Knock, knock. Who’s there? The NL West.
The division the Rockies play in is a joke.
The National League West in the only division in baseball that has on the whole given up more runs than it has scored and its combined 201 wins is the worst among MLB divisions. NL West teams have lost 215 games. Only one team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, is above .500. and only by one game at 42-41.
Interestingly, though, no one team in the NL West is dominant in the loss column. Unlike teams like the Marlins, Brewers and Astros, every team in the division has won at least 39 games. The division is wide open and ripe for the picking and, as the Giants proved last year, if a team can take the NL West it can go on to win the World Series.
As long as Colorado is willing to make some moves, the Rockies have every bit as strong a shot of taking the division as the D Backs, Padres, Giants and Dodgers. Sadly, it feels as if they won’t pursue starting pitching – which is what they’ll need to do if they want to stay in the mix.
Of the NL West squads, only the Dodgers are climbing in rank. Over the past several days they have emerged from the basement of the division. They’re in second-to-last place now and only three games out of the lead. The Dodgers were the pre-season favorites in the West and with their payroll there’s every likelihood that they will live up to that expectation.
The Rockies must make it tough for the Dodgers, though. Their fans deserve to see them contend well into the late summer.
