The NL West

Okay - I'll admit to having jumped on the "woe is the NL West" bandwagon myself. But as I viewed the standings this morning, one huge difference jumped out at me:

Every team in the division is above .500.

Sure there's only a 3 game separation between 1st and last. But EVERY team - San Diego, Colorado, Arizona, Los Angeles and San Francisco - are above .500 (in LA and SF's case, only 1 game above).

Still...look at the other divisions. Chicago and Pittsburgh are hopeless in the NL Central. Washington and Florida are on life support in the NL East. Baltimore and Tampa Bay are once again at the bottom of the standings in the AL East. Cleveland, Minnesota and the terrible Royals are sub 500 in the AL Central. Both the Angels and Mariners are under .500 in the AL West, and the A's and Rangers are tied for 1st in the AL West, each only 1 game over .500 - which means they would be tied for LAST in the NL West.

Granted, we're nearly 2 months into the season, and it's still early, and the separation between 1st and last will grow over the next 4 months. But I daresay, there's pretty good ball being played out West. The Padres had won 9 straight, and are 7-3 over their last 10 games. Both the Dodgers and Giants have won 7 out of their last 10, including the three wins (with 34 runs the Giants scored) over the defending NL Champion Astros this week.

The West is winning.

For now.