NL West6 of 6
Los Angeles Dodgers (52-30)
The wrecking ball we expected them to be.
Since May 13, the Dodgers have gone 28-12, which is a 162-game pace of 113 wins.
Shohei Ohtani is running away with what would be his fifth MVP and is very much in the mix for his first Cy Young award.
And they should only get better in the second half if the injury bug cuts them some slack and some combination of Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Teoscar Hernández, Will Smith and Edwin Díaz returns from the IL.
Mason Miller needs some help.
San Diego’s all-world closer has gone a perfect 21-for-21 in save chances, striking out more than 50 percent of batters faced. Yet, the Padres have a +1 run differential and would just barely be in the playoffs if the season ended today.
Will Nick Pivetta, Joe Musgrove and Jake Cronenworth ever return from the IL?
Will Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts ever start hitting?
The Padres are in good shape, but they really should be better than this.
Arizona Diamondbacks (41-40)
“It’s hard to tell whether they’re lurking or pretending.”
We’ve got quotation marks around that one because it’s what our Zach Rymer wrote about the Diamondbacks in his rendition of this article two months ago.
But it still rings true. The Diamondbacks are just kind of hanging out in no-man’s land, hoping they can overcome the recent injuries to Michael Soroka, Ryne Nelson and Jordan Lawlar; praying that Corbin Burnes returns before it’s too late.
Sure would be swell if Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly could re-emerge as the aces they used to be. If that duo had, say, a 3.50 ERA instead of a combined mark of nearly 6.00, Arizona could be right there with Los Angeles atop this division.
San Francisco Giants (33-48)
Desperately searching for the “reset” button.
By all accounts, the Giants are ready and willing to move any of the massive contracts of Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman or Willy Adames to help reset the books to start building for the future. (And, by all accounts, Devers is the one most likely to go, if only because he doesn’t have any no-trade protection.)
Impending free agents Robbie Ray and Luis Arraez are also all but certain to be on the trade block, as the Giants head for what might be the most losses in franchise history. (Current record is 100 in 1985.)
On pace to win 20 more games than last season.
The Rockies may well end up with the worst record in the majors for a second consecutive season, but at least they are moving in the right direction after a historically awful 2025.
Whether they trade him away or keep him for one more year, Mickey Moniak has been a revelation. 26-year-old rookie TJ Rumfield might be their first baseman for years to come. And it’s a shame they lost Chase Dollander to UCL surgery, because he, too, was beginning to look like a building block.
Baby steps are better than no steps, right?