The Embarrassment that is the National League West

Here are the current National League West standings:

WEST	W	L	PCT	GB	HOME	ROAD	RS	RA	STRK	L10
San Diego	53	55	.491	-	30-23	23-32	475	501	Won 1	2-8
Arizona	52	57	.477	1.5	25-30	27-27	471	559	Lost 2	5-5
LA Dodgers	48	59	.449	4.5	26-27	22-32	459	510	Lost 1	4-6
San Francisco	45	61	.425	7	22-32	23-29	456	539	Lost 4	3-7
Colorado	39	67	.368	13	27-27	12-40	462	585	Won 3	5-5

What's wrong with this picture? That's right, not a single team has a winning percentage over .500. I like the fact that all of these teams (except for Colorado) are in contention for a playoff spot, but the problem is that they are only in such a position because they are all terrible. However, despite my disgust with this current situation, I am hereby resolving not to complain too much about it for two major reasons. First of all, the National League as a whole is so mediocre that no truly deserving team is going to be shut out of the playoffs because of this NL West debacle. Second of all, as some of you may remember, there was a situation similar to this in 1995 in the American League West. The Seattle Mariners ended up winning that division with a record of just 79-66 (a .545 winning percentage), but since then, the AL West has been one of the most competitive and successful divisions in all of baseball. In 2001, the division even featured two 100-win teams, including the record-setting Mariners (more on them later). Thus, although things may look bad now, I expect one team to get hot and end up with a decent record and in a few years, who knows, there may be a 100-win team out in the NL West...