Top 10 Best Pitchers in the NL West for the 2026 MLB Season
From the flamethrowing Mason Millers of the world, to the annoyingly consistent Logan Webbs, the NL West is loaded with top end pitching talent.
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While the teams may not be as equally competitive in the NL West, that doesn’t take away from the talent from individual players in the division. Hitters like Fernando Tatis Jr., Mookie Betts, Rafael Devers, or Ketel Marte may tend to steal the spotlight, but that shouldn’t take away from the elite pitching that can be found on the west coast.
With several names consistently fighting for Cy Youngs or the title of the best reliever in baseball from the NL West, there is no shortage of arms. We went ahead and ranked the 10 best pitchers in this division—starter or reliever.
Let’s take a look at who landed on this loaded list of pitching talent from one of the more talented divisions in baseball.
Who Just Missed the Top 10?
San Francisco Giants, Robbie Ray
Robbie Ray helped form one of the better 1-2 punches in baseball last year with a name we’ll see later on this list. Going into the last week of August, he held a 2.93 ERA in just under 160 innings.
Simply put, it was one of the better seasons of Ray’s career at the age of 33-years-old. While slight regression is absolutely a possibility, if he can replicate his first five months of 2025, he could very well find himself in this top 10 next year.
Arizona Diamondbacks – Merrill Kelly
Despite trading him away at last year’s trade deadline, the Diamondbacks opted to bring Merrill Kelly back this offseason. The 37-year-old’s numbers may not jump off the page, but he’s been one of the most consistent starters in baseball for a while now.
Since coming over from the KBO in 2019, Kelly has been good for north of 150 innings in five of his seven seasons and four of those have come with an ERA of 3.60 or lower.
San Diego Padres – Jeremiah Estrada, Adrián Morejón
After making his way to San Diego prior to the 2024 season, Estrada completely turned around his career. In 134.0 innings across the last two seasons, Estrada’s 13.57 strikeouts per nine trails just three guys.
Combine that with 2.7 fWAR and a 3.22 ERA and you get one of the best relievers in baseball. Estrada is one of the biggest pieces of what will likely be the best bullpen in baseball this year.
Morejón, 27, is a converted starter who has made a combined 135 relief appearances over the past two years to the tune of a 2.42 ERA and 2.52 FIP. The left-hander will remain one of San Diego’s most oft-used relief weapons in 2026 and helps give the team one of the best back-ends of any bullpens in the majors.
10. Zac Gallen, Arizona Diamondbacks
2025 Stats: 33 GS, 192 IP, 4.83 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 4.50 FIP, 8.20 K/9, 3.09 BB/9
After a long free agency, Gallen finally landed back in the NL West and back with the Diamondbacks on a one-year pact. Last year may not have been necessarily kind to the right-hander, but one blow-up season can’t take away what he did from 2022 to 2024.
During that span, Gallen tossed 542 innings, accumulated 12.2 fWAR and held an ERA of just 3.20, all three of which land in the top 15 in all of MLB. He was a consistent presence in the Cy Young conversation, finishing as high as third in the final voting after his 2023 campaign.
If he can return to the ace-level starter he was just a few seasons ago, he can significantly change the trajectory of Arizona’s 2026 campaign.
9. Nick Pivetta, San Diego Padres
2025 Stats: 31 GS, 181 2/3 IP, 2.87 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 3.49 FIP, 9.41 K/9, 2.48 BB/9
Nick Pivetta has always been just a fine starter, but 2025 was a complete breakout in year nine of the 33-year-old’s career. His 2.87 ERA was tied for the ninth best among qualified starters and doing so in 181 innings helped him finish sixth in National League Cy Young voting.
A slight decrease in the use of the slider while increasing the use of the curveball seemed to be the biggest adjustment for him. With a questionable back end of the rotation in San Diego, a lot of pressure falls onto the shoulders of Pivetta to keep San Diego’s playoff hopes realistic.
If he can be remotely close to his 2025 form, Padre fans should be excited for what’s to come in the coming campaign.
8. Edwin Díaz, Los Angeles Dodgers
2025 Stats: 62 G, 66.1 IP, 1.63 ERA, 2.28 FIP, 0.87 WHIP, 13.30 K/9, 2.85 BB/9
After signing with the Dodgers this offseason, there’s a reason why Díaz is making north of $21 million a year as a reliever. Simply put, he’s one of the best in baseball.
His 1.63 ERA and 66.1 innings in 2025 were both the second best marks of his career. Of relievers to throw at least 250 innings since the start of the 2016 season, Díaz’s 39.9% strikeout rate is second to only Josh Hader.
With the bullpen being the Dodgers’ most glaring problem last year, Díaz should immediately come over and shore up the ninth inning for the reigning champs.
7. Mason Miller, San Diego Padres
2025 Stats: 60 G, 61.2 IP, 2.63 ERA, 2.23 FIP, 0.91 WHIP, 15.18 K/9, 4.09 BB/9
While we thought we’d be ranking him in the AL West for years to come, after last year’s trade deadline, the league’s best reliever now finds himself in the NL West. Mason Miller has been absolutely dominant across the course of the past two seasons and there’s no reason that won’t continue in 2026.
He struck out an absurd 44.4% of hitters last year with an average fastball velocity of 101.2 mph. Not to mention, his slider is one of the nastiest pitches in baseball with a career Stuff+ score of 130.
While it’s still early, Miller is on track to become the best reliever of this generation. The Padres are expected to have the best bullpen in baseball and the biggest reason for that is this flamethrowing 27-year-old.
6. Tyler Glasnow, Los Angeles Dodgers
2025 Stats: 18 GS, 90 1/3 IP, 3.19 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 3.76 FIP, 10.56 K/9, 4.28 BB/9
Tyler Glasnow tends to be forgotten when discussing the best starters in Major League Baseball due to the fact that he’s rarely available. However, the value he provides when he is on the mound is undeniable.
Glasnow’s career-high in innings may be just 134 innings with only three seasons surpassing 100, but he also hasn’t posted an ERA even remotely close to 4.00 since the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. His 11.67 strikeouts per nine innings is fifth in baseball since the start of the 2021 season.
While there’s no reason to push more innings out of him because of the Dodgers’ embarrassment of riches, a healthy season of Glasnow would likely have him right in the middle of the Cy Young conversation.
5. Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
2025 Stats: 14 GS, 47 IP, 2.87 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 1.90 FIP, 11.87 K/9, 6.89 BB/9
Yes, the best player in baseball is widely known as a hitter, but when he’s right, he’s undoubtedly one of the best starting pitchers in the league. In his most available season on the mound—2022—he tossed 166 innings at a 2.33 clip finishing fourth in Cy Young.
After Tommy John stopped him from pitching in his first season with Los Angeles, he picked up right where he left off in the 47 innings he threw in 2025. Thanks to an overpowering arsenal in which every pitch is comfortably above average, Ohtani holds a career strikeout rate of 31.3%.
Ohtani being healthy on the mound is just more fuel to the fire when it comes to him winning his fourth MVP and how many wins the Dodgers can rack up in 2026.
4. Michael King, San Diego Padres
2025 Stats: 15 GS, 73.1 IP, 3.44 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 4.42 FIP, 9.33 K/9, 3.19 BB/9
Michael King was one of the most interesting free agents in this year’s class. While he did eventually go back to San Diego, there were a lot of questions about who exactly he is, due to him only having one healthy starter season on the books.
The good thing? That one season was special.
In 2024, King threw 173.2 innings with a 2.95 ERA and 3.9 fWAR, striking out 10.42 hitters per nine innings. After being a reliever for basically the first four full seasons of his career, he made the transition to being a starter look unbelievably easy.
Similarly to the recently mentioned Pivetta, a lot of pressure falls onto King with a questionable back end of the rotation in San Diego. The latter proving he can be a healthy starter is going to be huge for the Padres’ World Series aspirations.
3. Blake Snell, Los Angeles Dodgers
2025 Stats: 11 GS, 61 1/3 IP, 2.35 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 2.69 FIP, 10.57 K/9, 3.82 BB/9
Blake Snell may not have the prettiest style of pitching with the elevated walk rates, but he’s still one of the best starters in the game. He’s a two-time Cy Young Award winner and has a no-hitter to his name from his lone season with the Giants.
Yes, he is slated to start the year injured again, but the Dodgers aren’t necessarily worried about that. They want Snell built up and ready for October. His 34 playoff innings in 2025 was a career high and he did so striking out just under 11 hitters per nine with a ground ball rate of 58.7%.
While he may not go deep into games, when he is on the mound, he has the ability to completely take over a game. With four years remaining on his deal, the 33-year-old could be a big reason the Dodgers win a few more rings over the next few seasons.
2. Logan Webb, San Francisco Giants
2025 Stats: 34 GS, 207 IP, 3.22 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 2.60 FIP, 9.74 K/9, 2.00 BB/9
Logan Webb may not be the most overpowering pitcher in baseball, but he’s certainly one of the best. For an organization that has had some underwhelming years since the retirement of Buster Posey, Webb has been their consistent bright spot after taking over as the face of the franchise.
His 968.1 innings since the start of the 2021 season leads the next-best guy (Kevin Gausman) by over 40 innings and he’s done so while throwing to the tune of a 3.19 ERA. He has five straight seasons of accumulating north of 4 fWAR—highlighted by a 5.5 fWAR season in 2025.
Webb has several top-five finishes in Cy Young voting and in 2025, he decided to start striking guys out (9.74 K/9). The Giants undoubtedly have one of the best true aces in baseball, even though his style of pitching and surplus of innings may not fit the typical mold of elite starters in this generation.
1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers
2025 Stats: 30 GS, 173.2 IP, 2.49 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 2.94 FIP, 10.42 K/9, 3.06 BB/9
There was no question on the ability when Yamamoto made the stateside move from the NPB to MLB leading up to the 2024 season. While he unfortunately dealt with injury in his rookie season, 2025 consisted of the breakout we all expected.
Not only did he post a 2.49 ERA in 173.2 innings with a third-place Cy Young finish, but he turned in one of the best postseason pitching performances we’ve ever seen. In 37.1 innings in last year’s playoffs, he posted a 1.45 ERA while walking just 4.2% of hitters.
Not to mention, he went 3-0 in 17.2 innings of two run ball in the World Series, capping off what ended up being a dominant October. With an already impressive postseason career and the potential to win a Cy Young one day, it should be no surprise to find Yamamoto at the top spot of this list.
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Written by
Michael Monreal got his start in baseball media when he started his own website covering the San Francisco Giants after playing two years of college baseball.…