All were excited for the National League West entering this season, as the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the young and talented San Diego Padres were supposed to duke it out in a fight for first all year long.
However, an unexpected team has sat atop the division for the majority of the season: the San Francisco Giants. When the Dodgers began their slump in mid-April, the Giants capitalize on their rivals’ poor play and took the division lead.
San Francisco has sat in first place for 46 days this season, which handily tops the Dodgers’ 25 and the Padres’ 14.
The Giants had expectation for improvement coming into this season, but few expected them to perform to the level they have. In fact, even Dodgers manager Dave Roberts admitted he has been taken by surprise.
“For anyone to think the Giants would be leading this division would be a surprise, but give those guys credit,” Roberts said. “Farhan (Zaidi), Gabe (Kapler), the coaching staff, players. What they’ve done, they deserve the credit. They’re relevant this year and they’ve earned that.”
The Dodgers have sat behind the Giants in the standings for some time now and had difficulty gaining ground. Though the Dodgers have improved steadily since their rough patch in April, the Giants’ refusal to slow down has made first place in the NL West an evasive destination.
Should the Dodgers finish in second place this season, at best they would qualify for the Wild Card Game.
A one-game-to-decide-the-fate-of-the-entire-season scenario is obviously less than ideal for any team, and the Dodgers have been able to avoid the Wild Card Game since it was implemented in 2012.
“It’s tough, but I think the playoff structure is good in the sense that if you don’t win the division and have to play the Wild Card,” Roberts said. “It gives the division winner an advantage. It’s just more incentive to win your division.”
Kershaw, Muncy not surprised by Giants
While Roberts may be surprised by the Giants’ impressive play this year, two of his his star players haven’t shared the sentiment. Last month, Clayton Kershaw and Max Muncy said they felt no surprise in seeing how well San Francisco has played this season.
“They’ve always had good players,” Muncy said. “I’ve said it before, for whatever reason they couldn’t put it together the last couple years but they’ve had good players.”
Kershaw cited the team’s ability to get healthy as the catalyst for San Francisco’s sudden resurgence.
“You get Buster back, and Buster is playing maybe better than he ever has,” he explained. “That’s a big addition. Their starting pitching has been really good as well.”
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