Baseball Update: NL West

Once again it's time to look at the individual divisions within baseball. The NL West is actually one of the better divisions in baseball this season. Every team is within 6 and a half games of first place. And since it's only the middle of May, every team has a reasonable chance to win this division. The Padres have been the surprise team of the year in baseball with a record of 22-15.

The Padres have been able to maintain the top spot in the NL West on the backs of their pitching staff. The Padres are second in the league in WHIP, first in BABIP, third in FIP, and second in batting average against. All of this has happened without a true ace of the staff. The Padres traded away Jake Peavy last season and Chris Young has been injured. The Padres have relied on cast aways (Kevin Correia), low draft picks (Wade LeBlanc), one-year free agent pickups (Jon Garland), and nobodies (Matt Latos). With a pitching staff like that, you wouldn't expect them to keep up this pace but you never know. It's going to be enthralling to see if the Padres can keep up with this pace.

Series of the Week, Giants at Padres: There is no other way to say this, but the Padres flat out own the Giants this season. The Padres are 6-0 against the Giants with sweeps in San Diego and San Francisco. The Padres pitching staff only allowed 8 runs against the Giants in six games. That's domination. So this two-game series in San Diego versus the Giants has a lot of meaning. If the Padres sweep again, they take a 2.5 games lead over the Giants in the West. If the Giants sweep they take a 1.5 games lead over the Padres and if they split both teams will be tied for the division lead. So yeah, this little two-game series has a lot of meaning.

Team of the Week, Dodgers: Since getting swept by the Mets in late April, the Dodgers have gone 12-4 including winning their last seven games. The resurgence of the Dodgers can be directly linked to Andre Ethier's blistering pace. Ethier is .392 batting average, .457 On Base Percentage, 11 home runs, 38 RBIs, .388 BABIP, and a 1.6 WAR. One problem though, Ethier will probably go on the DL soon with a broken pinkie. With Ethier possibility missing time, Matt Kemp, James Loney, and Manny Ramirez will have to pick up their pace if the Dodgers want to contend for the division.

Worst Team of the Week, Diamondbacks: So I'm cheating here because it's actually Arizona's relievers that are terrible. The Diamondbacks relievers have a combined 7.68 ERA and have blown a league-leading nine saves. Epic Facepalm!