Season Preview: National League Division Winners

Beach. Desert. Whenever your team has been the last month, it doesn't matter anymore with Opening Night upon us. With the American pastime back and playoff twist, it's time to crown a champion before a pitch has even been thrown.

National League West: Los Angeles Dodgers

It's not upstart to think the Dodgers could win this division. Los Angeles is only two years removed from back-to-back National League Championship appearances -- both in which they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games.

After struggling the first 92 games (41-51) of the season in 2011, the Dodgers showed a glimpse of the future and rallied for first-year manager Don Mattingly, going 41-28 in the second half and finishing third in the NL West at 82-79.

Last season, the team road the bat and arm of Matt Kemp and Clatyon Kershaw, respectively. And will have to do the same this season if they are to get back to October. 

Kemp finished second in the NL Most Valuable Player voting after one of the best offensive seasons in baseball history. Flirting with the NL Triple Crown most of the year, Kemp fell eight points short of becoming the first NL player to earn that honor since Joe Medick did so in 1937. However, Kemp led the NL with 39 home runs and 129 runs batted in.

With Andre Ethier in a contract year, the re-signing of Juan Rivera, a healthy Juan Uribe and James Loney coming off a second half in which he hit .320, the Dodgers offense should be much better in 2012.

On the mound, Kershaw became the Dodgers modern day Sandy Koufax, baffling hitters all season long. The 24-year-old left-hander took the next step a year ago, becoming one of the game's most premium pitchers and learned the value of throwing first pitch strikes. After walking 81 batters in 2010, Kershaw nearly cut that total in half last year, issuing just 54 free passes.

He led the NL in wins (21), earned run average (2.28) and strikeouts (248), winning the NL pitching Triple Crown and ultimately landing him his first career Cy Young Award. It was the first 20-win season by a Los Angeles pitcher since 1990 (Ramon Martinez).

And while Kershaw needs a repeat performance, right-hander Chad Billingsley holds the key to the rotation's success and needs to get over his recent second half woes. Over the last three seasons, Billingsley has come out of the gate strong, but has fallen back at the finish. During that time, Billingsley is 24-15 in the first half, but only 11-18 after the All-Star Break.

Los Angeles needs him to put together a full season like he did in 2008. The the injection of youth at the back end of the bullpen of Kenley Jansen and Javy Guerra leads late look to be secure.

Remember, this is the same division that saw the San Diego Padres be at the forefront until the final day of the regular season before the San Francisco Giants shocked everyone to overtake San Diego and ride the wave all the way to a World Series title. Nobody picked Kirk Gibson's Arizona Diamondbacks last year. So, why not the Dodgers this year?

After all, there will be magic in the air.

National League Central: Cincinnati Reds