NL West: Strong or Weak

Don't look now, but the San Diego Padres are in contention in the NL West.  After sweeping the D-Backs this weekend, the Padres closed to within 2 games of the division leading Snakes.   The Rockies meanwhile in a 3-3 week, managed to close to within 1/2 a game of Arizona.

So at this point in the season, it's a fair question to ask:  Is the NL West a strong division or weak?   It's easy to say that the NL Central is the strongest division in Baseball with 3 teams 10 games or more over .500.  Or maybe it's the AL East with 4 teams above .500 and the Toronto Blue Jays only 4 games under .500.   Perhaps the NL West is a little bit weaker than the NL Central, and certainly have not held up well against the AL East. (collectively the NL West is 9-15 vs. the AL East so far).   But the NL West does have a collective 37-27 vs. the NL East and a 35-34 record against the NL Central.

Over 90 games left to go but it could be the NL West could be the most competitve and strongest division in the National League.   The Padres emergence as a competitive team, means there are 4 possible teams that could take off shortly.   Since May 1, the Padres are 25-18, Arizona is 22-20, Giants 20-21, and the Rockies 20-22.

Since the Rockies are headed on the road for 9 Games and 19 of their next 26, so I wouldn't expect the Rockies to make a move on the leaders in the next month especially with Tulowitzki out.  Their best hope would be to stay with the leaders and not fall too far behind before the All-Star break.  But then again stranger things have happened.