MLB

Giants’ win keeps NL West race close, for now

San Francisco  walked off the division leading Arizona Diamondbacks in 10 innings on Wednesday afternoon to keep the division race nice and tight in the National League West. For a division that was dominated by the Dodgers in 2017, it’s been a tight race where no team has been able to pull away through the first two months of the season.

Andrew McCutchen hit a double into center field to get into scoring position, with two outs, on the very first pitch of the plate appearance. Six pitches later, Brandon Crawford punched a grounder through the right side of the infield to score the aging outfielder from second and hand San Francisco its 31st win of the season to bring the Giants’ record back to .500. Crawford’s single also kept the Diamondbacks from gaining a game on everyone else in the division.

NL West standings 6-6-18

Depending on how the rest of the games shake out today, the Giants could move up into third in their division. The Dodgers are currently trailing Pittsburgh in the top of the eighth and if that score holds than San Francisco will be up on Los Angeles by half a game.

Short term, Colorado benefits the most from San Francisco picking up the series win. The Rockies are leading the hapless Cincinnati Reds in the middle of the ninth inning and they should secure the win to give them a half game lead over Arizona in the division. It’ll be crucial for Colorado, any contender really, to pick up wins against the teams that are tanking; that way there will be a buffer should the Rockies struggle against the other top teams in the league.

But I wouldn’t sleep on Los Angeles, as they’re the team that seems primed to break out of their slump as the season moves along. Despite losing Corey Seager to Tommy John surgery, LA is within a couple of games in their division (probably 2.5 at the end of the night) as the team has started to put together more consistent performances game to-game. It’s still going to take a move at the trade deadline for them to become a serious threat, but the Dodgers performance over the last few weeks has made me believe that they’re going to be able to make a serious run at reclaiming the division crown.