Over the last 2 seasons the Los Angeles Dodgers have had the most success in the NL West, which has been a pretty weak division one can say. There was no team to really contend against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2008 and 2009. As a result, the Dodgers were able to clinch the number one spot in both consecutive years. But things have changed this year, considerably. At this moment the NL West stands: 1.) San Diego Padres, 2.) San Francisco Giants, 3.) Los Angeles Dodgers, 4.) Colorado Rockies, 5.) Arizona Diamondbacks. Compared to last year there has been a dramatic change. The Padres, who were second to last in the division in 2009, have jolted to first place and have maintained the number one spot for quite some time. The main reason behind the Padres’ success this year is due to the horses they have in the starting rotation and also due to a strong bullpen. The starting rotation consists of young pitchers with great arms like Clayton Richard, Matt Latos, Kevin Correia, and veteran John Garland. The Padres’ dominating pitching is the sole reason why they are having such profound success this year. It is surely not because of their offense. The Padres rank 19th in runs, 26th in hits, and 21st in home runs. Great pitching combined with a shutdown bullpen has allowed San Diego to rack up so many wins thus far.
The same can be said for the San Francisco Giants. The Giants are not really an explosive offensive team that produce a lot of runs, hits, and so on. But, like San Diego, the Giants have thrived off their pitching to be in second place in the NL West. When you throw out their Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, Barry Zito, and even Madison Bumgarner the Giants always have a solid chance of winning any given day. The Dodgers, who have won the NL West the past two seasons, have some issues this year that have led to their present downfall.
Although not quite dominant as that of the Padres and Giants, the starting rotation of the Dodgers has been pretty solid throughout the season so far. The pitchers do a good job of not giving up many runs and they certainly put the team in position to win night in and night out. The problem, however, is a pretty meek offense and an inconsistent bullpen. The batters have a tough time driving in runs when runners get on base. This trend has been consistent throughout the entire season. One can pin this to various reasons like Manny Ramirez’ absence due to injuries, Matt Kemp’s inability to hit ball this year, and also other injuries here and there. But there are really no excuses. The Dodgers get plenty of runners on base but when it’s time to score them in, no avail. In addition to the challenged offense, the Dodgers also have an inconsistent bullpen. The bullpen thus far has been pretty unreliable. Jonathan Broxton has been unable to shut teams down and close out games for Los Angeles. Broxton, who has or “had” some of the nastiest stuff in baseball, seems to collapse when he is on the mound looking to get a save. It is not only Broxton who has been inconsistent this year for LA, but the bullpen pitchers are also having a tough time getting outs, resulting in many games where they have blown leads.
But, the Dodgers are not quite out of the race in the NL West. If they can get the offense and bullpen up to par with the starting rotation the Dodgers can certainly string together wins. This will, however, require the Padres losing some games though. We will just have to see what happens in the NL West this season!