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The Diamondbacks may be leading the NL West, but I noticed this morning that, at 14-12, they have only the sixth best record in the league. They trail three and four games behind the Braves (17-9) and Pirates (18-12) respectively . But the D-backs also have a worse record than the second-placed teams in both the other division - the Mets (15-11) and Brewers (16-9) - and even the third-placed Cubs in the NL Central, who are 14-10. Arizona are the only one of the five teams in the division who are above .500, with the West as a whole sitting at 59-71. That’s the collective equivalent of a 94-loss season. Quite a shock, considering the Dodgers and Padres were forecast to have the best records in the NL pre-season by some.
| Rk | Tm | vEast | vCent | vWest | Inter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arizona Diamondbacks | 1-2 | 4-2 | 7-7 | 2-1 |
| 2 | Los Angeles Dodgers | 1-2 | 5-5 | 7-6 | 0-0 |
| 3 | San Diego Padres | 5-5 | 2-5 | 6-4 | 0-0 |
| 4 | San Francisco Giants | 3-4 | 3-1 | 1-2 | 4-7 |
| 5 | Colorado Rockies | 3-5 | 1-5 | 2-4 | 2-4 |
| Average | 2-3 | 3-3 | 4-4 | 1-2 |
So far, the West has struggled against both the East and Central divisions, going 13-18 and 15-18 respectively against them. They’re also 8-12 in interleague play. The Diamondbacks are not part of the problem: they’re 7-5 outside the division, and 7-7 inside it - the latter is very credible, considering they have so far only played the Dodgers and Padres. [They won’t see the Giants for the first time until May 11, Arizona’s 38th contest of the season] Everyone else is below .500 externally - and the records there, interestingly, largely mirror the order of the current overall standings. The only difference is, the Giants have been better than the Padres. Here’s the combined extra-divisional records so far:
- Diamondbacks 7-5
- Dodgers 6-7
- Giants 10-12
- Padres 7-10
- Rockies: 6-14
Now, we’re still very early on, and though the schedules should balance out eventually, we aren’t there yet. For example, the Giants’ sole series against the NL Central was four games against the cellar-dwelling Cardinals, so that they won it shouldn’t be much surprise. The D-backs also beat the Brewers, which is a more impressive feat based on the standings thus far. Though that said, I did notice, in terms of run differential, the D-backs (-2) and the Cardinals (-5) are a lot closer than their position at opposite end of their division standings would indicate. We’ll revisit this in a month or so, and see whether the situation has changed, or if the NL West is still struggling.
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