The Padres, realizing the parity there seems to be in the NL this year, decided that they're not in sell mode, after all.
They just acquired Luis Arraez from the dreadful Marlins.
The Padres are only 17-18, with a bad 8-12 home record, but are still in second place. More importantly, the Braves, Phillies, Brewers, and Dodgers are off to strong records. The Braves and Dodgers will definitely keep it up. The Phillies and Brewers might or might not regress. However, that still leaves two wildcard spots open, and there really aren't any clear favorites for those other two spots right now. The 2023 Diamondbacks, who made the World Series, showed what a hot team can do if they simply make the postseason.
As it stands, there are only two non-division leading teams over .500 in the NL right now -- the Braves and the Cubs.
In other news, somehow the Twins have won 11 in a row, after a 7-13 start.