MLB Power Rankings: NL West rotations from worst to best after Dodgers add Blake Snell

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the Los Angeles Dodgers made the first major splash of the offseason. No, it wasn't Juan Soto, but they did sign Blake Snell — one of the best free agent starting pitchers on the market — to a massive five-year deal.

Snell, a two-time Cy Young award winner, adds yet another talented arm to what could be baseball's most talented rotation. Injury concerns up and down are real, but when healthy, the defending World Series champions will be incredibly tough to compete against.

While the Dodgers' rotation is impressive, the NL West (sans one of the five teams) is a division full of teams with stout starting staffs. Where the Dodgers rank in the division isn't hard to predict, but ranking the rotations is an interesting exercise nonetheless.

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5) The Rockies might have the worst rotation in all of baseball

You knew they'd be here. Not only do Colorado Rockies pitchers have the misfortune of pitching in extreme altitude half the time, but their talent level doesn't come close to competing with the rotations that other NL West teams are rostering.

Getting German Marquez back after he made just one start last season should help a ton. Ryan Feltner had a pretty nice season in 2024, and even had a sub-4.00 ERA on the road. Kyle Freeland has been a long-time Rockies rotation staple, and getting more than three starts from Antonio Senzatella should help, too.

The rotation might improve marginally from 2024, but it's still bad. The Rockies will finish in last place comfortably in 2025 once again, and their pitching staff will play a big role in that.

4) The Giants rotation is awfully top-heavy without Blake Snell

Blake Snell re-signing with the San Francisco Giants was probably unrealistic, but Giants fans certainly have reason to be frustrated with this outcome. Had Snell remained in San Francisco, the Giants would've had one of the best one-two punches at the top of their rotation with the southpaw pitching in front or behind Logan Webb. Now, the rotation looks a whole lot worse.

Webb is an ace, but there are question marks all the way down following him. For example, what can the Giants realistically expect from Robbie Ray? He won the AL Cy Young award in 2021 with the Toronto Blue Jays but took a step back in 2022 and combined to make eight starts in 2023 and 2024.

Jordan Hicks showed flashes of brilliance as a starter last season, but seemed to run out of gas as the year progressed and ended the year in the bullpen. Can he give a full starter's workload? Kyle Harrison has flashed great stuff during his brief MLB tenure, but can he put it all together? Will the Giants add another starter who is better than the likes of Landen Roupp and Tristan Beck?

Webb is great, but he alone cannot carry the entire rotation.

3) The Padres are another team that desperately misses Blake Snell

Prior to Snell's Giants stint, he spent three seasons with the San Diego Padres. He won the NL Cy Young award in his third and final season in San Diego. The Padres did a solid job replacing him (and Seth Lugo) with the Dylan Cease and Michael King additions, but as you can see at the bottom of this rotation, the Padres lack depth.

To be fair, the trio of Cease, King, and Yu Darvish is quite good. However, the fall-off to Randy Vasquez and Matt Waldron rounding out the rotation can't be overstated. Neither of these pitchers should be more than a No. 5 starter at best on a team trying to win.

Joe Musgrove's major injury impacts things in a big way in San Diego. The Padres can make an addition or two to make their rotation look better, but without that, it's looking like a rotation that slots into the middle of the pack in the NL West.

2) The depth of the Diamondbacks rotation cannot be ignored

The top of San Diego's rotation might be better than that of the Arizona Diamondbacks, but Arizona's ability to throw five solid starters (with Jordan Montgomery looming) has them ahead of the Padres in the NL West rotation rankings.

As we saw in the 2023 postseason, the duo of Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly at the top of this rotation has tremendous upside. Gallen is a bonafide ace, and Kelly is an underrated No. 2 when healthy. Eduardo Rodriguez had a rough first year in Arizona, but he is an above-average No. 3 starter. Brandon Pfaadt showed a ton of promise during that aforementioned 2023 postseason and while his 2024 regular season was inconsistent, he did give the Diamondbacks 181.2 innings and 13 quality starts over the year.

What makes this rotation especially intriguing is Ryne Nelson. Sure, his 4.24 full-season ERA might not have been stellar, but he had a 3.05 ERA in his last 14 appearances (12 starts). If he can carry that momentum into the 2025 season, Arizona's rotation has the potential to be a major force. It just simply isn't better than the rotation that the Dodgers can roll out.

1) The Dodgers rotation is too talented for any NL West team to realistically compete with

Honestly, order the top four of the Dodgers rotation however you want. They have four legitimate aces leading their staff with Snell joining Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Shohei Ohtani. Yes, Ohtani is back pitching after not throwing a single inning last season. Assuming those four starters are healthy in October, how exactly are the Dodgers going to lose a postseason series?

As if the top of the rotation wasn't terrifying enough, the Dodgers have Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May there to round out the deepest six-man rotation in the sport. Neither one of these starters threw a pitch in 2024, but they've flashed tremendous upside over the course of their careers.

This Dodgers rotation does not include the likelihood that Clayton Kershaw will be back. This Dodgers rotation does not include the very strong possibility that the Dodgers sign Roki Sasaki. This Dodgers rotation does not include very capable depth arms like Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, Nick Frasso, and Justin Wrobleski. This Dodgers rotation does not include injured starters like Gavin Stone, Emmet Sheehan, River Ryan, and Kyle Hurt.

The rotation is as star-studded and as deep as they come. As we saw this past season, they don't even need to be remotely close to fully healthy to win the World Series. Snell makes them just that much better. If they are close to fully healthy - watch out.