2012 Arizona Diamondbacks Baseball: Tickets, Schedule, Team Predictions and Expectations

The 2011 season ended with a 4-1 game five loss in Milwaukee to the Brewers. Losing a playoff series is never an enjoyable experience but these young snakes had a tremendous season last year and are really primed to compete for the National League West title again.

The NL West should be an exciting division to watch this year. In addition to Arizona the San Francisco Giants should be in contention after their second place finish last season, especially with them getting back the services of young Buster Posey. I also expect to see a little bit more fight out of the Los Angeles Dodgers. With 2011 Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw and 2011 MVP runner up Matt Kemp they have the pieces to make a run at the division crown but I don’t think they are quite ready to get there. Getting past the McCourt ownership problems will certainly be a great start establishing some consistency for them. Both the Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres appear content staying at the back of the division.

If you are interested in purchasing Arizona Diamondbacks tickets visit Major League Baseball’s website here: Diamondbacks tickets

The 2012 regular season for the Diamondbacks can be viewed here: schedule

Takashi Saito – left handed relief pitcher.

Jason Kubel – outfielder

Trevor Cahill – right handed starting pitcher

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Arizona still has a relatively young core of players, especially their ‘key’ guys. As it looks like right now their major league roster only has four guys over thirty five and five more over thirty. In contrast they have ten players twenty five years old or younger.

Their pitching showed some holes in the National League Division Series against Milwaukee last year. After their ace Ian Kennedy there was a pretty substantial drop to their next pitcher. The Brewers really took advantage of this on their way to winning the series. I like the Trevor Cahill move, a lot. Cahill is a young (23) pitcher who can help this ball club with their pitching woes. He threw over 200 innings for the Oakland A’s in 2011 on his way to a 12-14 record. I think that record can be much better given the increase in offense available in Arizona versus Oakland.

Their other starters are less experienced than Kennedy or Cahill and will need to experience some more on the job training. Again, they are all very young but have shown signs of becoming solid three, four and five starters.

Arizona’s bullpen is anchored by closer J.J. Putz who racked up 45 saves for the snakes last season. The rest of the pen is basically the same as last season except for the addition of almost forty two year old Saito. Individually they may not be very intimidating but they should be able to get the job done just like last year.

Offensively they have a mix of experienced veterans and young talented players at almost every position which provides manager Kirk Gibson with many options for his lineup card.

Anchoring the offense are outfielders Chris Young and Justin Upton, shortstop Stephen Drew, catcher Miguel Montero and utility infielder Ryan Roberts. With an average age of just under twenty eight this core of players are starting to come into their prime and should remain a force for many years to come. The addition of Kubel presents another offensive weapon to insert into the lineup making the opposing teams pitcher work even harder.

Unfortunately for Arizona there is some uncertainty regarding the return of Drew from a terrible ankle injury suffered last July. The fracture ended his season and put the Diamondbacks through a fair amount of uncertainty and players juggling positions. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger since they persevered to win the NL West. Drew’s condition may dictate if Arizona repeats in 2012 or if the Giants reclaim the title.

I think Arizona will win the NL West again in 2012. The Giants will be closer than the eight games they finished behind last year. Personally I didn’t see enough improvement from the Giants to get past Arizona in 2012 but it will be more competitive than it was in 2011.

I see growth in both Colorado and Los Angeles but I don't believe they will compete for the division title in 2012.