Manny Machado: Dodgers & Padres Part Of ‘Four-Headed Monster’ In NL West

The Los Angeles Dodgers entered the 2025 season as favorites to win the National League West for the 12th time in the last 13 seasons, but not without some expected competition from the San Diego Padres and potentially Arizona Diamondbacks as well.

Through much of the first three months of the regular season, it has appeared the NL West will once again come down to the wire. However, the Dodgers enter play Friday tied for the best record in the Majors, and six games in front of the Padres for first place in the NL West. The Giants have fallen to 6.5 games back of the Giants.

The Diamondbacks, just two years removed from a World Series appearance, have absorbed devastating injuries to several key contributors and now are 8.5 games out of first place in the NL West.

With the MLB trade deadline approaching and some big deals already completed, Manny Machado believes the NL West will be one of the most interesting divisions during the second half of the season, via Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.com:

“This division’s freaking awesome, and it’s going to be a fun ride going down the road,” he said. “The Giants got better with [Rafael] Devers, and we know what these guys [the Dodgers] have on the other side. And what we have on this side. And obviously you can’t count out Arizona. They’ve got a really good team over there. They’re going to be battling. It’s a four-headed monster battling it out, so it’ll be an interesting second half.”

As Machado noted, the Giants got ahead of the July 31 trade deadline by acquiring Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox. The three-time All-Star gives the team another middle-of-the-order bat for their lineup, which is exactly what they needed.

Meanwhile, the Padres have made strides in recent years and are looking to reach the postseason for a fourth time since 2020. San Diego also figures to be active at the trade deadline, with an outfielder at the top of their wishlist.

The Diamondbacks are presumably in wait-and-see mode, as they are hovering around .500 with several injuries plaguing them. Arizona could get hot at the right time and look to add to their roster, but they also may decide to take advantage of a potential seller’s market.

As for the Dodgers, they remain in an envious position despite having had to deal with a myriad of injuries thus far. The team is expected to get several key players back in the coming weeks and almost certainly will look to improve their roster in some aspect at the trade deadline as well.

Dodgers schedule for second half of 2025

The Dodgers are scheduled to play the Giants, Padres and Diamondbacks a combined 19 times over their remaining 65 games after the All-Star break.

That will only add to the excitement during the final month of the regular season, especially if the teams are able to stay close to each other in the NL West standings.