Around the NL West: It's still so early

With no Padres game today, it's time to take a look and see what's going on with the rest of the NL West.

The San Diego Padres are 9-5 after finishing off a sweep of the lowly Cincinnati Reds yesterday afternoon and have an off day today before starting a three game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers tomorrow at Petco Park.

This feels like as good a time as any to take a look beyond the Padres and see what’s happening in the rest of the NL West.

Los Angeles Dodgers (9-3)

I know, it’s easy to look at the Dodgers in 1st place with a 9-3 record and think “Here we go again.” The truth of the matter is that the Dodgers’ good record has more to do with them playing the Reds (4 games) and the Twins (2 games) than anything else. Against the Braves and Rockies, they are 3-3.

Just like the Padres, the Dodgers have some hitters that have yet to get going. Chief amongst them are Mookie Betts and Max Muncy. Freddie Freeman has been killing it with his new team, Cody Bellinger might be back (gulp), and they have enough depth that a mostly-working lineup is still getting them 5+ runs in most games.

The Dodgers also have an off day today, meaning both them and the Padres will be well-rested for their clash this weekend.

Colorado Rockies (8-4)

The early surprise of the season is the Rockies being in 2nd place in the division. To be honest, I haven’t watched a Rockies game and this record confuses me when I look through their stats. They appear to only have two good hitters right now: C.J. Cron, who is on another world with 6 HRs already, and Connor Joe, who has been getting very lucky (Eric Hosmer-style).

Oh, so they must be winning with their pitching, right? Well, no. Their pitching is 17th best in the league. (Their offense is 12th in the league, if you’re wondering.)

I’m going to be rude to the Rockies here and blame their good record on some really weak opponents. After taking two of three from the Dodgers to start the season, the Rockies have played series against the Rangers, Cubs and Phillies. If any of those teams are going to be good, they aren’t yet.

Count me as a non-believer in the Rockies’ early success.

San Francisco Giants (8-4)

It’s not a surprise, but the Giants are good again. Even after losing Buster Posey and Kevin Gausman and whoever else they’ve lost, the Giants are still one of the league’s better pitching teams with enough hitting to win a lot of games.

They’ve handled business against the Marlins, Padres and Guardians. They’re attempting to split their series against the Mets, whose offense is red hot, today. They also have some reserves on the way, with a few key players set to return from the injured list soon.

Until something changes, there’s no reason to believe that this team is much better or worse than they were last season.

Arizona Diamondbacks (4-8)

Not only are the Diamondbacks a terrible baseball team, they have started the season with a brutal schedule. Since losing three of four to the Padres to start the season, they’ve also lost or split series against the Astros, Mets and Nationals.

I know it’s early for stats, so I’ll keep this very basic. Arizona has one of the three worst offenses in baseball, so far, to go with one of the league’s worst starting rotation. Outside of Seth Beer, Madison Bumgarner and Merrill Kelly, this team doesn’t have a lot.

Paid subscriptions are here

Starting with tomorrow’s post, Bandwagon Beach will now be a paid subscription-based newsletter and blog. Most posts will include some part that’s free, but you’ll have to be a paid subscriber to see the whole thing. There will also be at least one post per week that is for paid subscribers only.

Substack’s minimum monthly subscription rate is $5/month, so that’s what it will be set at. However, for anyone that is already here, I created a 50% special that lasts for the next week.

Turning this from a free hobby to a paid one will allow me to dedicate more time and resources to it, which should only improve the level of Padres coverage you’ll get during the season and will definitely increase the amount of content you get in the offseason.

If I haven’t said it before, thank you to everyone who has joined me on this journey over the last year. It’s been really fun to build something up from scratch like this, and to do something all on my own. I beam with pride every time someone says that they like reading Bandwagon Beach, and I’m sure I’ll be walking on air when I see people willing to pay to read my daily musings. I look forward to seeing how far we can take this.