MLB Standings: San Francisco Giants Closing Gap on Los Angeles Dodgers in National League West

By Damon Salvadore Aug 24 2015, 13:41 PM EDT

Just a few weeks ago, the Los Angeles Dodgers looked to be cruising to their third consecutive division title. Not so fast, baseball fans. The defending World Series champions are not going down without a fight.

The San Francisco Giants are now just one win behind the Dodgers in the National League (NL) West.

The Dodgers have lost their last five consecutive games, dropping their overall record to 67-56. The Dodgers offense has been the primary concern and reason why they've been struggling. The Dodgers now rank 17th in runs scored and 23rd in total hits. The home runs are still coming, but the Dodgers are relying far too much on the long ball. The Dodgers also have a terrible road record of 25-36 so far this season.

Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw have been dominant this season, but the Dodgers were not able to win the last two games they started. In Kershaw's last game he pitched a gem. Kershaw pitched eight innings and allowed just one run, but the Dodgers lost to the Houston Astros, 3-2. That's a devastating loss because the offense wasn't able to win with the ace on the mound doing his job.

Not only were the Dodgers swept by the Astros, but they only managed to score three total runs in the entire series. The Dodgers will take on the Cincinnati Reds in a three game road series next.

Yasiel Puig is having a disappointing season with a mediocre .254 batting average. Only Justin Turner has a batting average north of .300 at the moment. Mexican-American first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is having a terrific power hitting season, but he's getting little to no support bringing in runs. Gonzalez has 73 runs batted in this season. Unfortunately, no one else even has 50 RBIs on the Dodgers roster.

Kershaw publicly spoke about the Dodgers struggles. "I hope we're panicking a little bit. I think panic's a good thing to a certain extent. It's August whatever-it-is, and we've got five weeks or whatever it is, too. There needs to be a sense of urgency. Maybe that's better to say it than panic, but I feel like we've got to start playing like that," Kershaw said, according to ESPN.

As expected, the Giants are right behind the Dodgers in the division.

The Giants are presently 66-58, and the biggest reasons for their current position are a head-to-head record and great road play. As previously mentioned, the Dodgers are just 25-36 on the road, however the Giants are an acceptable 31-34 outside AT&T Park. Even bigger and more important than that, the Giants are 9-3 against the Dodgers this season.

The Giants and Dodgers will face each other seven more times this season, four of which will be played in San Francisco.

The Giants rank 12th in runs scored and 10th in pitching, which is a more balanced attack than the Dodgers. Madison Bumgarner has 15 wins this year, the highest in all of baseball. Buster Posey, who has a .314 batting average, is arguably the most underrated player in the league. The Giants weren't able to win the NL West last season, but that didn't halt any postseason success. The Giants went on to win the World Series as a wild card team over the Kansas City Royals.

The Giants won't have it easy in the next few weeks. The Giants next nine games will be against the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals and of course, the Dodgers.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have been on a little four game winning streak lately, and now have a winning record. The Diamondbacks are in third place in the NL West, ahead of the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies. It's unlikely the Diamondbacks will compete for the division lead, but they can't be taken lightly.