NL Westward, HO!

Finish the sentence:

The Los Angeles Dodgers are to the NL West as Turtle is to...

...Entourage

Turtle in Entourage is the guy who everyone thinks gets ladies only because he hangs out with Vinny Chase and other cool guys like Drama. Who would think any differently? He's chubby, he's kinda crass, and his job is to basically drive his friends around and not die. Everyone knows Turtle is who he is because of the people around him.

Then, you get thrown a curveball in Season 5. Turtle gets Jamie Lynn Sigler to be his girlfriend, all on his own. He doesn't get help from Vince, he doesn't impress her with his connections, he doesn't do anything like that. It's all Turtle. Then ladies begin to realize how awesome this guy truly is. But by that time it's too late for them.

The Dodgers share a lot of things in common with Turtle. They get unfairly judged because of the company they keep (NL West). People think the Dodgers have the best record in all of baseball because they get a lot of cheap wins from the NL West. People think when the Dodgers have to face the rest of the teams in the playoffs that they, like Turtle, will be unable to stand on their own two feet.

The reality is that the NL West is not the worst division in the MLB. In fact, the NL West is not even among the worst divisions. IN FACT, the NL West is one of the BEST divisions in the MLB.

If you look at the MLB Relative Power Index (RPI):
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
8. SF Giants
9. Colorado Rockies
21. San Diego Padres
28. Arizona Diamondbacks

Only the AL East and the NL West have three teams in the top 10

*As of the morning of June 25, 2009
If you take the winning percentage of each division:
AL East: 193-166 (53.76%)
NL West: 184-173 (51.54%)
AL West: 143-139 (50.71%)
NL Central: 210-212 (49.76%)
AL Central: 171-187 (47.37%)
NL East: 164-188 (46.59%)

Obviously there are more factors that have to be taken into consideration when ranking each division in baseball, but the above breakdowns prove that the NL West is at least in the top three.

So if an NL West team ends up going on to win it all, don't be one of those who slept on them.