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Los Angeles Dodgers or San Diego Padres? Who has best NL West lineup?

By Seth Carlson

Oct 15, 2022; San Diego, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman (5) hits a double in the third inning against the San Diego Padres during game four of the NLDS for the 2022 MLB Playoffs at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 15, 2022; San Diego, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman (5) hits a double in the third inning against the San Diego Padres during game four of the NLDS for the 2022 MLB Playoffs at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports /
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Two of baseball’s most exciting teams reside in the NL West: the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. These teams met in the 2022 postseason, where the Padres edged out the Dodgers three games to one in the NLDS. But don’t get that singular result twisted: this rivalry is just getting started and looks to be towards the top of must-watch storylines during the 2023 season.

In the regular season last year, the Dodgers won a franchise-record 111 games and a ninth NL West title in 10 years, while the second-place Padres won 89 games and snuck into the playoff picture as the five seed. Behind them were the middling San Francisco Giants (81-81), the intriguing but still bad Arizona Diamondbacks at 74-88 and the lowly ColoradoRockies, finishing as NL West cellar dwellers in 2022 with a 68-94 record despite adding Kris Bryant prior to last season.

This year, the division standings could look a bit different, though, thanks to some monster additions during the winter.

Who has the best lineup in the NL West: the LA Dodgers or Padres?

For this exercise, we’ll be using FanGraphs’ 2023 projections as seen in previous versions of this article.

Here’s what the Los Angeles Dodgers’ projected lineup looks like in 2023:

  1. Mookie Betts, RF (141 wRC+)
  2. Freddie Freeman, 1B (147)
  3. Will Smith, C (135)
  4. Max Muncy, 3B (125)
  5. J.D. Martinez, DH (118)
  6. Gavin Lux, SS (108)
  7. Trayce Thompson, CF (102)
  8. David Peralta, LF (98)
  9. Miguel Vargas, 2B (76)

This is a stout group once again, with seven players above the league average mark of 100 wRC+. It’s easy to see why this group could help lead the Dodgers to the projected finish of tied for first place in the NL West with 91 wins, per ZiPS.

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