As the home of the defending champs and newly-minted evil empire of baseball, the NL West will certainly be one of the most scrutinized and analyzed divisions in the game. That is if people east of the Rockies can stay awake for the late, late games the West has to offer. For 2025 at least, it seems that they will be worth the hype, as the rest of the division was forced to step up and give a semblance of competition against the mighty Dodgers, to varying degrees of success so far.
On paper, LA should cruise to a division title while their three closest competitors fight for one or two Wild Card spots against the NL East. This would mean that the regular season is only an exercise in futility for the likes of Arizona, San Diego, and San Francisco, while the Dodgers will take turns beating them and setting up their playoff roster. Except this is not the NBA or European soccer, where a stacked roster tends to be bulletproof and predictable.
Due to baseball’s capriciousness, even a loaded roster and bloated payroll like LA’s will need to find consistency and prove day in and day out that they can establish a dynasty that has not been replicated since the late 90s Yankees. With this in mind, following the West is bound to be fun and dramatic from the early going, as the Dodgers will have a target on their back while their peers do not enjoy a huge margin for error, making every inning valuable as the summer rolls on.
No. 5 – Colorado Rockies
2024 Record: 61-101 – 2025 Projection: 64-98
For a while, the Rockies have been a complete afterthought in baseball, as not even their extreme stadium conditions have made them interesting from an entertainment standpoint. With 90-loss seasons becoming the norm and no clear rebuilding plan on the horizon, Colorado stands out for all the wrong reasons in the middle of a competitive division.
The grim projections and hollow roster speak of a deeply flawed team that will struggle to score runs in its cavernous park while struggling to prevent them. And yet, despite this cycle of cynicism and despair in Coors Field, there finally appears to be some hope for the future. The Rockies should at least find enough internal development to be considered among the teams that could break out in the next two or three years, with 2025 becoming important in that regard.
It all starts with a lineup that should give well over 3,000 plate appearances to players that have been drafted and developed by the organization. The youngest of the bunch, Ezequiel Tovar, already showed he is among the best young shortstops in the league. He will be joined by other solid hitters like Brenton Doyle and Ryan McMahon. In typical Colorado fashion, most of the diamond will be covered with stopgap veterans and washed stars, but maybe this is the season where we remember why Kris Bryant was such a big deal in the first place.
As usual, pitching will be an issue from the get-go, with no starter projected to have an ERA below 4.50. At least the Rockies finally appear to have health on their side. Veterans like Kyle Freeland, Germán Márquez, and Antonio Senzatela are nothing to write home about, but they could become solid options for contenders if they can turn in decent seasons before the deadline. Even as the Rockies have been reluctant to deal in the past, their current trajectory suggests that they should be open for business. With a farm system that is middling but trending in the right direction, Colorado should use this season to acquire as many lottery tickets as possible.
Manager Bud Black, who has stoically remained in charge since 2016, will have a tough task on his hands, but the overall youth of the roster has the chance to present a better product on the field. Improving toward 70 wins would be a massive accomplishment and provide hope, and that is probably the best-case scenario for this franchise.
No. 4 – San Francisco Giants
2024 Record: 80-82 – 2025 Projection: 81-81
After three straight years of mediocrity and no real shot at the playoffs, the Giants approached this offseason with an urgency to shift their philosophy. Enter new president of baseball operations Buster Posey, who will now have the thankless job of being the most visible face of a front office that has struggled to deliver a contender for the best part of the last decade. Save for the miracle 2021 season, Farhan Zaidi was not able to match San Francisco’s status as a big-market team with the expectations of a fanbase that has grown tired of the lack of results.
The initial organizational shift came when the team extended Matt Chapman to a long-term deal, followed by the big free-agent contract for Willy Adames, which finally gave the Giants a big-name player that will stick around. The surprise addition of Justin Verlander in search for a last hurrah is more par for the course, but it at least provides a glimpse of what the new front office is trying to accomplish in terms of fan service and the product on the field. The successful teams of the recent past in San Francisco relied as much on role players as they did on recognizable stars. This version of the Giants will look to emulate that blueprint.
Aside from the reassuring presence of Chapman and Adames, plus the youth infusion of 2024 standouts Heliot Ramos and Tyler Fitzgerald, several veterans from the last regime will have a chance to redeem themselves. Wilmer Flores, LaMonte Wade Jr., and Mike Yastrzemski are all looking to bounce back after down years. The X factor for the Giants then becomes how Jung Hoo Lee can adapt after a lost season and whether the team will be aggressive in promoting heralded prospect Bryce Eldridge.
Verlander joins a solid rotation with plenty of upside, as youngster Hayden Birdsong appears to have earned the final spot to supplement Robbie Ray, Jordan Hicks, and the ever-reliable Logan Webb. Following a season that saw San Francisco’s starters be the worst unit in terms of innings pitched, it seems like a priority to revert that and rely on their starters as a strength. Verlander’s mentorship with arms like Birdsong and the eventual return of Kyle Harrison should be a welcome addition. The bullpen will look largely similar. Camilo Doval was retained, but Ryan Walker should handle the majority of the save opportunities again.
While the current projections point to the Giants being on the same loop toward .500, they should go toe-to-toe with the Padres for most of the season and have the upside to battle for a Wild Card spot. Under the guidance of Bob Melvin in the second year of his tenure and with a front office that may be more aggressive to add talent during the year, this should be a fun season.
No. 3 – San Diego Padres
2024 Record: 93-69 – 2025 Projection: 82-80
The Padres went up two games to one over the Dodgers in last year’s NLDS, with an upcoming home game against a depleted staff about to use a bullpen strategy to try to salvage their season. From that point on, the worst-case scenario played out for the Friars, as they failed to score a run for the rest of the series and then had to see their rivals go all the way and win a championship. Moreover, that was followed by an offseason that saw them face several financial and legal battles. San Diego may have lost their last, best chance to finally deliver glory to the city, but they still carry enough talent to make some noise, making them one of the most enigmatic teams heading into 2025.
The optimistic approach for the Padres says that any team with Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill as headliners has a chance, especially if they have good-to-great players around them. Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts may be on the wrong side of 30, but they still have plenty left in the tank. Hits machine Luis Arraez remains a solid bet to be a pest for opposing pitchers. The problem for San Diego is that their depth and margin for error have all but evaporated, and an untimely injury or two could derail their plans. The payroll constraints faced by this franchise first led to the Juan Soto departure in 2024, and now they are reflected in the kind of free-agent signings the team had to make to fill holes around their roster.
José Iglesias may have been the spark plug for the 2024 Mets, but he is more likely to have another hit on the Billboard charts than to be a serviceable hitter in the majors. Similar caveats apply to veterans like Jason Heyward, Gavin Sheets, and Yuli Gurriel, all of whom are primed to play important roles for the Padres this season. The top-heavy nature of this roster makes it unlikely to sustain winning streaks and momentum, especially considering how tough the National League as a whole promises to be.
Similar issues will plague the rotation, as Dylan Cease and Michael King project to be well above-average arms, but the addition of Nick Pivetta does not solve many issues. The year-long absence of Joe Musgrove has created a revolving door of arms to fill out the staff. Even as the bullpen should be in good shape, there is a clear scenario in which the Padres could become sellers around the trade deadline to try for a quick retool toward 2026.
No. 2 – Arizona Diamondbacks
2024 Record: 89-73 – 2025 Projection: 86-76
In 2023, the Diamondbacks won a mere 84 games but rode a hot hand to the World Series. In 2024, they improved by five wins but missed the playoffs altogether, becoming a mild disappointment in what was ultimately a solid year for the franchise. Baseball is weird like that sometimes. Arizona appears to be on a mission to be taken seriously as a contender and is being considered among the best bets to be this season’s dark horse. The core of the past two seasons has been sustained and now complemented by several savvy acquisitions that have quietly made Arizona one of the best overall rosters in the league.
Outside of Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte, the casual fan may struggle to name many of Arizona’s lineup regulars, but that may be part of the plan for this team. In what appears almost as a reverse-Padres situation, the Diamondbacks have built a collection of unheralded players that appear primed to provide value in some way or other. While the departure of franchise stalwart Christian Walker stings a bit, he will be replaced by the similarly good Josh Naylor. Solid contributors like Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Eugenio Suárez provide experience and stability. Arizona projects to yet again be among the league’s best defensive teams, which provides a solid floor regardless of their offensive output.
The massive free-agent signing of Corbin Burnes appears to be the finishing touch for this team, as he will now headline a rotation that has already been pretty good in the past. Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly are among the NL’s best duos in terms of production and volume, while we get to see the third year of Brandon Pfaadt’s development. Fellow lefties Eduardo Rodriguez and Jordan Montgomery, who were disappointments in 2024, now get a chance to redeem themselves as they battle for the final rotation spot. The back end of the bullpen should also be a strength, with A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez rotating in the closer spot.
The lack of star power on this roster makes it hard to envision them fighting for a division title, but that may not be the goal for this team. Instead, being competitive and fundamentally solid may help them avoid long losing streaks, while they should remain steady in the Wild Card race all season. If they can make the playoffs, their rotation will make them a tough draw for any team, including the Dodgers or any NL East foe that comes their way.
No. 1 – Los Angeles Dodgers
2024 Record: 98-64 – 2025 Projection: 97-65
For the better part of a decade, the Dodgers had created a simple formula that appeared foolproof but cruel, building excellent rosters that would cruise to 95+ wins only to falter in the playoffs. Despite adding Shohei Ohtani to that formula in 2024, it all came painfully close to happening again, as LA ran out of arms and appeared set to lose in the aforementioned NLDS to the Padres. Instead, their depth shone like never before, carrying the team to relatively easy series wins over the Mets and Yankees to earn the team’s first full-season championship since 1988. Then, rather than resting on their laurels, the Dodgers decided to embrace their newfound status as baseball’s bully and built a team that looks ready to dominate the next era of baseball.
Despite relying mostly on veterans above 30, we are talking of more than a handful of future Hall of Famers and superstars, led by the omnipresence of Ohtani, the versatility of Mookie Betts, and the graceful aging of Freddie Freeman. That trio alone is enough to generate fear in any opposing staff, but adding professional at-bats from the likes of Teoscar Hernández, Max Muncy, and Tommy Edman gives the Dodgers a sense of inevitability that is unparalleled in the game. Should anything go wrong, the team even has the luxury of a few top-100 prospects that could make an immediate impact, which seems almost unfair at this point.
With the lineup almost guaranteed to produce, the front office was quick to address the team’s pitching issues by adding two of the most coveted pitchers on the market. Blake Snell may be mercurial, but he is a two-time Cy Young winner with arguably the best stuff for a lefty in the league when he is on. Roki Sasaki established himself as a generational star in Japan before he turned 23 and will try to replicate that success stateside. Their additions complement the return of Ohtani to the mound, while Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow would represent the ace of almost any other staff. With this amount of talent, the plan seems clear for the Dodgers, as they can mix, match, and tinker in many ways with their rotation to maximize their short-term output and keep everyone fresh for October.
In the end, that kind of pressure may be the only thing that could derail this team, as expectations are as high as possible. Much like what happened with the LeBron James-led Miami Heat of the early 2010s, anything short of a dynasty will feel like a letdown for LA and its fans.
The result of the Dodgers atop the West for the 12th time in 13 seasons is almost a foregone conclusion, but the only thing that matters is what happens in October.