Remember when we were kids and used to have good old-fashioned staring contests with our friends? You know, the ones where the person who blinks first loses? Well welcome to the 2017 National League West, where the top three teams – the Colorado Rockies, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers – are having a three-way staring contest of epic proportion … and we’re not even to the halfway point of the season yet.

Since June 1, the Rockies have gone 13-4, the Dbacks 11-4, and the Dodgers 11-5 to give the three NL West teams season records of 46-26 (.639), 44-26 (.629) and 44-26 (.629) respectively and has the Dbacks and Dodgers tied for second place one game behind the Rockies.

Since their Opening Day 14-3 win over the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers are 25-10 at home.
(Photo credit – Dieter Ruehle)

Where thing really get interesting is that the Dodgers have 10 games remaining against the Rockies (seven at Dodger Stadium) and 12 games remaining against the Diamondbacks (six at Dodger Stadium). It gets even more interesting when you consider that the final series of the 2017 regular season for the Dodgers will be at Coors Field on Friday, September 29 through Sunday, October 1. In other words, the NL West race may not be decided until the final out is recorded on the last day of the regular season.

The point to all of this is that the Dodgers must – absolutely must – continue to win the games that they are expected to win against the weaker teams – especially the Giants and Padres. The Dodgers have 10 games remaining against the Padres (three at Dodger Stadium) and nine games remaining against the Hated Ones (six at Dodger Stadium). That Dodger Stadium thing is important because the Dodgers are 25-10 at home thus far this season – the second best home record in all of baseball to only (wait for it…) the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are 26-9 at Chase Field.

Simply put, the Dodgers can ill afford to blink if they are to have any hopes of winning the National League West for an unprecedented fifth consecutive time.