Who's That Knockin On The Door?

West	W	L	Pct	GB
Dodgers	37	18	.673	__
Giants	25	25	.500	9.5
Padres	25	28	.472	11.0
Diamondbacks	23	31	.426	13.5
Rockies	20	32	.385	15.5

Nobody, that's who. Must be just the wind blowing, because there is nobody close to knocking on the Dodgers door in the NL West. This division is all but wrapped up. All it needs is a pretty bow and some dreadlocks to go with it and it's time to wait and see our first round opponent is.

Ok, I am partially kidding... 9-1/2 game leads have been lost much later in the season than this. Plenty of head to head games remain between divisional foes, but it gets to a point where a lead becomes too big to overcome, especially when the talent levels are so uneven.

Giants: The Giants are the closest competitor right now at 9-1/2 games behind the Dodgers. The Giants have a nice little pitching staff, and are playing .500 ball. That's probably how they will end the season, but could easily finish slightly over .500 at best. Their offense is awful and their bullpen, smells like a stroll down the Embarcadero.

Padres: Next up are the Padres, who are currently in third place, 11 games out. They recently put together a nice little 10 game winning streak. But they would be hard pressed to finish off the season at the .500 level, and most likely will finish somewhere around 10 to 15 games under .500. They have two nice little players in Adrian Gonzalez and Jake Peavy. Peavy may or may not even finish the season off with the Padres. They are not a threat.

Diamondbacks: This is the team I still worry about the most, but they are a whopping 13-1/2 games out of first place, with two other teams to climb over in the NL West. They are easily the 2nd most talented team in the NL West and if they were less than 10 games out, I may be a little worried about them, but they are so far back in the rear view mirror that I can't see them contending for the West title this year. I still believe that they will finish around the .500 level, good enough for a possible 2nd place finish in the west. Very small threat, even when Brandon Webb returns.

Rockies The Rockies are 15-1/2 games out and are a very bad team. Probably on the same level as the Padres. But aren't even worth mentioning.