MLB Spring Training: Can anyone catch the Dodgers in the NL West?

• The Los Angeles Dodgers are favorites to repeat as World Champions but first they have to navigate the NL West division. Who has the best chance of stopping them?
• The Diamondbacks signed big name free agents Corbin Burnes and Josh Naylor to make a run.
• Future Hall of Fame pitcher Justin Verlander joins a good group in San Francisco.

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Spring training is underway across Major League Baseball in both Florida and Arizona. Everyone, it seems, is going to be chasing the Los Angeles Dodgers. Who has the best chance to catch them in the National League West?

Will anyone catch the Los Angeles Dodgers?

The defending World Series Champs have spent an obscene amount of money to continue building their dynasty. Some of the new players the team signed to join Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freema. The rest include outfielder Micheal Conforto, Japanese pitching phenom Roki Sasaki and 2-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell. On Thursday, Feb. 13 the club also re-signed 3-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw to a one-year deal. He’ll play his 18th season in Dodgers blue.

“You know, I don’t think I put enough merit on it at times to be in one organization your entire career, you look at people throughout all of sports that have been able to do that, and it is special, it is,” Kershaw said.

The Dodgers are special too, if it’s not the 6-man pitching rotation, or their top ranked offense, it’s the shutdown bullpen that will get it done. They could win 105 games this year.

Can the San Diego Padres complete their comeback?

The only team to take the Dodgers to the brink in 2024 was the San Diego Padres. The team lost a heartbreaking decisive game 5 in the divisional round of the playoffs by a final of 2-0.

The Padres didn’t do much to add to their roster in the offseason, hoping they stay healthy for another run at the Dodgers. Dylan Cease, Michael King and Yu Darvish will once again lead a rotation that added Nick Pivetta to the mix. The offense will lean on Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis, Jr. and Luis Arraez.

Will the Arizona Diamondbacks make another surprise run?

The Arizona Diamondbacks, who made a surprise run to the World Series in 2023, want to get back. In the offseason, the team signed the top free agent pitcher on the market, former Oriole Corbin Burnes. They also replaced Christian Walker at first base with slugger Josh Naylor, formerly of the Cleveland Guardians. Will it be enough for manager Torey Lovullo? He talked about setting the tone on day one of camp.

“Pitchers and catchers are here. It’s the start of spring training, the start of a new season. Everybody is 0-0 and there’s a lot of hope, a lot of expectation and a lot of standard that we gotta adhere to,” Lovullo said.

San Francisco Giants add power, but is it enough?

Hanging right around the D-Backs in the race will likely be the San Francisco Giants. The team from the Bay has some great young pitching led by a former ace in Robbie Ray.

The lineup, however, needs to make a jump from 20th in the league if they want to contend. Shortstop Willy Adames, signed away from Milwaukee, should help the offense.

Manager Bob Melvin was asked on day one of spring training what he likes about his club. He mentioned the pitching right away, with the addition of future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander to add some depth.

“Obviously there’s a lot of talent and you try to take away some positives from last year. I think one of the big things was the development of some of our younger players and our younger pitchers,” Melvin said. “Whether it’s [Hayden] Birdsong or [Landen] Roupp or guys like that, even [Trevor] McDonald at the end of the year, we have the depth.”

Will the Colorado Rockies even be in the hunt?

Sadly, there isn’t much to say about the perpetually rebuilding Colorado Rockies. Once again, they will be a young team with mid-level pitching playing in the most hitter friendly ballpark in the majors, which is not a good combination.

It will be an uphill battle for the Rockies to get to 70 wins this year after not making any impactful changes during the offseason.