The National League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. This division was created for the 1969 season when the National League (NL) expanded to 12 teams by adding the San Diego Padres and the Montreal Expos. For purpose of keeping a regular-season of 162 games, half of the teams were put into the new East Division and half into the new West Division. Within each division, the teams played 18 games each against their five division mates (90 games) and 12 games against the teams in the opposite division (72 games), totaling 162 games. Prior to 1969, the National League had informal, internal divisions strictly for scheduling purposes.
Geography Despite the geography, the owners of the Chicago Cubs insisted that their team be placed into the East Division along with the teams in New York City, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Also, the owners of the St. Louis Cardinals wanted their team to be in the same division with their natural rivals, the Cubs. The league could have insisted on a purely geographical alignment like the American League did. But the owners were also concerned about what they thought would be a large imbalance in the strength of the divisions. In the previous two seasons prior to realignment, the Cardinals, Giants, and Cubs finished 1-2-3 in the National League standings. The owners were concerned about putting those teams in the same division, thereby creating one very strong division (West) and one weak one (East). Given all of this, the owners of the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds consented to being placed into the West Division, even though Atlanta and Cincinnati are both in the Eastern Time Zone. Hence, the West Division had teams spread all the way from the East to the Pacific Coast, and scattered over three time zones (no MLB teams played in the Mountain Time Zone until 1993, when the Colorado Rockies were enfranchised). The East Division was spread over the Eastern Time Zone and the Central Time Zone - despite the fact that the National League had six teams in the Eastern Time Zone and six teams spread between the Central Time Zone and the Pacific Time Zone. The American League had no such issues, as all six of its teams in the Eastern Time Zone played in the AL East, with the remaining six teams playing in the AL West.
All of this increased the traveling distances and times for all of the teams, and it also made radio broadcasting and TV broadcasts of the games more difficult to schedule. The Braves and the Reds had to travel all the way to California three times during each baseball season, and the three teams in California had to travel to Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Houston three times themselves. A makeshift remedy was to add a succeeding or preceding road series in Chicago, St. Louis, or Pittsburgh to longer road trips. The 1994 addition of the Central Division would remedy these problems, when the Reds and Braves moved to the NL Central and NL East, respectively.
First season The very first baseball season of division play, 1969, resulted in what might be considered by many to be two of the best pennant races in Major League baseball history. In the National League West, five of the teams battled for the divisional championship - with only the expansion team, the San Diego Padres, failing to be a contender. The remaining five teams were separated by as few as one-and-one-half games in the standings on August 18, despite the Houston Astros having lost 20 of its first 24 games.
Beginning in mid-August the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers started collapsing, leaving the Braves, the Reds, and the San Francisco Giants in contention. Following a very-long hot streak in July, August, and September, the Braves clinched the divisional championship by winning their next-to-last game. The Giants finished in a close second place. One of the main factors in the big surge by the Braves was that the slugging outfielder Rico Carty returned to the team after missing the first half of the season while he was recovering from tuberculosis. Carty immediately resumed his starring role, adding to the powerful offensive line-up of the Braves that also featured the sluggers Hank Aaron and Orlando Cepeda and the good singles hitter Félix Millán who was on base to score a lot of runs. Aaron finished in third place for the N.L. Most Valuable Player Award, and the starting pitcher Phil Niekro finished in second place for the N.L. Cy Young Award.
Perhaps this latter pennant race was overshadowed by that of the New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs, with the Mets coming back from trailing by nine-and-one-half games near midseason to overtake the Chicago Cubs for the East championship. The sometimes called "Miracle Mets" won the first National League Championship Series over the Braves three games to none, and then the Mets defeated the Baltimore Orioles four games to one in the World Series in October 1969.
Divisional membership
Current members Arizona Diamondbacks – Joined in 1998 as an expansion team Colorado Rockies – Joined in 1993 as an expansion team Los Angeles Dodgers – Founding member San Diego Padres – Founding member San Francisco Giants – Founding member
Former members Atlanta Braves – Founding member, moved to the NL East in 1994. Cincinnati Reds – Founding member, moved to the NL Central in 1994. Houston Astros – Founding member, moved to the NL Central in 1994, then to the AL West in 2013.
Membership timeline
Place cursor over year for division champ or World Series team.
NL West Division Years 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 Atlanta Braves Cincinnati Reds Houston Astros Los Angeles Dodgers San Diego Padres San Francisco Giants Colorado Rockies NL West Division Years 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Los Angeles Dodgers San Diego Padres San Francisco Giants Colorado Rockies Arizona Diamondbacks Team not in division Division Won World Series Division Won NL Championship The creation of the division with the expansion of the league - with the Padres added. With the Rockies added as an expansion team. With the Braves moved to East Division and the Reds and the Astros moved to the Central Division With the Diamondbacks added as an expansion team.
Champions by year Before the forming of a third division in both leagues in 1994, the winners of each division competed in a best-of-five series, with the series being lengthened by two possible games in 1985 to a best-of-seven series, dubbed the "League Championship Series" to determine the winner of the league pennant. This format was to be changed in 1994, though it was not carried out until 1995 due to the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike that started on August 12, 1994. There was the addition of two further teams in the playoffs in each league. This has led to the creation of a "Division Series" round of the playoffs, in which two best-of-five series are conducted to determine the participants of the League Championship Series. As before, the winners of each league's pennant compete in the best-of-seven World Series to determine the champion of Major League Baseball.
Team names link to the season in which each team played
YearWinnerRecord%Playoff Results1969 Atlanta Braves (1)93–69.574Lost NLCS (Mets) 3–01970 Cincinnati Reds (1)102–60.630 Won NLCS (Pirates) 3–0Lost World Series (Orioles) 4–11971 San Francisco Giants (1)90–72.556Lost NLCS (Pirates) 3–11972 Cincinnati Reds (2)95–59.617 Won NLCS (Pirates) 3–2Lost World Series (Athletics) 4–31973 Cincinnati Reds (3)99–63.611Lost NLCS (Mets) 3–21974 Los Angeles Dodgers (1)102–60.630 Won NLCS (Pirates) 3–1Lost World Series (Athletics) 4–11975 Cincinnati Reds (4)108–54.667 Won NLCS (Pirates) 3–0Won World Series (Red Sox) 4–31976 Cincinnati Reds (5)102–60.630 Won NLCS (Phillies) 3–0Won World Series (Yankees) 4–01977 Los Angeles Dodgers (2)98–64.605 Won NLCS (Phillies) 3–1Lost World Series (Yankees) 4–21978 Los Angeles Dodgers (3)95–67.586 Won NLCS (Phillies) 3–1Lost World Series (Yankees) 4–21979 Cincinnati Reds (6)90–71.559Lost NLCS (Pirates) 3–01980 Houston Astros (1)*93–70.571Lost NLCS (Phillies) 3–21981 Los Angeles Dodgers (4)†63–47.573 Won NLDS (Astros) 3–2Won NLCS (Expos) 3–2Won World Series (Yankees) 4–21982 Atlanta Braves (2)89–73.549Lost NLCS (Cardinals) 3–01983 Los Angeles Dodgers (5)91–71.562Lost NLCS (Phillies) 3–11984 San Diego Padres (1)92–70.568 Won NLCS (Cubs) 3–2Lost World Series (Tigers) 4–11985 Los Angeles Dodgers (6)95–67.586Lost NLCS (Cardinals) 4–21986 Houston Astros (2)96–66 .593Lost NLCS (Mets) 4–21987 San Francisco Giants (2)90–72.556Lost NLCS (Cardinals) 4–31988 Los Angeles Dodgers (7)94–67.584 Won NLCS (Mets) 4–3Won World Series (Athletics) 4–11989 San Francisco Giants (3)92–70.568 Won NLCS (Cubs) 4–1Lost World Series (Athletics) 4–01990 Cincinnati Reds (7)91–71.562 Won NLCS (Pirates) 4–2Won World Series (Athletics) 4–01991 Atlanta Braves (3)94–68.580 Won NLCS (Pirates) 4–3Lost World Series (Twins) 4–31992 Atlanta Braves (4)98–64.605 Won NLCS (Pirates) 4–3Lost World Series (Blue Jays) 4–21993 Atlanta Braves (5)104–58.642Lost NLCS (Phillies) 4–2§No playoffs due to 1994 Major League Baseball strike1995 Los Angeles Dodgers (8)78–66.542Lost NLDS (Reds) 3–01996 San Diego Padres (2)91–71.562Lost NLDS (Cardinals) 3–01997 San Francisco Giants (4)90–72.556Lost NLDS (Marlins) 3–01998 San Diego Padres (3)98–64.605 Won NLDS (Astros) 3–1Won NLCS (Braves) 4–2Lost World Series (Yankees) 4–01999 Arizona Diamondbacks (1)100–62.617Lost NLDS (Mets) 3–12000 San Francisco Giants (5)97–65.599Lost NLDS (Mets) 3–12001 Arizona Diamondbacks (2)92–70.568 Won NLDS (Cardinals) 3–2Won NLCS (Braves) 4–1Won World Series (Yankees) 4–32002 Arizona Diamondbacks (3)98–64.605Lost NLDS (Cardinals) 3–02003 San Francisco Giants (6)100–61.621Lost NLDS (Marlins) 3–12004 Los Angeles Dodgers (9)93–69.574Lost NLDS (Cardinals) 3–12005 San Diego Padres (4)82–80.506Lost NLDS (Cardinals) 3–02006 San Diego Padres (5)††88–74.543Lost NLDS (Cardinals) 3–12007 Arizona Diamondbacks (4)90–72.556Won NLDS (Cubs) 3–0Lost NLCS (Rockies) 4–02008 Los Angeles Dodgers (10)84–78.519Won NLDS (Cubs) 3–0Lost NLCS (Phillies) 4–12009 Los Angeles Dodgers (11)95–67.586Won NLDS (Cardinals) 3–0Lost NLCS (Phillies) 4–12010 San Francisco Giants (7)92–70.568 Won NLDS (Braves) 3–1Won NLCS (Phillies) 4–2Won World Series (Rangers) 4–12011 Arizona Diamondbacks (5)94–68.580Lost NLDS (Brewers) 3–22012 San Francisco Giants (8)94–68.580 Won NLDS (Reds) 3–2Won NLCS (Cardinals) 4–3Won World Series (Tigers) 4–02013 Los Angeles Dodgers (12)92–70.568Won NLDS (Braves) 3–1Lost NLCS (Cardinals) 4–22014 Los Angeles Dodgers (13)94–68.580Lost NLDS (Cardinals) 3–12015 Los Angeles Dodgers (14)92–70.568Lost NLDS (Mets) 3–22016 Los Angeles Dodgers (15)91–71.562Won NLDS (Nationals) 3–2Lost NLCS (Cubs) 4–22017 Los Angeles Dodgers (16)104–58.642 Won NLDS (Diamondbacks) 3–0Won NLCS (Cubs) 4–1Lost World Series (Astros) 4–32018 Los Angeles Dodgers (17)**92–71.564 Won NLDS (Braves) 3–1Won NLCS (Brewers) 4–3Lost World Series (Red Sox) 4–12019 Los Angeles Dodgers (18)106–56.654Lost NLDS (Nationals) 3–22020 Los Angeles Dodgers (19)††† 43–17.716 Won NLWC (Brewers) 2–0 Won NLDS (Padres) 3–0 Won NLCS (Braves) 4–3Won World Series (Rays) 4–2 2021 San Francisco Giants (9)107–55.660Lost NLDS (Dodgers) 3–22022 Los Angeles Dodgers (20)111–51.685Lost NLDS (Padres) 3–12023 Los Angeles Dodgers (21)100–62.617 Lost NLDS (Diamondbacks) 3–02024 Los Angeles Dodgers (22) 98–64 .605 Won NLDS (Padres) 3–2Won NLCS (Mets) 4–2Won World Series (Yankees) 4–12025 Los Angeles Dodgers (23) 93–69 .574 Won NLWC (Reds) 2–0Won NLDS (Phillies) 3–1Won NLCS (Brewers) 4–0Won World Series (Blue Jays) 4–32026 Los Angeles Dodgers (24) 100–62 .617 NLDS (Braves)
* – Defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in a one game playoff for the division title, 7–1.