'08 RAPs: NL West

Last year we saw two teams from the NL West make the playoffs. Man... what a quick turn around that division has made over the last few years. Anyway, time for the final 2007 Rundown:

On May first, the Dodegers were in first, half a game ahead of Arizona and two games ahead of both the Giants and Padres. The Rockies were five back.
On June first, the Dodgers and D'Backs were tied for first with San Diego one back. The Giants were 5.5 back and the Rockies were a whole 7.5 games out of first.
On July first, the Padres took over the division lead, one ahead of Los Angeles, 1.5 ahead of Arizona, eight ahead of the Rocks and eleven ahead of the Giants who were officially out of the race.
At the All-Star Break, San Diego and Los Angeles retained their spots from two weeks earlier, the D'Backs slid down two games to 3.5 back and Colorado made a slight move to 5.5 behind the Padres.
On August first, Arizona was one ahead of LA, San Diego was 2.5 back and Colorado was 4.5 back.
On September first, LA was fading, now 5 out of first, behind Arizona and San Diego, who were tied for the lead. The Rockies were six back.
A week later, San Diego was 2 back of first place Arizona, Los Angeles was 4.5 back and Colorado was still six behind Arizona.
Another week passed and the Pads and Backs held the same positions as a week earlier. LA gained a game and Colorado lost half-a-game.
After one more week, in which the Dodgers collapsed, and fell out of the race mathematically (now they were 9 games back), Arizona held first, 2.5 ahead of San Diego, and 5 ahead of the surging Rockies.
In one week, with only one game left to play, Arizona was one ahead of San Diego, and two ahead of Colorado, who were now only playing for the Wild Card.
We all know what happened next, the Pads lost (courtesy of Trevor Hoffman and Tony Gwynn Jr.) and Rockies won. This gave Arizona the division, despite their loss. The Rockies and Padres; therefore, played a one game playoff, which the Rockies were given credit for the win. However, we all must wait for the start of the season for that game to officially become official because... in the words of Tony Kornheiser, "Matt Holliday STILL hasn't touched home plate!!!"


Here are the final standings for your 2007 NL Western Division:
1. Arizona Diamondbacks: 90-72
2. Colorado Rockies: 89-73, 1 GB
3. San Diego Padres: 89-73, 1 GB
4. Los Angeles Dodger: 82-80, 8 GB
5. San Francisco Giants: 71-91, 19 GB

Stayed tuned for the final week of '08 RAPs, concluding Sunday , just in time for Opening Day!!!