The baseball season’s coming up and Mike Krukow thinks Yasiel Puig is dumb for not pegging the Giants as their biggest rival. In San Luis Obispo, I’d say they are, though the two teams have not met in the playoffs since the Wild Card round started.

I thought it would be fun to, over the next few weeks, go position by position and compare what personnel the two teams have in preparation for the 2015 season. Today’s position: First base.

First base is a big contrast. The Dodgers have one of the steadiest guys in the league and a bona-fide star at the position. The Giants have at least three players who could see significant time at the position. Back-up players will be in parenthesis.

Position by Position: Catcher

Adrian Gonzalez (Scott Van Slyke?, Andre Ethier?, ?)

Gonzalez is the start and the end of the first base conversation for the Dodgers. The 32 year-old led the National League with 116 RBI’s last season and finished seventh in the MVP voting. He played in 159 games — the most since he was traded from San Diego to Boston — and was one of the steadier Dodgers. He hit 27 homers, but his batting average “dipped” to .276, his lowest full season in the major leagues.

As Gonzalez gets farther and farther away from a shoulder injury five years ago, he continues to show that he is a very productive player in the heart of the Dodgers’ order. His dependability and durability last season played a big part in the team winning as many games as they did.

ZIPS projects Gonzalez to have a slightly worse year than last season when counting home runs, RBI, WAR, and other counting statistics, but an identical or better year than 2014 is within the realm of possibility. When he plays, it’s likely Gonzalez will contribute at the steady rate he has for most of the past two seasons. The question will be — can he stay healthy? Dodgers fans better hope so.

Brandon Belt (Buster Posey, Andrew Susac?)

The Giants’ depth chart is fun and hard to nail-down at this position. (Although I’m scratching my head to find out why a depth chart that boasts to have been updated today shows Travis Ishikawa as a first-base option…) The chart in question shows Buster Posey as the starting catcher and back-up first baseman, which makes a ton of sense. Posey’s ability to play first base and the team’s desire for him to do the same will make the position a really flexible one.

The issue is one of playing time at first base. ZIPS likes Belt and Susac to have roughly equal contribution this season for the Giants, but that dosn’t say anything about playing time or where that playing time will happen for either Susac and Posey. Presumably, Susac will play mostly behind the plate, giving Posey a chance to sit-out or man first base against left-handed pitchers while giving Belt the night off. If Belt is less effective or injured again, a scenario where Susac and Posey basically platoon between the two positions, excepting days off.

Belt will be turning 27 years-old in 2015. He should be right in his prime in his fourth year in the majors. Injuries limited Belt to 61 regular season games last year, perhaps contributing to a mild ZIPS projection of less than two wins. He could produce twice that, which would put him somewhere close to where Adrian Gonzalez was a season ago. He could also be closer to the two-win player that ZIPS projects him as.

One really good, steady guy vs. options

While I’ve been touting the Dodgers giving themselves lots of organizational flexibility and options during the offseason, they don’t have a ton of flexibility at first base. In a pinch, I suppose Juan Uribe could play there as well, though someone like Andre Ethier could also fill-in were Gonzalez to go down for any length of time.

The question when comparing the Dodgers and Giants at this position is one of flexibility. Would you rather be the Giants, who have a decent starter, a catcher getting off the position for 30-40 games, and a relative unknown? Or would you rather be the Dodgers, with the best player at the position between the two teams but with some question marks after that.

Because of Gonzalez’ season last year, I’ll take the Dodgers, but not by as big a margin as Dodgers fans would like to think. If Adrian stays healthy all year and has a season close to the one he had last year, it won’t be close. If something else happens, or if Belt improves significantly, then the difference could be marginal.

Advantage: Dodgers.

The Padres. Off the top of my head, I think of them as kind of a laughing stock, but they haven’t been as bad as that, necessarily. Over the past 10 years, they won 90 games once and had four total winning seasons. The Friars have had fewer than 78 wins in each of the past four years and five of the last six. The closest they’ve got to the division title over the past four years is 16 games back.

So, honestly, I can’t blame the team for blowing things up this offseason. I can’t blame AJ Preller for trying to do something different.

Different is a good way to describe the Padres’ offseason.

They traded with the Dodgers for a declining Matt Kemp, and most of his salary. They added Justin Upton, Wil Myers, and Will Middlebrooks, among others. Their pitching staff, if it stays healthy, can be really good. This week, they signed James Shields to a contract that was way less than many expected from Shields.

At the very least, the Padres have a ton of right-handed power and names that should bring in closer to 2004’s 3 million fans, compared with the 2.1 or so they’ve been averaging over the past five years.

Good for fans…

My first thought about everything that’s happened in San Diego is that I’m excited for Padres fans. As a UC San Diego alumnus, I am thrilled for Padres fans. Whether they’re good or not, they’ll at least be a relevant talking point on the national stage this year — more than can be said for the team’s recent past.

Myers, Upton, and Kemp will be really fun to see in the lineup if they can stay healthy. Bud Black has a knack for getting a ton out of his pitching staff. The Padres may be the most interesting early-season MLB.TV teams to see just what their games look like and how they actually play on the field.

A great case study

The additions of high strikeout right-handed power-hitting outfielders will make for an interesting case study this season. The relative inability — according to advanced defensive metrics — of any of the three outfielders to play center field effectively could be interesting to watch. Speaking of advanced metrics, the Padres should have a really high strikeout percentage as a team and not much hitting from players who play defensively in the infield. Despite bullish projections for the Tim Federowicz/ Derrick Norris platoon at catcher, ZIPS projects all of the Padres’ positions to have 2-3 win players. The Padres should be improved at the plate.

While the three outfielders are really great hitters, their projected defensive value will be an interesting test over the course of the season. If defensive metrics are as shaky as some say, the Padres may turn out to improve enough to contend. If defensive metrics are accurate, the Padres may actually be limited to an 80-85 win team.

The case study for the pitching might be just as interesting. Having already flown in the face of conventional advanced statistical wisdom, Preller signed James Shields this week. While he has been a solid pitcher, Shields isn’t a darling of the advanced stats community. Don’t get me wrong, he’s been a really solid pitcher over the past few years, but according to Fangraphs, he hasn’t been worth more than 4.5 WAR at any point in his career. Shields is solid, but he’s worth closer to the relatively modest four year contract he ended up with versus a megadeal he was rumored to be getting earlier this offseason.

What does it mean for the National League West?

The Padres are really just kind of fitting-in in their division. The Giants have won three of the past five World Series titles with great pitching and timely hitting while not being an advanced statistics poster child. Alongside the Giants now, the Diamondbacks and Padres are all making personnel choices that could be described as “old school.” It’s all setting us up for a season of, basically, the Dodgers vs. everyone else.

The Dodgers, who have hired a cadre of forward-thinking, new-school baseball executives, ready to use advanced statistics and all information possible in personnel (and, presumably in game) decisions.

Then there are the defending world champions and two other teams hell-bent on proving that grit, toughness, and old-school baseball still are what wins.

I can’t wait to give it a season or so to see who comes out on top. Someone will be right, and someone will be left to try to justify their offseason and organizational decisions.

As a Dodger fan, I’m glad because I believe what the Dodgers have been doing is generally a good plan. I’m glad because I don’t think what the Padres did will be great for them in the long run. I’m especially glad, though, that we’re not trying to copy the Giants. They’ve been successful, but in LA, how you do it is as important as whether you do it. I want the Dodgers to do it their way.

Which Dodger outfielder will be the odd man out come playoff time? If they make it to the World Series, it won’t matter in the AL park. By Dirk Hansen (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

With a cannonball into the pool, Nick Punto was the personification of the feeling Dodger fans have had throughout the year.

When the team came out slow, reasonable fans preached patience. When Yasiel Puig was called-up, there was at least energy, if not a winning streak. When the Dodgers were 9 1/2 game back on June 22, things seemed bleak.

We all know what happened next. The Dodgers went 42-8 over a 50-game span and turned the standings upside down.

So, when Punto, Kershaw, Puig, and co. went swimming, Dodger fans let out an exhale that could be felt from here to Arizona. Here are some clinching and pre-postseason thoughts.

How good does this feel right now?

Dodgers fans have been through a lot. Not like Boston a lot, and not like Cubs a lot, but still. The team has not been to the World Series in 25 years. The stench of old ownership had to be washed away by a fan boycott and with help from Major League Baseball.

Criticism of new ownership came swiftly as they spent more money more quickly than an NFL rookie without a financial advisor. It made this fan somewhat nervous.

Now it seemed all worth it. The team is in the playoffs with plenty of time to have their aces lined-up for their first series.

Who will be left out in the outfield?

I think the Dodgers will probably go with matchups. Since they have two lefties and two righties in the outfield, I would expect Ethier to probably sit vs. lefties. Who they sit against right handed pitchers is a little bit more of a guess, but I bet Puig will be left out of the starting lineup at least 1-2 times per series. I guess it gives them pinch-hitting/defensive replacement flexibility though late in games, which is a good thing if the players buy into it.

The pitching staff is all lined-up.

Really, there are no excuses for this year’s Dodger team. They should be able to line-up Kershaw, Grienke, Ryu, and Nolasco. They should be able to bring all their position players into the playoffs healthy. We will get a real chance to see who the best team out there is, and as a Dodger fan, I’ll take the odds with a pitching staff like this one.

Uribe

The much-maligned third baseman who was either injured or didn’t hit at all over the past two years has come up roses down the stretch. A huge contribution from Uribe during a World Series run would make for poetic justice would be served for a guy who took a lot from fans like me. Emojuanuribe.tumblr.com is still one of the greatest websites ever, though. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

A footnote about Arizona

Spring Training was a blast the past few years. The Phoenix area is as hospitable as anywhere else to fans from all over the country.

Their local team, though, is nowhere near as friendly or reasonable. Early in the year, Dodger fans behind home plate were forced to change into Arizona gear. Then this happened.

So, whether the Dodgers disregarded the Diamondbacks’ request, whether they swam in the pool, and whether they peed in the pool, people need to settle down. I wonder how many times the pool has been peed in by D-Backs fans. Probably a lot… .

Ever since Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez picked up their shovel and started pouring coal into the furnace of the Dodger train, the locamotive has been picking up momentum.

The already-surging Dodgers could get another boost when Matt Kemp returns. By Owen Main

It seems like yesterday that the Dodgers were mired in last place, Puig was in Chattanooga, and the outlook seemed bleak. As of yesterday morning, the team was 9 games above .500, 27-6 over their past 33 games. They are 3 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Diamondbacks and 11 games up on the last-place Giants. If this isn’t blue heaven, I don’t know what is.

To turn a turd into something positive, their potentially best player has been on the disabled list for most of their run. If Matt Kemp comes back healthy, this lineup could be devastating.

The clubhouse is as good as the team is playing right now. Veterans like Clayton Kershaw, Zack Grienke, Mark Ellis, Jerry Hairston, A.J. Ellis and Skip Schumaker must be doing something right. Their experience mixed with the youthful exuberance of players like Puig are creating a combination tastier to Dodger fans than ice cream out of a blue helmet on a hot summer day.

Yes, there are still a lot of games to be played. Yes, this team is quite capable of losing 12 out of 15 games and dropping back into a battle for the NL West. But I’m going to be an optimist here. I said earlier in the year that I thought the National League West winner would win 90-93 games. I stand by that. As of this morning, the Dodgers sit at 8 games above .500 (57-49). That would get them 85 wins on the season. To win 90 games, you have to be 18 games above .500. With 56 games left to play this year, the Dodgers would have to go 33-23 the rest of the year. I think this train has enough to get over the hill this year. I think they can, I think they can… .

Do you?