Back in March, even the fiercest Los Angeles Dodgers haters likely agreed that only disaster would keep Shohei Ohtani and teammates from another NL West title. How little we knew that would wind up as more of an indictment on the rest of the division than it is a compliment toward the two-time defending World Series champions.

Not only do the Dodgers enter Monday with a 14-game division lead, but they’re the only NL West team with so much as a winning record. The Diamondbacks and Padres are both 44-45, though one of them could climb back above .500 as they face one another in San Diego this week.

Of course, the Diamondbacks get the Dodgers in Los Angeles from Friday through Sunday, while the Padres host the Blue Jays. The less said about the Giants, the better. Arguably the only two NL West teams meeting or exceeding expectations are the Dodgers and … the Rockies, who still have one of the sport’s worst records.

Great job, all. Truly.

How Dodgers running away with the NL West makes their path to a threepeat easier

It’s easy to chalk this up as an extremely obvious development and move on. But it’s worth lingering on just how disappointing the rest of the NL West has been this season, and what that could mean for Los Angeles moving forward as it looks to position itself for a third straight title.

Start at the trade deadline, which is now less than a month away. Unlike their primary competitoin for the pennant, teams like the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs, the Dodgers can approach Aug. 3 with exactly one thing in mind: How can we best win a short playoff series? While everyone else is trying to find pieces that will simply help them get across the line as division champs (or even making the postseason in the first place), Los Angeles can afford to target one or two key needs that will come in handy once October rolls around. They also, crucially, don’t have to get too desperate in trade talks, knowing that there’s zero pressure until playoff time.

Speaking of a lack of urgency: For a team with injury concerns up and down the roster, it’s a blessing not to have to keep the pedal to the metal in August and September. Shohei Ohtani has been flagging for weeks now, struggling to keep up his typical level of play both on the mound and at the plate. If the Dodgers were being pushed by San Diego or someone else, they might feel a bit more heat to keep running their two-way phenom out there every fifth day despite nagging injuries. Instead, they can put him on ice, unleashing a fresh version when it really matters.

That’s a luxury that Atlanta and Philly can’t afford as they try to battle to stay out of a Wild Card series, as is also true for Milwaukee and Chicago. And it’s all thanks to a division that has become a national laughingstock.

Major League Baseball should be embarrassed by the National League West 

What’s especially humorous — and, in its own way, disturbing — about the NL West standings is that the Padres, Giants and Diamondbacks all have top-13 payrolls. This isn’t an instance where a division leader has an incredibly high budget and the other four teams choose to be cheap.

Obviously, the Dodgers’ priority isn’t only winning the NL West, but also securing the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage. The Phillies and Braves both have the potential to make things incredibly interesting if they could host the Dodgers in the NLCS.

As for the Padres and Diamondbacks, the fact that they play in a six-team postseason era is mitigated by the fact that they’re four games out of the third and final Wild Card spot. The Cubs, Phillies, Cardinals and Marlins are quickly separating themselves from the rest of the NL, and all are expected to buy ahead of the trade deadline.

Unsurprisingly, the Padres and Diamondbacks are facing questions regarding potential fire sales. Manny Machado’s and Xander Bogaerts’ contracts will likely keep them in San Diego indefinitely, but would the Padres consider trading Fernando Tatis Jr.? Contenders must ask themselves whether they’d want to gamble on a veteran outfielder with a career-worst .731 OPS and a history of immaturity and poor decisions.

The Diamondbacks could be tempted to move veteran starting pitcher Eduardo Rodríguez, but they might be stuck with Merrill Kelly. Zac Gallen might be untradable, too, because of his 6.36 ERA and what remains of his $16.2 million salary.

It’s tough times in the NL West, unless you’re wearing the Dodger blue.

For what it’s worth, we’ve never seen a team clinch their division in August, so a mid-September lockout celebration is far likelier. Let’s see if any of their division counterparts also have something to be happy about by that point.

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