MLB: The Teams To Watch; Colorado Rockies, Power & Skills // NBA: Heat, Pacers. . . Nuggets

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team---milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed., Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner . . . // . . MLB: The Teams To Watch; Colorado Rockies, Power & Skills // NBA: Heat, Pacers. . . Nuggets. . . // . . MLB---IT’s just days away, 30 MLB teams leaving their spring training locations for a season of 162 games each at home stadiums and away from home, meanwhile fans and analysts studying the MLB landscape for clues signaling which teams will reach the top of their respective divisions early on. Of course, the more cautious guesses will be based on MLB-2013 end-of-season records. For instance, that which seems to be the conservative take regarding the American League-East is that the Boston Red Sox will seize the number one slot in April and be followed closely by either the Tampa Bay Rays or the N.Y. Yankees. Last season, the Red Sox were tied with the National League’s St. Louis Cardinals regarding most won games among the 30 MLB clubs, 97 wins each, and the Red Sox won the ALLC and the World Series. The Rays were seventh across both leagues regarding most won games, 92, the Yankees 12th, from 85 wins. Predicted widely as the coming season’s top team within the AL-Central are the Detroit Tigers, having had 93 wins, finishing MLB-2013 as third in the games-won category re. both leagues, and it could be that the Cleveland Indians and the Kansas City Royals will nearly be tied for the AL Central’s number two position, last year the Indians having ended MLB-2013 with 92 wins, 13th among all clubs, the Royals, 86, 14th in the rankings. As for the AL-West, a smart bet has the Oakland A’s ahead, close behind them the Texas Rangers, the A’s having closed MLB-2013 with 96 wins, fifth within both leagues, the Rangers, 91, ninth across both leagues. . . NATIONAL LEAGUE---Based on MLB-2013 season endings, the NL-East could be led during 2014 by the Atlanta Braves, 96 wins last season, ranked sixth among both leagues. Probably close behind will be the Washington Nationals, 86 wins as MLB-2013 closed, seventh across both leagues. As for the NL-Central, the 2013 record book points to the St. Louis Cardinals being far ahead of second place team, the Cincinnati Reds. The Cardinals were 97 wins when MLB-2013 ended, the Reds 90, 10th across both leagues. Regarding the NL West, the performance sheets point to the L.A. Dodgers as the front-runner, its 2013 finish being 92 wins, ranked fourth among both leagues, with the Arizona Diamondbacks close behind. The DB’s completed MLB-2013 with 81 wins, ranked 17th and at the .500 margin. . . BRAVO, THE UNCERTAIN OUTCOME! Yes, there’s uncertainty to ponder, good ol’ suspense! Who would want a completely scripted MLB season, other than a gambler wanting to control the odds? There’s definitely room for a lot of not knowing until that proverbial lady sings, e.g., of the aforementioned likely top teams for MLB-2014 all ended MLB-2013 above .500, reinforcing the possibility of each remaining in that top segment. However, the differences in number of 2013 won games among these clubs are slight. There’s the 97 wins at the top, accrued by the Red Sox and also by the Cardinals, and the lowest of the AL’s within the aforementioned teams was the 92 games won by the AL’s Indians, in the NL the 90 won by the NL’s Reds. These deficits were only of five and seven games. This implies that as these likely top division teams compete to be best within their respective leagues, any one of them could be prevailing over the others. Which? No-one knows. . . ROCKIES---ON the plus side is the Rockies hitting power and the defense skills that the team’s top hitters can provide when afield, translation: RF Michael Cuddyer, SS Troy Tulowitzki, LF Carlos Gonzalez and C Wiln Rosario. But let’s think of minuses as uncertainties, e.g., the Rockies pitching staff, though in no way a comparable power + big assist alongside the Rockies MLB-2014 line-up, it is still a subset of the Rockies that carries potential, and perhaps the addition of LH Brett Anderson as a starter over from the Oakland A’s can help to prevent opposing teams from accruing more runs than the Rockies fine hitters can put up. Several baseball analysts believe that the National league-West’s two top teams are first the L.A. Dodgers, second the Colorado Rockies, and that if the Rockies pitching staff had the numbers that the Dodgers starters + bull pen now have the standings among the two clubs could list in reverse order. During MLB-2013, the Rockies Michael Cuddyer achieved the highest NL batting average, .331, and Tulowitzki reached .312, Gonzalez .302, and Rosario, .292. And, many an inning turned out well for the Rockies during 2013 from extra-base hits by 3B Nolan Arenado and 2B D.J. LeMahieu. As a team, the Rockies put up 673 RBI’s and 706 runs during 2013, no small achievement. But the Rockies pitching staff had a combined 4.4 ERA, and only two hurlers accrued double-digit wins, LH Jorge De La Rosa highest with 16 over 10 losses, RH Jhoulys Chacin, 14-10. Yet from listing 2013 injuries, therefore the days away from baseball for the Rockies De La Rosa, for Chacin and for RH Juan Nicasio, next computing such with their 2013 win-loss and ERA records and then their past annual achievements, an equation suddenly appears that has these starters quite capable of doing a lot better if they can be injury-free during MLB-2014. A simple point here is that better work from the mound will be key for the Rockies if they are to elevate from that fourth division slot that they dropped to as MLB-2013 closed. . . //. . NBA---THE 52/20 Indiana Pacers 84-83 takedown of the 48/22 Miami Heat this week secured a Pacers 2013/14 playoff billet, and it’s been certain that the Heat will be a playoff contender, but in the same week the 32/40 Denver Nuggets failed to obtain a 10th playoff billet in a row, an absence sure to cause the Denver team to feel hollowed out. This latter happening was sealed by a Nuggets loss to the now 55/16 San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night, the Spurs 15th straight win keeping the Spurs atop all other NBA franchises for the current year. The Pacers are third within all of the NBA, close behind the 52/19 Oklahoma City Thunder. For the Pacers/Heat game, super-star shooting had kicked in, the Pacers Paul George accruing 23 points, and the Heat’s LeBron James 38 points. However, during the game’s final four minutes the Pacers defense helped to suppress the Heat’s shooting far down. . . NUGGETS---As for the Nuggets, sad songs are being sung, but, in part “undeservedly.” Of the 18 games that the Nuggets were scheduled to play between March 14th until the closing of the current NBA season, 11 games underscored 11 challenges versus NBA division first-place and second-place franchises. The Nuggets won the first three games, vs. the 48/22 Heat, the 50/22 L.A. Clippers and the 36/35 Washington Wizards. After Wednesday night, the Nuggets became three wins and one loss with regard to the hard 11, and a win vs. the Spurs tonight will raise that to a 4-1 record, perhaps not enough solace for the Nuggets being at 32/40 and in fourth place of the West’s Northwest Division, but it suggests evidence that the Nuggets are, as commented before on this page, far from being a below-the-margin team. After Friday night, remaining games of the hard 11 will be against the 48-22 Houston Rockets twice, the 44-27 Golden State Warriors twice, and vs. the Clippers. END/ml