The San Francisco Giants held on to the top spot in the NL West for about the past two weeks, but have lost their top stop in the division thanks to a week full of losses and a surging Arizona Diamondbacks club who have vaulted themselves atop the standings.
The NL West seemingly went from a two to a three team race overnight with Arizona winners of their last six straight games and 14-16 the last few weeks, the D'Backs are undoubtedly one of the hottest teams in baseball. Their bullpen has been astounding, especially closer J.J. Putz who is second in MLB with 16 saves with a 0.83 WHIP is his 23 total innings pitched so far this year. Colorado continues to spin their wheels, unable to get any momentum going and remain 3.5 games back of first place, the Dodgers gained a little bit of ground at 5.5 games back, while the Padres remain 7 games back, even after winning two out of three in Washington this weekend.
As for the Wild Card the Giants are back in the mix there as well, currently sitting 2.5 games back of the leading Florida Marlins, while the Brewers and the Braves sit slightly ahead of the G-Men in the standings as well.