Following consecutive last place finishes in the National League West, the Arizona Diamondbacks came out of nowhere to capture the division in 2011. The D-Backs had a 29 game turnaround with a team that was largely the same from the previous year. This wasn’t the first time the young franchise had done this. In its 14-year history, Arizona has won the division five times (and the World Series once). Four out of the five times the team won the division, it finished third or worse the year before. In 2012, the Diamondbacks will look to build off of an improbable run to the playoffs and repeat as division champions. NL West history tells us this will be tough. In the 17 seasons since re-alignment, only three teams have repeated as champions of the division. Arizona has a good enough team to do it but the competition should be improved from a year ago. Continue reading →