It's just two games, but this week's two games between San Diego, Padres and the Giants represent one of the most compelling storylines of the 2025 season: one of the most compelling storylines in the battle in the NL West.
It's a partition, with four best records in MLB in three weeks of the season, and even considering a modest early sample, it's a surprising reality. This interesting fact is no longer intact, as the D-Backs have returned to the .500, but the Snakes (2023 NL champion and last year’s 89-game champion) are clearly still a team worth taking seriously. With Arizona’s defending World Series champion Dodgers, a talented Padres club and a seemingly reviving Giants franchise, there is little to see a department’s firepower.
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As these four teams compete for the game in the playoffs, each department plays adds weight. Meanwhile, introducing a balanced schedule in 2023 means there are fewer opportunities in the regular season and these competitors prove themselves to each other. Today, the team is against each division opponent rather than the first 19 games. Of course, the Dodgers and Padres have already won three wins against the potentially terrifying Rockies in history – a win for Colorado State is crucial for all four teams as they want to keep pace, but otherwise, almost all of these playoffs are in front of us.
Consider this week’s short shop pie between San Diego and San Francisco, as it promises to be a full menu for high-stakes games as the summer unfolds. The first month gave us a lot of reasons to remain optimistic about these four NL West contenders. But no team is perfect, and we've seen cracks in every club's armor, which may be what they've undone in the long run.
With that in mind, let's see why every team is so good and why they may have reason to worry.
Why are they so good: Unparalleled lineup depth
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It turns out that bringing a future Hall of Fame trio is a solid strategy on your lineup. However, in the early game, not only three MVPs did all the heavy lifting on the offense. Tommy Edman continued to do a great job in Dodger Blue's first year, while 24-year-old center fielder Andy Pages, the only position player on the roster under 30, has been the team's hottest hitter.
When players like Edman and Pages are supporting expected works by higher-profile stars like Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and Teoscar Hernandez, don't worry about Max Munchy owning a home run or Michael Michael Conforto owning .574 Ops Ops or okokie betts slagts slaving ofling ofly.385. With so much talent crammed into the roster, the Dodgers could compensate for those who happened to suffer a downturn. This is the superpower they are currently building.
Why do they worry: Can they survive all pitching injuries for the second consecutive year?
here we go again. Yes, we just watched the Dodgers win the World Series after experiencing an unprecedented wave of injury on the hills, but it’s worth recalling that most of the major injuries didn’t happen until later in the season. Yoshinobu Yamamoto didn't make it to IL until mid-June. Tyler Glasnow stayed healthy and excellent until his elbows started barking in August. Gavin Stone started the 25-star game before the shoulder surgery at the end of the season in September.
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This year, we have only one month and multiple key arms have hit the shelf, both Glasnow and Marquee free agent addition (Blake Snell) are dealing with shoulder issues. The fantasy rotation looks on paper during the offseason, with Snell and Roki Sasaki joining Glasnow and Yamamoto before Ohtani returns to the mound (not to mention the recovered French franance Legend kershaw), but in these early injuries, this actually spins the issue and quickly spins the issue.
With Glasnow's and Snell's status uncertain and Ohtani barely returns, Sasaki and Yamamoto are not only going to excel at a high level, but also maintain a considerable amount of work, even in recent seasons, not only did they prove to be able to do so. Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin had to do the same thing, despite returning from a lot of surgery, and Kershaw's return (which seemed not an emergency a few weeks ago) feels more important now. The spotlight is also brighter in the depth of Triple-A, such as Bobby Miller, Justin Wrobleski and Landon Knack, among others.
Baseball Operations president Andrew Friedman explained in the winter that the purpose of getting all of this pitching talent is to avoid buying expensive pitches by the trade deadline, but at this point it is hard to imagine that Los Angeles doesn’t have to reach a deal with one or two arms from July to July.
Why are they so good: Top elite talents
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The first half of this Padres roster is as good as any team in the league. Santiago in Fernando Tatis Jr.
It's a lineup that is difficult to navigate on both sides of the ball when all of these top players are healthy and perform best. Including Padres' offense is a tedious thing and a challenge to their pitchers scoring.
Why do they worry: Can this advanced lineup exceed 162 games and beyond?
The problem with San Diego (which recently started to be hurt by Merrill Lynn, Ares and Jack Crohnworth), is a serious lack of depth to surpass superstars. Unlike the Dodgers or D-backs or even the giants in pitching, this is simply not a team with a wealth of major league quality choices, waiting for Triple-A's wings. A series of blockbuster deals executed by AJ Preller, president of Baseball Operations, has left the upper layer of the San Diego farm system relatively barren, with most of the highest prospects occupying the lower strata of minors and not helping you in 2025.
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All of these exchanges combined with the massive investments of current stars also minimize financial flexibility to address the bottom of the roster, which led Padres to rely on a large number of marginal veterans as regular contributors: Jose Iglesias, Tyler Wade, Tyler Wade, Martin Maldonado, Jason Heyward, Jason Heyward, Gavinsheets and connor Joe. Some of these free agent signatures are better than others, but the broader result is that Paders often launches rosters, where the lower half is extremely available.
A similar momentum occurred on the mound after the injury to Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove, as minors don’t have any viable alternatives to the struggling Randy Vasquez and Kyle Hart. If healthy, the high-end talent in this lineup might be enough to overcome the long-standing lack of depth, but this unstable roster construction style makes every current injury as well as any future injuries – especially the ominousness of these Padres.
Why are they so good: Clutch strikes and outstanding bullpen
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The Giants combined a great bullpen with timely enough hit rate to score a lot of wins in April, five of their nine family wins were walking. The spectacular breakthrough of midfielder Jung Hoo Lee lifted San Francisco on both sides of the ball, which allowed the Giants to work on stage alongside infield Matt Chapman and Willy Adames.
On the mound, Logan Webb continues to swallow the situation as effectively as any starter in the NL, and a wide variety of rescuers (from hard-working fanatics of Camilo Doval and Randy Rodriguez to hip delivery of Ryan Walker and Tyler Rogers, and in the most recent segment, both Ryan Walker and Tyler Rogers were all experiencing a series of attacks, which was a consistent part.
Why do they worry: Is this offense really good?
The Giants certainly have some questions to answer on mounds outside Weber, but I'm more focused on the long-term survival of the lineup. While Lee’s promotion is both encouraging and pleasing, it is also one of the only promising starts for the year for the San Francisco Bats. So far, the Adames has been disappointing, struggling to adapt to the unfriendly range of the batsmen at Oracle Park. Heliot Ramos has not been home run since the first week of the season. Matt Chapman is pulling out a lot of walking distances but hitting a career. 206. Wilmer Flores drove in a bunch of runs (28!), but nothing in his batting stats suggests that he suddenly became a star player who enjoyed a late break.
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Although the Giants rank in the middle on WRC+, the run rate per game is a few basic indicators, indicating much less offensive rate: The team ranks 29th in hard hits and 26th in Xwoba. Maybe San Francisco can continue to survive with a sense of precise sequencing, resulting in a steady mature rally and a late comeback, but if the lineup can show a more sustainable production flavor, I would feel better about the group’s scramble for opportunities.
Why are they so good: An unstoppable attack
Last year, D-BACKS led the Major League Baseball (MLB) in every game, but Christian Walker and Joc Pederson contributed. With both entering free agents, it makes sense to hope that the Snakes’ roster will take a step back in 2025. Instead, the D-backs barely beat and again became one of the most powerful offensives in MLB.
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Trade collection Josh Naylor replaced Walker production and continued to mash at the All-Star level. Just like Pederson a year ago, Pavin Smith has become a legitimate force against right-hand pitching. Corbin Carroll looks better than ever, and it's a pretty good statement considering the excellent standards he set in his first two major league seasons. Just started signing a long-term postponement in spring training, shortstop Geraldo Perdomo has his best offensive season. Eugenio Suarez tied for 10 in home runs.
Perhaps most impressive is that even though Ketel Marte played only eight games, the snake's offense still buzzed as the hamstring pressure still put him on the shelf. All of this says: Arizona’s phone card remains its excellent positional game group, which should keep this team competitive throughout the season.
Why do they worry: How much do we trust this pitcher?
When the D-Backs surprisingly shoveled Corbin Burnes in the Free agent, it seems they have earned the ace to surpass the spin that seems to be quite powerful. But so far, that's not the case, with only 26-year-old Brandon PFAADT performing or above, while Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez and even Burnes seemingly shocking in April.
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When the offense is running on board and a new-looking bullpen, it may be easy to overlook the disappointing rotation when featuring AJ Puk, Fireballer Justin Martinez and a revival Shelby Miller, while the new-looking bullpen is dealing with a high leverage condition. But now PUK is at Illinois State University, which raises the elite level for Martinez and Miller’s bets, especially in the beginning.
It seems good for this lineup, we watched the same recipe for high octane attack and running prevention, and it's almost the same in 2024. In such competitive sectors, the gap between this combination in 2025 is even smaller.