Three-headed monster rules NL West
All playing above .600, West’s Rockies, D’backs, Dodgers rise above NL pack
Rockies, Dodgers & Diamondbacks have death grip on wild-card race
It’s the Bermuda Triangle of baseball. The Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers have put a death grip on the National League wild-card race.
It’s all over, thanks to the supremacy of the NL West.
Don’t believe me? Through Sunday, the Rockies (46-26), Dodgers (44-26) and Diamondbacks (44-26) had the three best records in the National League, and all happen to reside in the West.
This is the latest since 1962 that three NL teams, whether battling within the same division or for the pennant before divisional play began in 1969, had a winning percentage of .600 or better. And not since 1941 have three NL teams — the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants and Cincinnati Reds — had a .600 winning percentage on this date.
“That’s just amazing,” Andrew Fried- man, Dodgers president of baseball operations, told USA TODAY Sports. “Scoreboard watching in May or June, it just speaks to the talent that we have in this division. It seems like we are matching each other in this recent stretch.”
The three teams, who entered Monday separated by one game in the standings, are each on pace to win 102 games. They are playing at such a breakneck speed that according to FanGraphs’ calculations, the Dodgers have a 99.8% chance to reach the postseason, with the Rockies at 88% and the D’backs at 83.5%.
While no team in the American League was further than 4 1⁄2 games out of a playoff berth, the Dodgers and D’backs had a ninegame lead over the Chicago Cubs in the NL wild-card race and at least 12 games over everyone else.
It could be the first time since Major League Baseball implemented the twoteam wild-card format in 2012 that three teams from the same division reach the playoffs with a .600 winning percentage. The NL Central came the closest in 2015, when the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cubs qualified for the playoffs, with third-place Chicago finishing with 97 victories and a .599 winning percentage.
It’s a staggering pace considering the 2015 Pirates are the lone National League
wild-card team to produce a .600 winning percentage. It has happened three times in the American League, but not since the Boston Red Sox in 2004 — 10 years after the advent of the wildcard format.
This three-headed monster resurrects memories for Friedman, the former GM of the Tampa Bay Rays. They won the AL East twice, staving off the Red Sox and New York Yankees when all three teams finished within eight victories of one another.
“I was just thinking about that the other day,” Friedman said. “There are a lot of similarities.”
There’s little to suggest this power trio’s pace can’t continue. They have outscored the opposition by a combined 262 runs and are a staggering 75-37 outside their own division. The Washington Nationals and Milwaukee Brewers are the only other NL teams with winning records.
Oh, and the Rockies-DodgersD’backs triumvirate still have 61 games to play against their two divisional patsies, the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants. They’re 37-19 against them, and those clubs might delete talent by the trade deadline.
The only drama left might be determining who wins the division and who hosts the wild-card game. No wonder the Rockies’ three-game series starting Tuesday against the D’backs at Coors Field is looming large for a June matchup, with both teams off to franchise-record starts. It will be the beginning of 12 consecutive division games for the Rockies, including nine against the Dodgers and D’backs.
“These games should be good; we’re pushing each other in quiet ways,” Rockies GM Jeff Bridich says. “It’s a push to September. If you’re going to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best.”
And the best in the NL West this decade has been the Dodgers and the Giants. The Giants, who are on pace to lose a franchiserecord 103 games this year, won three World Series championships in five years, while the Dodgers have won the last four division titles.
The Dodgers are playing as well as anyone in baseball, winning 29 of their last 41 games, but just not better than the Rockies or the D’backs. The Dodgers were in third place, 21⁄ games out of 2 first, on May 3 but have picked up only 11⁄ games in the standings. 2
The D’backs, who have won seven in a row and 23 of their last 31, have picked up only two games in the standings since May 14.
And the Rockies, who just completed their first four-game sweep of the Giants in franchise history, are 13-4 in June and have won 23 of their last 34 games since May 13 but increased their division lead by only a half-game.
So is it rewarding to play this well, or exasperating being unable to shake off the two other NL West powers no matter how many games you win?
“I think it’s a good thing staying hypercompetitive throughout a season,” Friedman says. “There’s a lot of depth in the division, so it helps you keep on edge, and it heightens the competitive dynamics. The D’backs and Rockies are playing extremely well, and the Giants are scary.”
Friedman likely isn’t as surprised by his own team’s success as his counterparts to the east.
“But first, you’ve got to get there. There’s a difference between talented and good,” Bridich says. “We’re similar to the Diamondbacks where both organizations are in similar stages. The talent was definitely there, but the question was whether the organization would take the next step in being good.”
The Diamondbacks envisioned playing this well a year ago, only to go 69-93 and overhaul their front office and coaching staff. Now, they’re off to the finest start in franchise history, vying for their first playoff berth in six years.
“I’m not too concerned what is happening elsewhere,” new D’backs GM Mike Hazen said, “but when you have teams play like this in the division, it creates a fun atmosphere. We just have to play our game and control what we can control. If we keep doing that, it should make for an interesting rest of the way.”
It will be fascinating at the trade deadline to see how each of the front offices reacts, whether to pull the trigger on the trade that potentially separates them or keep dancing with those who have carried them this far.
The Dodgers have the deepest farm system and the financial resources with a $215 million pay- roll, but they have mostly avoided trading prospects for veteran help in recent years. They would be willing to trade for the likes of Chris Archer of Tampa Bay or Gerrit Cole of Pittsburgh but won’t trade prospects unless they’re receiving controllable and not rent-a-pitchers in return.
The D’backs went into the season wanting to restore their farm system and shed payroll. Yet while they could recoup most of their money by trading ace Zack Greinke and the remaining $142 million of his contract before July 31, they certainly have no intention of moving him now while in the playoff hunt. They will stay pat, knowing that center fielder A.J. Pollock is returning within the week to bolster their lineup. Greinke, of course, can always be traded in the winter.
The Rockies might be the most ambitious of the trio after already shelling out in excess of $90 million in the free agent market. They want to seize the moment after six consecutive losing seasons. If anyone is willing to gamble and go for the jugular, it could be the Rockies, whose farm system is deep. Yet with ace Jon Gray scheduled back this weekend, starter Tyler Anderson returning next week and Chad Bettis expected by the All- Star break, they’ll have an influx of fresh arms.
“It would obviously be a huge shot in the arm for us in terms of depth and added talent to the roster,” Bridich says. “It’s no different than going out and trading for very impactful pitchers.”
Ah, life inside baseball’s Bermuda Triangle, where you just never know what might happen next.