NL West report cards – by G. Scott Thomas

We just made it.

Today brings the final installment of my regular-season ratings. It’s also the first day of the playoffs.

Our focus today is the National League West, and there’s no suspense about the ratings. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who took the division by 22 games, are the easy winners in terms of grade-point averages (GPA).

I analyzed each club in 10 categories — five on the batting/offensive side, the other five on the pitching/defensive side — based on statistics as of September 15. (I picked the early deadline to facilitate stories on all six divisions before the playoffs.) Grades were determined on a curve that encompassed all 30 big-league teams.

You’ll see five stats appear twice in each club’s statistical profile, once as a measure of offensive production (highest is best) and once as a reflection of defensive prevention (lowest is best).

You can click here to learn more the stats in detail, but let me give you a quick rundown here: runs per plate appearance, bases per out (bases reached by hits, walks, hit batsmen, stolen bases, and sacrifices, divided by outs made), isolated-power average (extra bases from doubles, triples, and homers, divided by at-bats), contact rate (at-bats that did not result in strikeouts), and batting-eye rate (unintentional walks per plate appearance).

We’ve already looked at the other five divisions, so it’s time to examine the NL West, which can be broken into two groups — the Dodgers and everybody else. Here is a quick summary for each team.

• 1. Los Angeles Dodgers (3.90 GPA) — The Dodgers finished with the best record in the majors (111-51), and they’re the odds-on favorites to win the World Series. And why not? They earned A’s in nine of the 10 categories. Their only flub was a C for contact hitting.

• 2. San Francisco Giants (2.40 GPA) — Here’s the biggest surprise. The Giants were third in the division at 81-81, yet they edged out the second-place Padres in GPA. San Francisco posted the NL West’s second-best GPA split for pitching (2.73).

• 3. San Diego Padres (2.33 GPA) — The free-spending Padres made the playoffs, even though they underperformed during the regular season. They received grades of C or worse in six of the 10 categories.

• 4. Arizona Diamondbacks (1.97 GPA) — The Diamondbacks were a pleasant surprise in 2022, bouncing back from an abysmal 110-loss season in 2021. But Arizona still has plenty of problems to address. Its pitching/defense split was a horrible 1.27.

• 5. Colorado Rockies (1.17 GPA) — The Rockies were decent at the plate, as you would expect any high-altitude club to be. Pitching was an entirely different matter. Colorado was saddled with a D and four F’s in those five categories.

Scroll below to see the statistical summaries for all five clubs in the NL West.

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• Overall GPA: 3.90 points.

• GPA splits: Offense GPA of 3.86 points. Pitching/defense GPA of 3.93 points.

• Run production: .140 runs scored per plate appearance. (Grade: A+.)

• Base production: .783 bases per out. (Grade: A+.)

• Extra-base production: .194 isolated-power average. (Grade: A+.)

• Contact hitting: .753 contact rate. (Grade: C.)

• Batting eye: .094 batting-eye rate. (Grade: A+.)

• Run prevention: .088 runs allowed per plate appearance. (Grade: A+.)

• Base prevention: .557 bases allowed per out. (Grade: A.)

• Extra-base prevention: .137 isolated-power average allowed. (Grade: A-.)

• Power pitching: .731 contact rate allowed. (Grade: A-.)

• Control pitching: .069 batting-eye rate allowed. (Grade: A.)

• Overall GPA: 2.40 points.

• GPA splits: Offense GPA of 2.07 points. Pitching/defense GPA of 2.73 points.

• Run production: .116 runs scored per plate appearance. (Grade: C.)

• Base production: .668 bases per out. (Grade: C+.)

• Extra-base production: .155 isolated-power average. (Grade: C.)

• Contact hitting: .730 contact rate. (Grade: F.)

• Batting eye: .092 batting-eye rate. (Grade: A.)

• Run prevention: .116 runs allowed per plate appearance. (Grade: C.)

• Base prevention: .645 bases allowed per out. (Grade: B-.)

• Extra-base prevention: .139 isolated-power average allowed. (Grade: B+.)

• Power pitching: .751 contact rate allowed. (Grade: C.)

• Control pitching: .070 batting-eye rate allowed. (Grade: A-.)

• Overall GPA: 2.33 points.

• GPA splits: Offense GPA of 2.13 points. Pitching/defense GPA of 2.53 points.

• Run production: .114 runs scored per plate appearance. (Grade: C.)

• Base production: .654 bases per out. (Grade: C-.)

• Extra-base production: .140 isolated-power average. (Grade: D.)

• Contact hitting: .757 contact rate. (Grade: B-.)

• Batting eye: .090 batting-eye rate. (Grade: B+.)

• Run prevention: .113 runs allowed per plate appearance. (Grade: C.)

• Base prevention: .646 bases allowed per out. (Grade: C+.)

• Extra-base prevention: .147 isolated-power average allowed. (Grade: C+.)

• Power pitching: .735 contact rate allowed. (Grade: B+.)

• Control pitching: .077 batting-eye rate allowed. (Grade: B-.)

• Overall GPA: 1.97 points.

• GPA splits: Offense GPA of 2.67 points. Pitching/defense GPA of 1.27 points.

• Run production: .119 runs scored per plate appearance. (Grade: B-.)

• Base production: .664 bases per out. (Grade: C.)

• Extra-base production: .158 isolated-power average. (Grade: B-.)

• Contact hitting: .755 contact rate. (Grade: C+.)

• Batting eye: .091 batting-eye rate. (Grade: A-.)

• Run prevention: .122 runs allowed per plate appearance. (Grade: D.)

• Base prevention: .680 bases allowed per out. (Grade: D+.)

• Extra-base prevention: .161 isolated-power average allowed. (Grade: D.)

• Power pitching: .777 contact rate allowed. (Grade: D.)

• Control pitching: .080 batting-eye rate allowed. (Grade: C.)

• Overall GPA: 1.17 points.

• GPA splits: Offense GPA of 2.07 points. Pitching/defense GPA of 0.27 points.

• Run production: .119 runs scored per plate appearance. (Grade: B-.)

• Base production: .657 bases per out. (Grade: C.)

• Extra-base production: .144 isolated-power average. (Grade: C-.)

• Contact hitting: .767 contact rate. (Grade: B.)

• Batting eye: .073 batting-eye rate. (Grade: D.)

• Run prevention: .141 runs allowed per plate appearance. (Grade: F.)

• Base prevention: .765 bases allowed per out. (Grade: F.)

• Extra-base prevention: .177 isolated-power average allowed. (Grade: F.)

• Power pitching: .792 contact rate allowed. (Grade: F.)

• Control pitching: .085 batting-eye rate allowed. (Grade: D+.)