A couple friends who don’t follow MLB as closely as I do (to their credit) point out how awful the San Francisco Giants are. Watching them get swept by the Cubs the past three days substantiates those claims. Rather than disagreeing for the sake of argument, I look at the Giants differently.

Before the sweep, the Giants were 3 games over .500 (70-67) and battling for a wildcard spot. I’ve watched them on TV a few times before they came to town and was surprised by their lack of offense, but really, I wasn’t because they lack blue-chip offensive threats.

In a recent post, I’ve described how Wilmer Flores is considered their best offensive player. That speaks to the quality of their roster or how bigger names have failed. I marvel at how this group could produce such a record. Their pitching isn’t that good.

Enter the Arizona Diamondbacks-the team in town for a four-game set. I’ll leave the derogatory nicknames to friend Lee, a transplant living in the Valley and forced to consume Diamondback baseball.

After a quick perusal of the two teams overall offensive stats, it’s safe to say that Arizona has a better, more effective offense this season. Furthermore, they have a cadre of impact players. That Cub fans aren’t versed in the Arizona roster is due more to time zone issues than actual success.

Equally important and maybe more frustrating for Cub fans is the fact one of their starting pitchers has better odds of winning the NL CY, Zac Gallen. To add insult to injury, I recently heard that teammate Merrill Kelly has surpassed Gallen. Regardless, the Dbacks have two legit starting pitchers and the Giants only have one.

Entering tonight’s game, Arizona is only 72-68 or two games ahead of the Giants. It seems incredible given the talent gap between the division foes. While there are only four or five teams with legitimate claims on the WS, there are more than a few teams jostling for playoff berths. Some might equate this with NFL parity.

The media determined long ago that the AL Central stinks, is up for grabs and will only send the division winner to the postseason. For much of the season, the general consensus among the geniuses was that the NL Central wasn’t much better. Anyone that follows the NL Central (a little closer and maybe more passionately) realizes that’s not the case any longer.

Everyone that thought conclusions were so obvious a month ago is having to rethink their arguments or double down on their bets in Vegas. I’m among those who are glad I don’t bet on baseball.