Excellent start for baseball’s NL West foreshadows a potentially historic 4-team summer race

PHOENIX (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers seem like they have nearly unlimited amounts of money, three former MVPs in their starting lineup with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, and a pitching staff that never runs out of overpowering arms.

So far, that’s good for third place in their five-team division.

Welcome to the National League West, which is far from a one-team show four weeks into the season. Going into Friday night’s games, the San Diego Padres (17-8), San Francisco Giants (17-9), Dodgers (16-9) and Arizona Diamondbacks (14-11) are all off to a good start, foreshadowing a potentially fascinating summer race.

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“For us, who are so close to it, not surprised,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “They’re all very good teams. I think it’s the best division in baseball. We’re all sort of built differently, too, which is interesting and fun if you look at the construction, the strengths, weaknesses of the four clubs.

“It’s going to be an interesting season how this all plays out.”

To be clear, the big-spending Dodgers have not underperformed this season. Los Angeles has a .640 winning percentage through 25 games, which translates to a 104-win pace. That’s right where everyone pretty much expected them to be.

Instead, it’s the great play from the Padres and Giants — and to a lesser extent the D-backs — that has set up a summer of fun. Since baseball split the NL and AL into three divisions in 1994, the 2002 AL West has the record for the highest winning percentage with a .566 mark.

So far, the 2025 version of the NL West is off to a .544 start — and that’s including the Colorado Rockies, who are a dreadful 4-20 for the worst record in baseball. Take out the Rockies, and the other four teams have combined for a .634 winning percentage.

“It’s gonna be a battle the entire season,” Giants third baseman Matt Chapman said. “We knew the Dodgers are the Dodgers, the Padres are really, really good and so are the Diamondbacks.”

The Dodgers continue to be the undeniable favorites to win the division. Los Angeles is off to a quality start despite Betts’ illness that caused him to drop around 15 pounds, Freeman’s shower mishap and Blake Snell’s arm trouble.

A good first month from Tommy Edman, Will Smith and Teoscar Hernández at the plate have showcased the lineup’s depth. Yoshinobu Yamamoto looks like a potential NL Cy Young award winner with an 0.93 ERA through five starts. Ohtani has slugged six homers with his return to the mound looming.

The Padres are playing well largely thanks to Fernando Tatis Jr., who is off to a torrid start with a .333 batting average, eight homers and 17 RBIs. Veteran starting pitchers Nick Pivetta and Michael King have led the rotation while closer Robert Suarez hasn’t given up a run this season and leads the NL with 10 saves.

“Obviously, we’re aware to some degree of what is taking place in the division and in the league, but our energy — my energy — is not about what anyone else is doing. It is on what we do,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “We’re spending our time and efforts on taking care of ourselves, because if we don’t do that, nothing else is going to matter.”

The Giants are arguably the division’s biggest surprise, led by a productive lineup that includes Jung Hoo Lee, Mike Yastrzemski, Wilmer Flores and Chapman. Right-hander Logan Webb has been dominant, with a 1.98 ERA and 44 strikeouts over six starts.

The D-backs have been a little more inconsistent than their division rivals, but are still lurking. Outfielder Corbin Carroll is off to an MVP-caliber start with a .321 batting average, nine homers, 23 RBIs and five stolen bases.

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo echoed others when he said he’s aware of the division’s excellence, but tries not to dwell on it. The 162-game regular season is hard enough to navigate without worrying about other teams.

Being in the NL West might prove particularly stressful — and fun — this summer.

“At the end of the day, it makes everyone crazy,” Lovullo said, grinning. “It makes you guys crazy, you guys make me crazy, I make you crazy. Everyone’s crazy.”

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AP Baseball Writers Janie McCauley and Jay Cohen, and freelancer Dave Hogg, contributed to this story.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb