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After the Diamondbacks lost and the Dodgers won Sunday, the National League West heads to July historically close.
Top to bottom, one through five, the NL West is separated by just four games. This is the closest a five-team division has ever been after action on June 30 has concluded.
Since the beginning of the six-division era -- 1994 -- here are the closest divisions from first to last place after June 30 action -- including only those that were within six games:
2 games, NL West, 1995**
3.5 games, AL West, 1994**
4 games, NL West, 2013
4.5 games, NL West, 2006
5 games, NL Central, 1996
5 games, AL West, 1995**
5.5 games, NL West, 1996**
6 games, NL Central, 2009
Take note of the double asterisks there, because those were all four-team divisions. The AL West in 1994-95 obviously didn't yet have the Houston Astros while the NL West in 1995-96 didn't yet have the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks.
So if we take out the four-team divisions, that leaves only this year's NL West, the 2006 NL West and the 1996 NL Central that had five teams within five games of each other heading into July -- with the closest of them all being the 2013 NL West.
Another oddity: The Braves have a 6 1/2-game lead in the NL East. Or rather, the second-place Nationals are further out of first than the last-place Dodgers.
It's gonna be a fun summer in the wild West.
