Hold your noses, it's the NL West

This is one stinkfest of a division, and as we awoke this morning, it was led by a team with a losing record. Yes, the D-backs are now 42-43, and they STILL have a 1 1/2-game lead on the rest of the division. The N.L. West as a whole is 39-46 against the NL East, 45-66 against the NL Central and a ghastly 27-54 (that's a .333 winning percentage) against A.L. teams. NL West teams are 75-75 against each other, but that's only because every game has a winner and a loser. If it wasn't for that basic and unbreakable mathematic principle that doesn't allow for anything other than a .500 record, the NL West would no doubt have as bad a record against itself as it has against the other divisions. ... How about this: in perusing each TEAM's record against the other divisions, the only winning records are the Giants against the East (9-7) and the Dodgers against the Central (16-14). The Pods are 8-8 against the East. Other than that, it's all losers, baby. The Snakes are 20-8 within the division, while no other club is better than 15-13 (Giants), and that is why Arizona continues to cling to a lead.