NL No. 2 Wild Card: Arizona Diamondbacks
Arizona is not unlike Los Angeles. Greinke is a legitimate No. 1 starter, but after him the rotation is a question mark. The discrepancy isn’t quite as wide with the Diamondbacks. Still, it’s not a rotation with a lot of reliable arms after the No. 1. That could be problematic against some of the more star-studded rotations in the National League.
But Arizona has another lingering issue. The Dodgers can use another starter. But even if that doesn’t happen, they have one of baseball’s best bullpens to lean on. But while Los Angeles ranks second in bullpen ERA (2.70), the Diamondbacks rank 10th (3.72).
That’s not bad by any means. As we’ve already detailed, teams like the Nationals would love to have that. But in a hypothetical playoff series between the two teams, Washington would depend on its starters. Arizona, however, would need a borderline dominant performance from its bullpen.
Does it have that kind of potential?
The good news for many of these teams is that bullpen help tends to be available at the trade deadline. So, there will be opportunities for the Diamondbacks to bolster their bullpen. Arizona’s front office can’t let those chances go.