The NL West only sent one team to the playoffs in 2013 but yet each team in the division has higher expectations for 2014.  The Los Angeles Dodgers have expectations of a World Series after making it to the NLCS game.  The Arizona Diamondbacks have expectations of making the playoffs after finishing at .500 for two seasons in a row.  The San Francisco Giants have expectations of getting back to the World Series because it’s an even year, if you ask fans.  The Colorado Rockies are looking to carry over a surprisingly quick start in 2013 to a full season.  Last but not least, the San Diego Padres are expected to improve.

One of these teams will not live up to expectations, though, and it could be any one of them.  The Dodgers are just a few injuries away from dropping to the bottom of the barrel.  The Diamondbacks have a lot of expectations in a starting rotation that is older and injury prone.  The San Francisco Giants are in a similar boat as the Diamondbacks as they are hoping their pitchers can bounce back from down seasons and added an older pitcher coming off of a horrific injury.  The Rockies have built a team around a core of stars, the problem is those stars have had trouble staying healthy and their biggest offensive addition was another injury prone star.  The Padres, they have to overcome four teams who are more talented with a group of young stars and a key player who is returning from a 50 game PED suspension.

Of all five teams there is a reason each and every one of them could disappoint, but in the end the team that will fall flat is the San Francisco Giants.

While the Giants could very well end up back in the playoffs and make another run at the World Series there are too many things they have to overcome in order to get there.  They have to hope that the down years from Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum were just aberrations and they will turn it around in the coming season.  So far in spring it sounds like newcomer Tim Hudson is having quite the effect on Lincecum, but they also need Hudson to return to the pitcher he was before a freak accident ended his 2013 season.  The offense will have to rebound and the future of the team, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt, will need to show that they can be keys to the offense.  On top of all of that they will need free agent signing Michael Morse to be able to play in the field full time and still produce offensively.

For me, the Giants have too many ‘what ifs’ to take the next step that they hope to, even if it is an even numbered year.