The West isn't balanced with 4 good teams. 3/4 of the West represent 3/5 of the worst offenses in the NL. And because those offenses are so bad, and the ballparks are generally pitching friendly, all the teams in the West have inflated pitching numbers. this is incorrect circular reasoning. Two of the parks are extreme pitchers parks and two of the parks are extreme hitters parks. They tend to cancel out overall. Obviously the teams that play in the uber extremes (Col and SD) need to be monitored but that's about it. LA is a pitchers park, but not that big of a deal. The Padres pitching staff has been good, and it's not just Petco. The team has a the second best road ERA in the league and this isn't because of the western division. In fact, in a limited sample, their team ERA on the road against teams not from the West is 3.60