The baseball season is just over two weeks old, but it might be OK to say the National League West will be the best division this season.
It’s a very short sample size, but the top three teams in the NL West also possess the top three records in the majors.
The San Diego Padres are an MLB-best 12-3, with the San Francisco Giants (10-4) and Los Angeles Dodgers (11-5) close behind.
The Padres and Dodgers were among the better teams in the majors last season.
You may recall Los Angeles rallied from a game down to eliminate San Diego in the NL Division Series and later won the World Series.
Let’s not forget about the Arizona Diamondbacks (7-7). They reached the 2023 World Series before losing to the Texas Rangers.
So we’re looking at four good teams in the division now that the Giants are faring well.
Who exactly had the San Francisco Giants looking this good anyway?
Wilmer Flores is bashing the ball, Jung Hoo Lee is energizing the attack, and former Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray is hinting he’ll form a fearsome one-two punch with ace Logan Webb.
San Francisco is faring well despite three-fourths of the infield being invisible at the plate — new shortstop Willy Adames (.196), third baseman Matt Chapman (.184), and first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. (.114) need smelling salts to wake up their bats.
It may not keep up, but it’s a solid start for a club that missed the playoffs each of the past three seasons.
The Dodgers again are the team to beat — not just in the NL West, but all of baseball.
Los Angeles already has 29 homers despite boasting just a .228 average. Shohei Ohtani has four homers but only five RBIs.
Tommy Edman has six homers and 14 RBIs, and Teoscar Hernández has five homers and 16 RBIs.
Freddie Freeman just returned from an ankle injury, and the Dodgers will be more potent once he finds his form.
Los Angeles added Blake Snell to the rotation in the offseason, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto is off to a strong start with a 1.23 ERA in 22 innings.
San Diego saw key cogs such as All-Star outfielder Jurickson Profar, shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, and left-handed reliever Tanner Scott depart in the offseason. That led many observers to expect the Padres to drop a notch or two.
As for Profar — better he drew an 80-game suspension for PED use with the Atlanta Braves than with the Padres.
Hmmm, maybe that’s why he suddenly had that career-best campaign last season.
But a 9-0 home start at Petco Park — the best home-field advantage in baseball — has helped San Diego turn the page from its offseason woes.
Fernando Tatis Jr. is batting .365 with four homers and nine RBIs to fuel the offense.
Recent injuries to Jackson Merrill (hamstring) and Jake Cronenworth (rib) will hurt in the short term. Merrill, the NL Rookie of the Year runner-up last season, started strong with three homers and a team-high 10 RBIs while batting .378.
The pitching is solid, even though Michael King (4.05 ERA) and Dylan Cease (7.98) are still searching for last season’s prowess.
The Diamondbacks want part of this conversation, and Corbin Carroll (five HRs) will do his best to get them in it.
As for the Colorado Rockies — well, wrong conversation for them. Their last winning season was in 2018, and they are already 3-11 this season, having been outscored by a major league-worst 38 runs.
The Denver Nuggets fired title-winning coach Michael Malone. Maybe he can manage the Rockies while waiting for another NBA gig.
The NL East could put up a battle for best division later in the season. The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets are off to good starts, but the Atlanta Braves are just 4-10 and counting down the days until 2023 MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. is back from his ACL injury.
The American League East has good depth, with top to bottom separated by just two games. The New York Yankees are again the team to beat.
But right now, there is no debate: The NL West is the best.
