There will be a team from California in the 2014 World Series and no it won’t be the Dodgers or Angels; it will be the San Francisco Giants. Again. It hurts me to say, but the Giants are the most complete team in the league, and are better than their Southern California counterparts. Since winning two World Series titles in the last four seasons, the Giants have quietly been one of the better teams in baseball but haven’t got the recognition they deserved because of all the hype of their So-Cal rivals. I’ve got to give credit where credit is due.

Madison Bumgarner has lead the Giants back to the fall classic in 2014. By SD Dirk on Flickr, via Wikimedia Commons

They handily beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Wild Card game in Pittsburgh, then the Washington Nationals who had the best record in the National League. The Giants dispatched them in four games.

The pipe dream would have been to finally see a Dodgers-Giants NLCS, but the Dodgers couldn’t live up to their part of the deal and handed the Cardinals a series win thus setting up another Cardinals-Giants NLCS showdown.

A combination of great pitching from the Giants and injuries and mistakes for the Cardinals gave San Francisco the series win and another World Series appearance.

The San Francisco Giants will meet the red-hot — and surprising — Kansas City Royals in the World Series starting October 21^st in Kansas City. Recent history favors the Giants to win the series, but the way the Royals are playing anything is possible. My advice to the Royals would be to make sure to take the first two games in Kansas City, otherwise the Giants might get to party in San Francisco, celebrating a third consecutive even-year World Series title.

Much has been made of pitching in baseball over the past few seasons. The game has seen a shift from more dominant power-hitters to more shutdown pitchers since the “steroid era” “ended.”

While there are still many bona fide power hitters in the majors (Miguel Cabrera, Jose Bautista, Matt Kemp, Ryan Braun, Robinson Cano, etc.), building a strong pitching rotation has become more of a prominent priority for successful teams. Just last season (2011), baseball had a pitcher, Justin Verlander, win both the MVP award and the CY Young award in the American League. Pitching has always been important to America’s pastime but now it’s more crucial than ever.

Here is my fourth installment and this time I’m taking my talents to the National League, breaking down each team’s potential starting rotation for the 2013 season with the average Earned Run Average (we know averaging an average isn’t scientifically sound, but we’re doing it anyway…): This time, the spotlight is on the NL East…

With Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels, the Phillies have amassed the best starting rotation in the NL East. By http://www.flickr.com/photos/mel_rowling/ [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

1. Stephen Strasburg (15-6, 3.16 ERA, 197 Strikeouts)
2. Gio Gonzalez (21-8, 2.89 ERA, 207 Strikeouts)
3. Dan Haren (12-13, 4.33 ERA, 142 Strikeouts)
4. Jordan Zimmerman (12-8, 2.94 ERA, 153 Strikeouts)
5. Ross Detwiler (10-8, 3.40 ERA, 105 Strikeouts)

Average Combined 2012 ERA: 3.34

Atlanta Braves:

1. Tim Hudson (16-7, 3.62 ERA, 102 Strikeouts)
2. Kris Medlin (10-1, 1.57 ERA, 120 Strikeouts)
3. Mike Minor (11-10 4.21 ERA, 145 Strikeouts)
4. Paul Maholm (13-11, 3.67 ERA, 140 Strikeouts)
5. Randall Delgado (4-9, 4.37 ERA, 76 Strikeouts)

Average Combined 2012 ERA: 3.49

Philadelphia Phillies:

1. Roy Halladay (11-8, 4.49 ERA, 132 Strikeouts)
2. Cliff Lee (6-9, 3.16 ERA, 207 Strikeouts)
3. Cole Hamels (17-6, 3.05 ERA, 216 Strikeouts)
4. Kyle Kendrick (11-12, 3.90 ERA, 116 Strikeouts)
5. John Lannan (4-1, 4.13 ERA, 17 Strikeouts)

Average Combined ERA: 3.75

New York Mets:

1. Johan Santana (6-9, 4.85 ERA, 111 Strikeouts)
2. Jonathon Niese (13-9, 3.40 ERA, 155 Strikeouts)
3. Dillon Gee (6-7, 4.10 ERA, 97 Strikeouts)
4. Matt Harvey (3-5, 2.73 ERA, 70 Strikeouts)
5. Jenrry Mejia (1-2, 5.63 ERA, 8 Strikeouts)

Average Combined ERA: 4.14

Miami Marlins:

1.  Ricky Nolasco (12-13, 4.48 ERA, 125 Strikeouts)
2.  Henderson Alvarez (9-14, 4.85 ERA, 79 Strikeouts)
3.  Wade LeBlanc (2-5, 3.67 ERA, 43 Strikeouts)
4.  Nathan Eovaldi (4-13, 4.30 ERA, 78 Strikeouts)
5.  Jacob Turner (2-5, 4.42 ERA, 36 Strikeouts)

Average Combined ERA: 4.34

The stats above are from the 2012 season and based off of ERA alone, it shows that the Washington Nationals have the best starting pitching staff. Three teams in this division have sub-4.00 ERAs while the Mets and Marlins are both over it and don’t seem to be contending this season again. But in this division, I think that the team that will have the most improved starting rotation in 2013 will be the Philadelphia Phillies.

While many people would look at the starting rotations and say that the Nationals, not the Phillies would be the best rotation, I say that experience beats young talent in this case. I know that the Phillies had a down year last season but that was also because of all the injuries they had and, toward the end of the season, they started to play a lot better to bring their record to .500. The Braves still have a pretty decent staff, but I hesitate to trust 37 year-old Tim Hudson to stay healthy all season as their number 1. As for the Mets, they traded away the CY Young winner which shows they are in rebuilding mode and the Marlins, well they traded away pretty much every good player they had.

I think that this division race will be a good two-team chase between the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies. The Braves, a capable team, will lose a step after longtime leader and future hall of famer Chipper Jones retired.

With a rejuvenated pitching staff, the Philadelphia Phillies will be the NL East champs, not the Nationals. The Nationals are a very good young team but I think that the Phillies will be back to their normal selves this year and ultimately snatch the division title from them. I’d love to see the Nationals prove me wrong, but I think this is the Phillies’ year.