The Los Angeles Dodgers sit atop MLB as defending World Series champions for the second year in a row. But that won't stop their National League West rivals from aiming to knock the high-priced Dodgers off their perch.
Sure, the Dodgers are still loaded. Shohei Ohtani leads a lineup and rotation that don't seem to have a weakness. Add newcomers Kyle Tucker and Edwin Diaz, and Los Angeles might be even more formidable than last season. Still, the Arizona Diamondbacks are just three years removed from the NL pennant with Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll.
The San Diego Padres are always thinking about a deep postseason run behind Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. The San Francisco Giants are thinking outside the box with the hiring of former University of Tennessee coach Tony Vitello. Finally, the Colorado Rockies are rebuilding, but they have a gem in catcher Hunter Goodman.
Athlon Sports tapped anonymous scouts to deliver the skinny on opponents for our 2026 MLB Preview magazine. Here’s what they had to say about the five teams in the NL West.
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American League East
American League Central
American League West
National League East
National League Central
Arizona Diamondbacks
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Geraldo Perdomo is their leader, and they go as he goes. It’s great to see him getting some recognition for the all-around stud he is. With Perdomo, Corbin Carroll and Gabriel Moreno, they really have an excellent core that should be together for a long time. They just need to keep Moreno on the field.
They should move Jordan Lawler to the outfield, though; he’s still got a long way to go. Rotation-wise, they’ll be fine. Merrill Kelly is a steady, solid pro, Ryne Nelson has been good for a couple of years now and Brandon Pfaadt always takes the ball; he’s just got to scrap the cutter because it cost him the effectiveness of his two-seamer. I don’t love the Michael Soroka signing — he’s still young, but he’s been hurt all his life. Their bullpen fell apart last year, and I don’t think they’ve done enough to address that.
Colorado Rockies
I don’t know how hiring Paul DePodesta is going to fix this. They’ve been so bad for so long, so you hire a guy who’s been historically bad in the NFL for the last 10 years? The guys they really wanted wouldn’t take the job, which always tells you that the owner is still going to be making the calls. And that’s a shame because they’ve been a disaster for years now.
The Angels and the Rockies are the two worst-run minor league systems in all of baseball — everyone knows it, and everyone laughs about it. Hunter Goodman had a breakout season at catcher, but other homegrown guys like Brenton Doyle, Michael Toglia and Ezequiel Tovar all went backward in a big way last season. They strike out a ton, they never walk and their pitchers don’t strike anybody out. I just have no confidence that they’ll turn this thing around.
Los Angeles Dodgers
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It’s no real secret: They spend, and they have so much depth. They sign Miguel Rojas back for $5.5 million; nobody else does that for a utility player, and he comes up huge for them. Then they’ll flat-out steal guys like Tommy Edman, who they got for nothing a couple of years ago. It’s unbelievable. They missed on a couple of bullpen signings last year, but it’s no problem — they go right out and sign the best guy, Edwin Diaz, for the back end. They’re so deep, there’s no way they’ll miss the playoffs.
That’s why they give all that money to stuff guys like Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow because they know they can take half the year off and be fresher than everyone else in October. There’s really no weakness. Yeah, they’re getting older, but I don’t see Freddie Freeman slowing down, and I’ll always believe in Mookie Betts. His numbers were down last year, but that’s just getting used to the mental fatigue from playing every day in the middle infield. Will Smith is the best hitting catcher in baseball, and everybody knows it now. And, of course, they have the best player ever in Shohei Ohtani, and the modern pitching ironman in Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
San Diego Padres
They’re a mess. When you’ve got three guys on $300 million contracts, I don’t know how you can stop. But they’re not shopping in that range anymore, and they’ll have to get more and more creative to stay competitive. Xander Bogaerts has no range, and his offense has dipped dramatically, which everyone saw coming except the Padres.
But generally, A.J. Preller doesn’t miss on talent. He outdrafts everybody, in my opinion, and you see it with guys like Jackson Merrill and the depth he always has to use for trades. He flipped a couple of fifth/sixth starter types for Freddy Fermin, a catcher I really like who was blocked in Kansas City. And the bullpen is a real strength with Mason Miller, Jason Adam and Adrian Morejon. But there’s just not enough starting pitching. Everybody knew the Yu Darvish extension was crazy, and now he may never pitch again.
San Francisco Giants
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I’m very skeptical about hiring Tony Vitello straight from a college program. There’s just so much that’s different about the big leagues. But if Buster Posey believes in him, you know he’s got a reason. They need to do whatever they can to attract players to San Francisco because nobody wants to play there anymore. That’s why they had to trade for a big guy who was already signed, like Rafael Devers, and overpay for guys like Matt Chapman and Willy Adames.
Chapman is really good in the field, but he’s not a $150 million player, and Adames has power, but he strikes out too much, and he’s just OK defensively at shortstop. Patrick Bailey is an excellent defensive catcher, but again, he just doesn’t hit. I like Bryce Eldridge, but he’s not ready yet, and there just aren’t many everyday players at 6-foot-7 who hang around the big leagues for a while.
Logan Webb is a total pro, an old-school guy at the top of that rotation, but is Robbie Ray much more than a No. 4 anymore? And how many innings can you count on from Adrian Houser? They’re basically a .500 team for me, but if everything goes right, maybe they’re good enough to sneak into the playoffs.
