NL West is Up for Grabs: Giants Need to Take it Now

At the beginning of the year it looked like the NL West was one of the best divisions in baseball. But injuries have left it a wide-open race through a month and a half.

In ESPN’s latest MLB power rankings, which are usually questionable, the highest ranked NL West team is the Arizona Diamondbacks at 13. That tells you how far this division has fallen.

Many thought the Diamondbacks would run away with this division just a few weeks ago, but they are just 5-13 in May and now find themselves just a half game up over the Rockies.

Meanwhile, the Giants are now just two games back of the division lead with a record of 24-24. Things did not look pretty after dropping the first two games against the Rockies, but they bounced back to split the four-game set.

To be fair, almost every team in the NL West is decimated by injuries, including the Giants. But that’s why the Giants have to strike now.

Eventually, the Diamondbacks and Dodgers are going to get healthy and rolling. If the Giants don’t take advantage now, they could be out of luck later this year.

They’ve taken care of business against the Dodgers for the most part going 6-4. They have another three-game set against them in the middle of June.

However, they are just 2-4 against the Diamondbacks with six games against them between now and July 1.

If the Giants are going to have any chance at winning this division, they have to start gaining ground now.

Don’t forget, the Giants will eventually get healthy at some point too … I hope. At some point this year we will get Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto into the rotation together.

While the job for the Giants until then was to try and stay afloat, which they’ve done, I think the goal now should be to lead the division.

Next: San Francisco Giants: “The Brandons” Setting All-Star Pace Right Now

With the injuries and lack of consistency in the division, the Giants have a golden opportunity to take advantage and grab a lead in the NL West.