season finishing 30th and there is not much reason for optimism this season. The Diamondbacks have a true ace atop the rotation in Zack Greinke but he can only do so much on a team with a terrible bullpen and a mediocre fielding team at best. Greinke went a respectable 13-7 with a 4.37 ERA last season after signing as a free agent from the Dodgers and we expect him to be better this season. However, the rest of the staff is terrible and the bullpen is a gasoline alley. Make no mistake, the Diamondbacks will be awful again this season.

5. San Diego Padres(68-94 last season, 64-98 prediction for 2017) – The San Diego Padres were the worst hitting team in the bigs last season finishing 30th in batting average as a team at .235, 28th in slugging at .390, .299 in on base percentage, 29th in OPS at .689 and 20th in runs scored. The Padres lackluster offense didn’t do any favor for a pitching staff that was terrible as well. The staff finished 23rd in ERA at 4.43 and didn’t get any help from a team defense that finished 28th in fielding with a .982 percentage. Are you getting the point? The Padres are absolutely horrendous and should be the worst team in the majors this season.

Odds to Win 2017 National League West Division
Los Angeles Dodgers -210
San Francisco Giants +240
Colorado Rockies +900
Arizona Diamondbacks +1600
San Diego Padres +5000