NL West a Tight Battle
There is a three way tie at the top of the National League West with the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks. The three teams are tied at 26-21 with the San Diego Padres 4.5 games back and the Los Angeles Dodgers in last at 6 back.
The Dodgers were the preseason favorites along with the Giants in the division. They were going to start their first full season with Hanley Ramirez, Adrian Gonzalez, Zach Greinke, Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford. But they’ve gotten nothing from Beckett and Greinke was injured in a bench-clearing brawl early in the season. They have also shockingly gotten very little production from Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier
Clayton Kershaw has been his normal dominant self with a 5-2 record and a 1.35 ERA. If they can get Grienke back and get some production from Beckett, Kemp and Ethier, six games in not a lot to make up.
The surprise team in the division is the Colorado Rockies. Colorado was on nobody’s radar in the preseason but they have hung around the top of the division all season thus far. Jorge De La Rosa has been outstanding pitching in the light Colorado air with a 3.40 ERA and a 6-3 record. Troy Tulowitzki is batting .338 and has 38 RBIs. The Rockies just got finished with a series against the Diamondbacks where they took two of three. They will now face the Giants this weekend.
The Diamondbacks are also a surprise team after trading Justin Upton to the Atlanta Braves in the off-season. Braves fans can attest to how much production that took out of the lineup. But the Snakes are hanging in there with Paul Goldschmidt leading the way with a .316 average, 12 homers and 36 RBIs and Patrick Corbin who is 7-0 with a 1.44 ERA and 51 Ks. Few fans outside of Phoenix have heard of these two, but they will by the All-Star Break.
JustBet has odds on teams winning the N.L. Pennant. Here are the odds on the teams in the West Division:
Arizona +650- A surprise favorite perhaps?
Colorado +1200- Still below the Dodgers, this looks like a good wager.
San Francisco +700- Should be the favorite. Doesn’t winning two of the last three World Series get you some love over the D-Backs?
San Diego +3000- The long shot of the bunch. Might be worth taking a risk here as they are not far behind.
Los Angeles +1000- Still getting a lot of love from the odds-makers because of the star-studded roster. However, manager Don Mattingly could be in trouble.
