Before the season, if you would have predicted Major League Baseball’s strongest division, you probably would have answered the American League East, while giving some serious consideration into the AL/NL Central. All three of those are being outdone by a laughing-stock of the past couple years, the National League West.

San Diego: 34-23
Arizona: 35-24
Los Angeles: 34-24

In our preseason previews of these three teams, we emphasized their pitching staffs. You can make the case for any of these teams having the best pitching in baseball. Most people would take the side of the first place Padres in that argument. After all, they boast the top two pitchers in the National League in NL Pitcher of the Month Jake Peavy and underrated Chris Young. The Padres’ pitching staff has compiled a 2.94 ERA, which leads the entire league by a mere .39.

With the Giants and Rockies just a couple of games under .500, you have to make the case for this division being the best in baseball. No other division has two teams that are ten games over .500. The National League West has three teams. It’s a deep division with absolutely filthy pitching staffs. Even the 4th place Giants have two of the game’s future Cy Young contenders in Matt Cain and Todd Lincecum. These clubs won’t be in the spotlight on ESPN but they’re all worth taking a look at.

Have you had a chance to catch a glimpse of Todd Helton’s new growth on his face lately? My god. I’m a fan of the goatee, and I think it’s relatively unique to baseball in relation to facial hair and sports, but Todd Helton has taken a goatee to a new bushy level.

After nearly being dealt to Beantown in the off season, Helton sure is absorbing the mountain man feeling in Colorado by letting a small rodent burrow into his face. I’m not really sure what kind of statement he’s trying to make with the new scruff, especially considering the fact that he’s gone with nothing more than a 5 o clock shadow for his entire career. Maybe Larry Walker put a phone call into Helton and, along with some likely hitting advice on how to rape Coors Field, gave him some tips on a grizzly look. Or maybe Helton is getting ready to go out into the woods and ruin that guy who called him out on steroids. (If you didn’t catch that story, here it is. Hilarious.)

Helton’s statistical decline, whether you feel it’s because of steroids or age, isn’t deniable. Another thing that’s not deniable is one of these, and I hope Helton decides to explore its uses and fix the small animal that landed on his mouth. He’s without a doubt one of the finest hitters of our generation, and certainly could end up in Cooperstown when all is said and done. With that said, he should implore the uses of a mirror, notice his grill, and shave it off. Thanks Todd.

Hosts: Sonny, Ryan, Kevin, and Rich: This episode discussed the National League West. This division has been close for the last several years with no real shining team. Can the Padres win their 3rd straight division title without Bruce Bochy? Or will the new acquisitions for the Dodgers put this team back into the playoffs? We also predict our World Series teams and winner.

You can snag Episode 18 here.

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For the entire month of March, the Sportable Staff will look at one Major League Baseball team a day. We?ll look at their lineups and pitching and in the end, assess their playoff chances. Previews will be done by division, starting with the American League East. Each new division will also feature a new podcast devoted entirely to that division.

Mile high hopes. The Colorado Rockies enter the 2007 season with a bunch of young talent in a division filled with a bunch of weak teams. The Rockies will look to parlay that into contention for the division title and hopefully a trip to the playoffs. As usual, there is no pitching talent to be found here, so they will have to rely upon their offense and some luck.

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Colorado Rockies pitcher Jeff Francis forgot to distinguish between the regular season and Spring Training. Major League Baseball is looking to help him with that, after he has been suspended five games for retaliation during a recent game against the San Diego Padres. Clint Hurdle will be joining his pitcher for one of those games after an apparently heated exchange.

San Diego pitcher Doug Brocail had hit Troy Tulowitzki, who deserves to be hit based off the difficulty in spelling his name, during an exhibition game. A few days later when the teams were facing off again Brocail hit Matt Holliday, the lone bright spot on the Rockies team. Hurdle took exception to his players being hit and immediately got into an intense argument with Brocail.

Following this incident, Jeff Francis decided to take things into his own hands. The result of that was Kevin Kouzmanoff being pegged and Francis facing a five game suspension. I bet that really makes Francis feel great, he got to act like a badass during spring training. I understand protecting your players, but wow Jeff, most people wait for what we like to call the opportune moment.

This reaction indicates to me that the Rockies thought Brocail was going after their players. Last I checked there was no beef between Brocail and the Rockies, this isn’t Jose Mesa vs. Omar Vizquel. Brocail probably is rusty, and considering he had an angioplasty last year to take care of some severe heart problems, I’d guess he’s just trying to get back into his routine. So this marks a great start for the Rockies, without one of their pitchers and their manager for a few games, and a feud with a divisional opponent. Stay tuned as these teams face off early in the season and I for one am hoping for a brawl.

Go ahead and take any rumors regarding Todd Helton hitting behind David Ortiz and throw them out the window. The Rockies have reported that any talks with the Red Sox about the All-Star first baseman are off and that Helton will spend another year in the hitting heaven of Coors Field.

The deal that was being rumored earlier in the week involved Helton going to Boston in exchange for chowders Mike Lowell, Julian Tavarez, and top prospects in the Red Sox organization with the Rockies volunteering to take up to $40 million of Helton’s $90 million contract. There was a reported dispute over the involved prospects, with the Rockies wanting top notch relievers Craig Hansen and Manny Declarmen. The Red Sox, of course, weren’t willing to part with Hansen and Declarmen.

Would this have been a good deal for both sides? We will never know. Helton would add another big bat to that Red Sox lineup that has already added JD Drew this offseason. One issue that Boston would have faced would have been during the few interleague guames, when either Helton or Papi would have to sit due to the lack of a designated hitter.

The Rockies, in my opinion, would have been getting owned in the deal. Yes, the prospects are nice. An aging and inconsistent Mike Lowell and a temperamental Julian Tavarez, however, throw up a red flag on this deal. What would Colorado do with these guys? They still can’t pitch for crap and their lineup still needs a big bat to coincide with Matt Holliday. To take on the $40 million of Helton’s contract while giving away one of the cornerstones of the franchise would have been an absolutely ignorant decision.

The fact that this deal didn’t go through is better for baseball. It’s the Red Sox, not the Yankees, who are the big spenders in the free market nowadays. Who’s the evil empire now chowder heads?