It's a wild, wild west in MLB

The National League West is where the best baseball is being played in the major leagues. Other than the Houston Astros in the American League West, the NL West has the three best records in the major leagues with Los Angeles, Colorado and Arizona bunched near the top of the division.

The Dodgers edged into a half-game lead over the Rockies with their 8-2 win over the Mets last night and Arizona's 16-5 pounding of Colorado.

Buckle your seat belts because the race for the NL West flag promises to be a good one.

The Dodgers appear to have the edge in pitching with a major league low 3.36 ERA. The Dodgers have a strong pen anchored by closer Kenley Jansen and their starting rotation is relatively solid with Clayton Kershaw (10-2, 2.61 ERA), Alex Wood (7-0, 1.90 ERA), Brandon McCarthy (6-3, 2.87 ERA), Rich Hill (4-3, 4.73 ERA), Kenta Maeda (5-3, 4.70 ERA) and Hyun-Jin Ryu (3-6, 4.35 ERA).

Maeda and Ryu have struggled, moving from spot starts and bullpen assignments. It would appear that Kershaw, Wood, McCarthy and Hill are the top four in the rotation with Maeda and Ryu fifth starter options for Dave Roberts.

With the bats, the Dodgers have been flexing some power of late, smashing home runs at a record pace. Rookie Cody Bellinger has gone yard 22 times and Corey Seager (12) and Yasiel Puig (10) have joined in the fun.

Justin Turner leads the offense with a .390 batting average. Bellinger (49), Puig (40) and Seager (38) have driven in the most runs.

Colorado is getting offense from Nolan Arenado (.302, 15 HR, 59 RBI), Charlie Blackmon (.324, 15 HR, 54 RBI) and Matt Reynolds (.301, 18 HR, 56 RBI) with Kyle Freeland (8-4, 3.42 ERA) and rookie Antonio Senzatela (9-2, 4.10 ERA) doing the work on the mound.

In Arizona, the Diamondbacks are led by Paul Goldschmidt (.329, 17 HR, 60 RBI), Jake Lamb (.287, 16 HR, 61 RBI) and David Peralta .332, 7 HR, 21 RBI). From the hill, Zack Greinke (8-4, 3.14 ERA) and Taijuan Walker (6-3, 3.43 ERA) are the mainstays.

If the second half of the season is similar to the first, the National League West will produce two playoff teams with one team winning the division and another in a Wild Card slot.