Coming into 2025, several divisions wanted to lay claim to being the best the MLB had to offer. The NL West was always in that discussion. The AL East, NL East, and even AL Central, though, were all hoping to prove that their division had the most impressive and challenging collection of teams in baseball.
A few weeks into the season, the clear top dog has been established despite the attempts of the other divisions and does not appear to be going anywhere soon.
The East Coast tends to have an advantage over the AL and NL West in terms of visibility and attention, as the time zones more closely align with prime time coverage. Therefore, they are often talked about as the most challenging divisions, and they certainly boast some current championship contenders.
Both divisions, however, have teams that are seriously underperforming expectations: the Atlanta Braves in the NL East and the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, and Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East.
The AL Central is a much-maligned and often-forgotten division, but it has been brought up in conversations with the NL West due to the number of playoff teams it produced last season.
Despite being projected as the worst division in sports, the 2024 AL Central surprised the baseball world and put the Cleveland Guardians, Kansas City Royals, and Detroit Tigers into the playoffs. All three advanced past the first round to make up three of the final four teams in the AL. This year has been far less underwhelming, with only three teams under .500.
No other division can stake a claim in the top spot to compete with the NL West. The NL Central features the Chicago Cubs, one of the best teams thus far in 2025, but no other team has a record better than .500 at this point in the season.
Meanwhile, the AL West has been a bit surprising, with four teams bunched at the top with only 1.5 games separating them. All have appeared flawed, though, and none are establishing themselves as a dominant force in baseball.
The only other division left is the NL West, and so far this season, they have been far and away the best and toughest group of teams in the entire league. Sure, the Colorado Rockies are in the division, and they are the punching bag of the baseball world.
The top three teams, though, have three of the four best records in the National League, and the fourth-place team is still sixth overall. Having four of the National League’s six best teams seems nearly impossible, yet that is precisely where they stand.
The expected force in the NL West is always going to be the Los Angeles Dodgers. Year in and year out, they produce one of the best regular-season records in the league. Given their headline-grabbing off-season again before 2025 opening day, nearly everyone picked the Dodgers to not just win the division, but also win a championship for the second year in a row.
Their pitching and offense are loaded with superstars and feature an impressive level of depth. As it stands now, they shockingly only sit third in this loaded division.
Sitting at the top of the NL West standings is the team that many felt was the stiffest competition for the Dodgers last season, and they are proving it again this year. Despite turmoil among ownership partners and some challenging budget restraints, the San Diego Padres have the best record in the division at 17-8, second best in the entire sport.
They have been driven by a top-ten offense led by potential MVP candidate Fernando Tatis Jr., Nick Pivetta’s dominant start in a top-five rotation, and a bullpen that can match with any team in the league.
The biggest surprise, not just in the NL West division, but possibly in the entire league, is the upstart San Francisco Giants. Following their disappointing performance in 2021, the Giants have struggled to regain their form, posting mediocre results over the last three years.
While they made some splashes in the offseason, they were not expected to move the needle much on their own. Despite sitting in the middle of the pack on offense, their top-10 pitching staff, led by Logan Webb, has allowed them to find a way into second in the NL West and third in the league overall.
Sitting fourth in the NL West division is a quiet 14-11 Arizona Diamondbacks team that is only two years removed from a World Series birth. Their biggest offseason acquisition, Corbin Burnes, has struggled so far this season. Their offense boasts a top-5 lineup in the game right now, but their pitching has let the team down.
That said, the team’s xFIP is substantially better than the results indicate, placing them third among all teams. If the results can get closer to matching the expected level of performance, the Diamondbacks are a fearsome team to face.
To put it another way, not only is the NL West strong, but the teams are actually among the best in the entire league. Having four teams that are reasonably among the six or seven best in the sport, all in the same division, is both staggering and exciting. Each of the teams in the division is must-watch television when they play and will give fits to opponents for most of the 2025 season, if not longer, especially with the younger cores most of them boast.
As a fan of a team playing in the American League East, I have an inherent bias towards the East Coast. Year in and year out, the AL East fires up some of the best and most intimidating teams in the league, even with some small-market teams in the division.
The NL East comprises the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, and Atlanta Braves, with the Washington Nationals and Miami Marlins also occasionally challenging for the top of the standings.
There is no doubt, though, that the NL West is the cream of the crop right now. The statistics back it up. For the most part, the teams are either performing at expected levels based on advanced metrics or even underperforming their expectation, as is the case with the Diamondbacks.
Sure, the Rockies are the worst team in the sport, but the others more than make up the gap. That is a division that is a true gauntlet, and I am glad that my team does not have to try to compete in that environment this year.
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