{"id":645345,"date":"2026-05-02T17:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T17:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/645345\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T17:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T17:33:10","slug":"mlb-end-of-april-check-in-nl-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/645345\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB End-of-April Check-in: NL West"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every day, Pinstripe Alley offers updates on what the\u00a0Yankees<\/a>\u2019 top American League opponents are up to through the\u00a0Rivalry Roundup<\/a>. The AL East is well-trodden ground there, but with the season\u2019s final month upon us, we\u2019re going to take a peek around MLB as a whole and check in with each of the other five divisions. Who\u2019s surprising? Who\u2019s underwhelming? Who\u2019s simply mediocre at the moment? Read on and find out.<\/p>\n

Out in the West, it already looks like a two-horse race will pull many lengths ahead of the rest of the pack. The Dodgers got off to a scorching start and have never relinquished their grasp on the NL West lead. However, a recent slip up and consistent strong play from the Padres have the Friars breathing down the necks of their division rivals.<\/p>\n

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(Note: Records and standings are up to date through games played on Thursday, April 30th)<\/p>\n

First Place: Los Angeles Dodgers (20-11)<\/p>\n

Top Position Player:\u00a0Max Muncy<\/a> (1.4 fWAR)
Top Pitcher:\u00a0Shohei Ohtani (1.3 fWAR)<\/p>\n

Shohei Ohtani looks like he\u2019s on a mission to secure one of the few pieces of hardware that has eluded him thus far in his career. He has four MVPs and a pair of rings, next up on the mantel might be the NL Cy Young. He leads all NL pitchers with a 1.97 FIP and 1.3 fWAR, his 0.60 ERA in five starts the second-lowest of any starts after the Angels\u2019 Jos\u00e9 Soriano and has yet to give up a home run in 30 innings. His hitting has suffered a touch as he sacrificed some DH days to focus on pitching, but even then he still has six home runs and a 143 wRC+. He leads a team that boasts the best offense by wRC+ (123) and second-best pitching staff by ERA (3.19) in baseball.<\/p>\n

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Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts<\/a> are once again experiencing slow starts to their campaigns, both right around league-average at the plate and not much more valuable than replacement level. Kyle Tucker<\/a> has also had a slow start to his Dodgers career with a 100 wRC+ and 0.3 fWAR. Fortunately for LA, Max Muncy as well as a pair of their youngsters have been carrying the weight at the dish, Andy Pages<\/a> looking like a legitimate perennial All-Star caliber center fielder while rookie catcher Dalton Rushing<\/a> has been worth a win while trying his hardest to be the league\u2019s biggest villain.<\/p>\n

Ohtani is joined by three other excellent starters in the rotation, Tyler Glasnow<\/a>, Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a>, and Wrobleski<\/a> all sporting sub-3.00 ERAs. The bullpen will be without big money closer Edwin D\u00edaz<\/a> until at least the All-Star break after he underwent elbow surgery, but a resurgent Tanner Scott<\/a> has helped ease that blow. Top to bottom the Dodgers once again look like a deep, scary team, which underlines why they are still the overwhelming favorites to make it a three-peat.<\/p>\n

Second Place: San Diego Padres<\/a> (19-11)<\/p>\n

Top Position Player:\u00a0Luis Campusano<\/a> (0.9 fWAR)
Top Pitcher:\u00a0Mason Miller<\/a> (0.9 fWAR)<\/p>\n

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The Padres have had to play their best baseball to keep pace with the Dodgers, but a recent 5-7 stretch by LA has the Dads within a half-game. It\u2019s not often that you see a relief pitcher being a team\u2019s most valuable pitcher, but Mason Miller is pushing the boundaries of what\u2019s possible from a pitcher. He recently had his scoreless streak ended, but a -0.06 FIP from striking out over half the batters he has faced is the stuff of video games. His efforts have gone a long way toward carrying an offense and pitching staff that has been middle of the pack in terms of wRC+ (97) and ERA (4.23).<\/p>\n

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Their offense lacks any standout performers. Case in point: the usually light hitting Luis Campusano leads the way with 0.9 fWAR, propped up a lot by his defense behind the plate and an unsustainably high .400 BABIP. Fernando Tatis Jr.<\/a> has been one of the unluckiest hitters so far and still has yet to hit his first home run of the year while Jackson Merrill<\/a> has been a serious disappointment \u2014 neither has a wRC+ above Tatis\u2019 76. Xander Bogaerts<\/a> is riding a hot start while Manny Machado<\/a> has been league average so far.<\/p>\n

Two of the pitchers from the Juan Soto<\/a> trade to the Yankees lead the way in the rotation, both Michael King<\/a> and Randy V\u00e1squez sporting sub-3.00 ERAs. However, there is a chance they could lose Nick Pivetta<\/a> for the season after an MRI revealed a forearm flexor strain \u2014 often a harbinger of Tommy John surgery. Griffin Canning<\/a> and Lucas Giolito<\/a> could be close to reinforcing the rotation once they return from injury.<\/p>\n

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Third Place: Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> (16-14)<\/p>\n

Top Position Player:\u00a0Ildemaro Vargas<\/a> (1.5 fWAR)
Top Pitcher:\u00a0Michael Soroka<\/a> (0.6 fWAR)<\/p>\n

Last year, the Diamondbacks mounted a late surge led by a three-headed monster of Corbin Carroll<\/a>, Ketel Marte<\/a>, and Geraldo Perdomo<\/a>. Carroll is the only one to have picked up where he led off with a 165 wRC+ and 1.3 fWAR. Perdomo is at a 107 wRC+ while Marte is at 89 after both were at or above 138 in 2025. Instead, it\u2019s the most improbable candidate leading the way, 34-year-old journeyman first baseman Ildemaro Vargas posting MLB\u2019s fourth highest wRC+ at 199 (which is almost certain to normalize given his 3.2-percent walk rate and almost 100 point gap between wOBA and xwOBA).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s quite remarkable that they are above .500 considering they are one of only three teams with a staff ERA north of 5.00. Four of their six starters in Eduardo Rodriguez<\/a>, Ryne Nelson<\/a>, Brandon Pfaadt<\/a>, and Merrill Kelly<\/a> have been replacement level or worse. The bullpen has been a smidge better, led by Juan Morillo<\/a> and his 1.84 ERA.<\/p>\n

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Fourth Place: Colorado Rockies<\/a> (14-18)<\/p>\n

Top Position Player:\u00a0Mickey Moniak<\/a> (0.9 fWAR)
Top Pitcher:\u00a0Antonio Senzatela<\/a> (0.7 fWAR)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure anyone would have believed that the team that lost 119 games in 2025 would not be in last place at the end of April. Mickey Moniak might finally be fulfilling the pedigree of being the first overall pick in 2016, leading the way with his 162 wRC+ and 0.9 fWAR along with eight home runs. He\u2019s joined by fellow slugger Hunter Goodman<\/a> and his nine home runs, 129 wRC+, and 0.8 fWAR. Otherwise, their offense is a bottom-five unit in the game.<\/p>\n

Instead, it\u2019s Colorado\u2019s completely remade pitching department that leads the way. After finishing dead last in ERA and FIP in each of the last three seasons, they modernized their analytics department, leading to a pitching staff that is middle of the pack now in those aforementioned stats. They brought in starters Michael Lorenzen<\/a>, Tomoyuki Sugano<\/a>, and Jose Quintana<\/a> to bring some experience to the room, but it\u2019s actually the bullpen that has shown up. Led by converted starter Antonio Senzatela and his 0.46 ERA, the Rockies are just not surrendering leads with the same ferocity with which we are accustomed.<\/p>\n

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Last Place: San Francisco Giants<\/a> (13-18)<\/p>\n

Top Position Player:\u00a0Luis Arraez<\/a> (0.9 fWAR)
Top Pitcher:\u00a0Landen Roupp<\/a> (0.9 fWAR)<\/p>\n

The Giants are adrift in the wilderness, led by a college manager with zero MLB experience in Tony Vitello who could find his seat growing quite hot given the way heads are rolling early this year. Despite investing over a half-billion dollars into Rafael Devers<\/a>, Willy Adames<\/a>, and Matt Chapman<\/a>, San Francisco<\/a> are rolling out a bottom-three offense by wRC+ (84) and fWAR (0.8).<\/p>\n

Devers is the second-worst qualified hitter in baseball with a 48 wRC+ and -0.8 fWAR as his ability to hit the fastball has seemingly disappeared. Adames isn\u2019t much better at a 64 wRC+ and -0.5 fWAR, that pair two of the ten worst hitters in the sport. As a team, they\u2019ve hit an MLB-worst 19 home runs, so it is fitting that their top position player is noted singles hitter Luis Arraez at a 97 wRC+ and 0.9 fWAR.<\/p>\n

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Their pitching staff is in the top-third of the league in ERA (3.96), but there is only so much you can do to make up for an absent offense. Landen Roupp has displaced a surprisingly underperforming Logan Webb<\/a> from the top spot among their pitchers \u2014 the third-year righty sports a 2.55 ERA and has yet to give up a barrel in 84 batted ball events. Robbie Ray<\/a> is having another nice start to the campaign, but winter signings Tyler Mahle<\/a> and Adrian Houser<\/a> have been worse than replacement level. Their bullpen is the lone bright spot, second in the majors at a 3.19 ERA led by Erik Miller<\/a> (3.18 ERA, 1.72 FIP, and Keaton Winn<\/a> (2.84 ERA, 2.26 FIP).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

End-of-April check-ins on the other divisions can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every day, Pinstripe Alley offers updates on what the\u00a0Yankees\u2019 top American League opponents are up to through the\u00a0Rivalry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[16821,10223,68235,592,64,63,246686,5158,5259,51615,12423,77921,32129,17084,256216,54362,41439,220416,68230,77923,16077,12212,312217,1829,312218,7815,16051,210853,81603,1187,5153,56552,242836,54363,10682,5155,6592,6103,6102,152349,33565,48725,591,6590,116268,312215,5148,312216,210854,240120,1189,6113,5157,5149,85,5787,228167,5784,33572,5151,312219,42153,6114,47542],"class_list":["post-645345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-adrian-houser","tag-andy-pages","tag-antonio-senzatela","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brandon-pfaadt","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-corbin-carroll","tag-dalton-rushing","tag-eduardo-rodriguez","tag-edwin-diaz","tag-era","tag-erik-miller","tag-fernando-tatis-jr","tag-geraldo-perdomo","tag-griffin-canning","tag-hunter-goodman","tag-ildemaro-vargas","tag-jackson-merrill","tag-jose-quintana","tag-juan-morillo","tag-juan-soto","tag-keaton-winn","tag-ketel-marte","tag-kyle-tucker","tag-landen-roupp","tag-logan-webb","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-lucas-giolito","tag-luis-arraez","tag-luis-campusano","tag-manny-machado","tag-mason-miller","tag-matt-chapman","tag-max-muncy","tag-merrill-kelly","tag-michael-king","tag-michael-lorenzen","tag-michael-soroka","tag-mickey-moniak","tag-mlb","tag-mookie-betts","tag-nick-pivetta","tag-position-player","tag-rafael-devers","tag-replacement-level","tag-robbie-ray","tag-ryne-nelson","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-shohei-ohtani","tag-sports","tag-tanner-scott","tag-tomoyuki-sugano","tag-tyler-glasnow","tag-tyler-mahle","tag-willy-adames","tag-wrobleski","tag-xander-bogaerts","tag-yankees","tag-yoshinobu-yamamoto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}