There are SO many more than five wonderful reasons to watch the Dodgers play the Mets on Thursday afternoon (5:00 on TBS). Here are my five favorites

Zach Greinke

There are so many reasons to root for Zack Greinke. He has been the rare case of a pitcher who signs a big-time, long-term contract and basically earns every penny. The one time he was on the disabled list it was because of some idiot Padre charging the mound. Other than that, Zack has been the ace the Dodgers are paying him to be in the number two role.

Aside from seeing him on the biggest stage — an elimination game — fans will also get to see him hit at least a few times. On Tuesday, Clayton Kershaw started a rally and you better believe Greinke will try to top him. Can you imagine what will happen if Greinke has a hit, bat-flip and all, that contributes to a Dodger win?

Along with all that, he is a big fan of bathroom hygiene, which is also respectable.

There is a chance that if the Dodgers don’t win, this could be Greinke’s last start for the team, too. He is a player I will root for throughout the rest of his career, no matter where he plays.

Jacob deGrom

As the second-hardest thrower on the Mets, deGrom sat around 97 miles per hour for most of Game 1, when he out-dueled Clayton Kershaw and made the Dodgers hitters look like they had no idea what they were doing.

Less than a week later, the Dodgers have another chance. With their other ace on the hill, they’ll do pretty well for themselves to score four or five runs against the dominance that deGrom brings. The Mets’ ace has kind of similar hair to Greinke’s, the battle of the teams with long-haired hippie pitchers will be one for the ages.

Can the Dodgers find a way to get solid contact against deGrom’s top-flight stuff? Can they execute a clear plan to get deGrom’s pitch count up and get into the Mets’ bullpen? Can this offense flex the muscle it showed during the regular season when it counts? It will not be easy against deGrom.

Both of these bullpens are disasters waiting to happen

Whether the Mets use Bartolo Colon again or the Dodgers bring on Pedro Baez, getting deep into the opposition bullpen will be a priority for both teams. While the two can and do intersect, there is a difference between taking lots of pitches for taking pitches’ sake and actually being productive and scoring a few runs. I’ll be surprised if there are more than three or four total runs through the sixth inning. The final three innings will be freaking amazing. Or excruciating. I guess depending on who’s winning. Damn, I hope the Dodgers are winning… .

Heroes are made in elimination games

Who will be the offensive hero? Will it be a classic candidate like Adrian Gonzalez, David Wright, or Curtis Granderson? Could it be a fresher face like Michael Conforto or Corey Seager? At this point, I think Yasiel Puig would be a pretty unlikely  hero, but anything could happen.

This day-off is amazing and tomorrow is going to be SO fun.

Don Mattingly’s future probably doesn’t depend on Game 5, but going to the World Series this year could cement his legacy. By Cbl62 (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

Don Mattingly’s legacy

I know it’s a little dramatic to say that Don Mattingly’s legacy rests on the outcome of a single game, but it would be silly to think it makes no difference. If the Dodgers lose, it’s entirely possible that this will be Mattingly’s last game as the manager of the Dodgers.

Andrew Friedman and co. are into making decisions based on process. This means, I suppose, that even if the Dodgers do win tomorrow that Mattingly could still be around and vice-versa, but in terms of his long-term legacy in the City of Angels, this game and this postseason is a pretty damn big deal.

What are you most looking forward to about Game 5?

Despite the breakouts of Joc Pederson and Alex Guerrero, the hot start of Adrian Gonzalez has been they key to the Dodgers’ hot start. By Owen Main

The Dodgers are 13-8 at the end of the first month of the season — two games ahead in the National League West. The fun thing is, they haven’t got close to hitting their stride.

I thought it would be an OK time to summarize the good and the bad of the first month of the 2015 season.

The Good

First place

No matter what, setting a tone early-on in the season is important. The Dodgers have won five of the seven series they’ve played so far and, while they were swept by the Giants in San Francisco, they also had a seven-game winning streak.

Greinke keeps rolling

While Clayton Kershaw finds his form and the rest of the Dodgers pitching staff struggles to stay afloat, Zack Greinke has been exactly who he has been since he joined the Dodgers — a second ace. Grienke has a .918 WHIP and is 4-0 in his five starts in April.

Howie Kendrick is as-advertised

Howie Kendrick has been really, really good. He sports a .295/.353/.526 slash line and has been everything the Dodgers have needed him to be.

When people in the know said how good Howie Kendrick would be, many Dodger fans, especially those who are fans of the type of game Dee Gordon plays, didn’t want to hear it. All Kendrick has done is start the season in Kendrick-like form, contributing to wins, fighting in at-bat after at-bat. I really like watching replays of Kendrick at-bats.

Joc Pederson

Neat.

Joc Pederson, who owns the MLB's best walk rate, also appears to be hitting the ball quite hard: pic.twitter.com/AnD7QPcjEQ

— August Fagerstrom (@AugustF_MLB) May 1, 2015

Adrian Gonzalez‘ hot start

This has been the real story of the beginning of the season. Gonzalez leads the National League in home runs (8!!), slugging percentage, OPS, and total bases. Dude is lighting it up. I don’t expect him to all season, but I’ll certainly enjoy it while it lasts.

Alex Guerrero

In just 28 at-bats this season, Guerrero has been dominant, bringing much optimism from Dodger fans. Five home runs, 13 RBIs, and a 1.505 OPS is a decent start for the enigmatic Cuban. Especially with the losses of Yasiel Puig and Carl Crawford, Guerrero should get a chance to prove that he can hit for real in the major leagues.

The Bad

Injuries

Unfortunately, the list of key injuries to the Dodgers was long in April. Perhaps better that they come now instead of July or August, but here’s a short list:

Yasiel Puig

Carl Crawford

Brandon McCarthy

Joel Peralta

Hyun-jin Ryu

Kenley Jansen

Chis Withrow

Brandon League

Brandon Beachy

In all, nine players are currently on the disabled list, including three pitchers named Brandon. Ryu’s and McCarthy’s injuries are the most concerning for me. The starting rotation for the Dodgers could hinge on the performance of guys from the minor leagues.

Mike Bolsinger, David Huff, and Scott Baker have already made one start each. Zach Lee, Joe Wieland, and Carlos Frias could all be future options as well.

The list of replacements isn’t bad if we’re talking about a spot-start or a fifth starter situation. The problem is that right now Brett Anderson is being depended on as the THIRD starter and the fourth and fifth spots look like they’ll be filled with the list above, at least until Ryu comes back.

Starting pitching depth

This is kind of addressed above. The Dodgers have stockpiled talented hitters who are major-league ready. Despite trading Matt Kemp and injuries to Yasiel Puig and Carl Crawford, the team has three or four Major League-capable outfielders to choose from. On top of that, Darwin Barney, Austin Barnes, Chris Heisey, and Enrique Hernandez are all at the ready down on the farm should the Dodgers need them in Los Angeles. Corey Seager could be successful in the big leagues RIGHT NOW if he was needed.

But for all the depth in hitting the Dodgers have amassed, the pitching depth is thinning-out pretty quickly. Kershaw and Greinke are as good as any duo in the majors, but after that things are starting to get rocky. Brett Anderson hasn’t gotten hurt yet, but he was supposed to be the fifth starter. He’s now in the number-three role.

It looks like Carlos Frias will get the start tonight against Arizona. 

The good news is that there are guys who could fill the role (see the list above), but none of them are really proven. Will the Dodgers go outside of what has been their plan so far and reach in a trade for a pitcher like Cole Hamels? Who else could be available as the season goes on?

I guess as long as the team keeps playing like they are and maintains their first-place standings, maybe the questions about starting pitching depth become moot. If they start to skid or fall in the standings, how much patience will the new management team exhibit?

Only 141 more games left, you guys.

The baseball season started today 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.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been going position by position and comparing what personnel the two teams have in preparation for the 2015 season. Let’s finish up this blasted series by comparing pitching staffs.

A quick note — I had this entire post written, clicked save, and it went away into the abyss. The second complete draft of something like this is always worse. That means worse than my usual posts. Consider this fair warning.

Some of the spots in a rotation — who is the third versus fourth starter, for example — are up for debate. I’m going to go in the order of ZiPS Projections for the Dodgers and Giants. Follow the two links in the last sentence if you want to see those projections. I’ll refer to them some in the text to follow.

Ace — Clayton Kershaw vs. Madison Bumgarner

Clayton Kershaw. The best pitcher on the planet. By Owen Main

Clayton Kershaw is, without a doubt, the best pitcher in baseball. He’s won three of the past four Cy Young Awards in the National League, including the past two.

Madision Bumgarner is coming off one of the greatest postseason pitching performances in recent memory. He has three World Series rings, which is two more than Kershaw.

Bumgarner is less than two years younger than the 27 year-old Kershaw, and both will surely have spectacular seasons. According the Fangraphs, Kershaw has been worth no less than 4.5 Wins Above Replacement for each of the past five seasons, including 7.0 last season.

Bumgarner has been worth three or more wins each of the past four seasons, including 4.1 last season — the second best season of his career.

Kershaw is the better pitcher of the two, but Giants fans won’t be rushing to trade places anytime soon. They believe Bumgarner has something Kershaw doesn’t come the post-season. According to the numbers and the whole of the past half-decade, I’ll take Kershaw all day.

Advantage: Dodgers

 Number Two — Zack Greinke vs. Jake Peavy

After Bumgarner, the Giants’ rotation gets really interesting. None of the other four truly stands-out. Peavy is a pitcher who has tormented the Dodgers for years. At the age of 33, Peavy is nearly a decade now from his truly dominant form, but last season he was good for 200-plus innings. His stuff isn’t what it used to be, but Giants fans would be happy with a stable and dependable pitcher that Peavy has been over the past few years. He’s not amazing, but he gives Bruce Bochy a chance to win whenever he steps on the mound.

ZiPS projects Peavy for about two wins about replacement in 2015.

Greinke would be an ace on most staffs. At the age of 31, his great performance over the past three years has been overshadowed by his left-handed teammate. ZiPS projects him for 3.7 WAR — basically splitting the difference between his last two seasons.

A few things I like especially about Greinke are his grittiness, athleticism, and quirkiness. He is the only Dodgers pitcher who has stood up for his hitters over the past few seasons, and it cost him time two years ago when Carlos Quentin broke his collar bone. Greinke can hit a little bit and was even the Gold Glove Award winner last year — the first such award of his career.

Greinke’s ceiling and floor for performance this year are higher than anyone on the Giants, save Bumgarner. He can opt-out of his contract after this season and sign an even bigger one too, so there’s definitely a little extra incentive for him to pitch really well this year.

The signing of Greinke can also be called Ned Colletti’s best signing as a General Manager. Greinke has been everything Dodger fans could have asked for, and then some.

Peavy would be a great fourth or fifth starter, but in the widest margin of this post, Greinke beats-out Peavy.

Advantage: Dodgers

Number Three – Hyun-jin Ryu vs. Tim Hudson

Things start to get interesting here. Much like Peavy, the 39 year-old Hudson isn’t exactly the pitcher he once was. Giants fans will tell me that he didn’t need to be that good to be a part of a championship rotation, and they’d be right. Things broke well for Hudson and the Giants last year and Hudson started 31 games. Even with a losing (9-13) record — the first losing season of Hudson’s career — he still gave the Giants value and stability in a pitcher they could depend on. While there are no indications of it other than his age, Giant fans hope this isn’t the season Hudson breaks-down completely.

Speaking of breaking-down, Hyun-jin Ryu, the Dodgers 28 year-old lefty from Korea, has started the season on the Disabled List.

Over the past few seasons, Ryu has quietly been a really really good pitcher. Greinke and Kershaw in front of him makes him not as flashy, but Ryu is a dependable, solid, and slightly overqualified number-three starter. Recently, I went down a Ryu YouTube rabbit hole. It was quite enjoyable.

Shoulder discomfort shut him down at the beginning of the season, but Ryu has generally been a workhorse when the Dodgers have needed it most over the past few years, going 28-15 over that span.

If Ryu wasn’t injured, this matchup would be a slam-dunk. Instead, a Giants fan could make an argument that having a dependable Hudson all season is better than say, half a season of Ryu (which would be a really bad scenario for the Dodgers in general). Hudson will probably have a solid, dependable year. Ryu though, will likely be much better when he does pitch.

Ryu has been solid for two years and even if he misses a month or up to even a few months, he still is a player I’d rather have than a 39 year-old Hudson.

Advantage: Dodgers

Number Four – Brandon McCarthy vs. Matt Cain

Health is always a huge question-mark with pitchers. The fourth and fifth starter positions for both the Dodgers and Giants will put health at a huge premium.

When healthy, Brandon McCarthy is a really good pitcher. In 2014, McCarthy started 30-plus games for the first time in his career (32 total), split between the Diamondbacks and Yankees. In exactly 200 innings, he put up a 4.05 ERA overall and a 2.89 ERA with the Yankees. Clearly, something clicked after his move to New York, and the Dodgers are hoping whatever it was can be sustainable throughout this season. McCarthy is also, immediately, the best twitter follow on the team (A.J. Ellis and Brett Anderson are both also, very good follows). The Dodgers seem pretty confident that he can stay healthy and effective evidenced by the four-year, $48 million contract they gave him this off season.

If McCarthy stays healthy, he’ll be exactly the kind of quality, middle of the rotation guy they need to be the kind of consistent team fans are hoping for.

Matt Cain used to be dominant. His statistics from 2007- 2010 (or even 2012) show a pretty great four or six-year run. After being good for 30-plus games per season for eight straight years, Cain’s body started to break down last season, when he only started 15 games, going 2-7. His WHIP, FIP, HR/9, and BB/9 all were at career-high levels. The Giants still went all Giants on everyone and won the World Series anyway, but the 30 year-old Cain is looking to bounce back this year and show at least some return to form going into his 30’s.

This one is really hard to call, so I’m going to take the coward’s way out and call this matchup a push. McCarthy is a little older, has less mileage, and probably is a little more injury prone. Cain’s numbers have declined over the past few seasons and now he’s starting to also fit into the “injury prone” category. Since the first draft of this post, Cain has been placed on the Disabled List to start the season.

In the end, I think Cain is still potentially likely to be more stable than McCarthy if he’s healthy, but McCarthy’s upside I see as higher, especially given his second half last season. Dodger fans might think I’m giving Cain too much credit here, but I’m comfortable calling this one just a straight-up push for now.

Advantage: Push

Brett Anderson could have a solid comeback season — if he can stay healthy. By Owen Main

Number Five – Brett Anderson vs. Tim Lincecum

While Matt Cain was making his ridiculous six-year run, Lincecum was going on a ridiculous run of his own. The Freak won the National League Cy Young Award in 2008 and 2009, led the league in strikeouts for three straight years, and was worth somewhere in the neighborhood of 23 WAR over a four-year period. After starting 32-plus games per season for five years in a row, Lincecum started just 26 games last season, in his age-30 season.

According to Baseball-Reference.com, Lincecum has been worse than a replacement-level pitcher since 2011. Peripheral stats aside, Giants fans will tell me that Lincecum still got 33 starts for a World Series champion in 2012 and 26 for a World Series Champion in 2014.

By all accounts, Brett Anderson is really good — when he isn’t hurt. The former A’s lefty was good for Oakland in 2009 and 2010, but has only started 19 total games over the past three years. Anderson’s value to the Dodgers this season is probably going to be based on how many starts he’s actually able to make.

If the Dodgers even get 15-20 starts out of him, he could be really really useful. If his starts are in single digits and he gets hurt, then he’ll be less useful.

Advanced statistics aside and giving both guys some kind of benefit of the doubt, my question here is whether I would rather have an aging, less effective Lincecum for 25-30 starts, or whether Brett Anderson for (as ZIPS projects) 10 starts. While I like the argument about other guys also adding value after Anderson’s 10 or so starts for the Dodgers, I really think there is something to having a known entity on the mound. Lincecum has three World Series rings and two Cy Young Awards. He has been out there nearly every day for a lot of years and that, to me, is worth something over the course of the season, even if his skills are probably declining.

Hey, it’s the fifth starter, so literally ANYTHING could happen, but for now, I’m going to give Lincecum the nod, at least until I can see like 15 Brett Anderson starts.

Advantage: Giants

The Rest of the Story

Other Dodgers starters — Joe Wieland, Mike Bolsinger, Carlos Frias, Zach Lee, Julio Urias, Erik Bedard, Brandon Beachy

Other Giants starters – Ryan Vogelsong, Yusmeiro Petit, others?

The Dodgers definitely have the depth advantage here. They’ve picked up some “scrap-heap” guys in Bedard and Beachy — neither of whom have much risk associated and both of whom could give some spot starts. Joe Weiland is an interesting option, should Ryu stay on the Disabled List for long, or should any other Dodgers starter go there.

Zach Lee is another option the Dodgers have. A former top pick, Lee’s stock has slid some over the past year. But his pedigree is there, and he might have already been given a big Major League shot in some organizations. Frias is potentially a guy the Dodgers could use and I haven’t even mentioned Julio Urias, who probably still needs at least one more year in the minors.

As for the Giants, Vogelsong has already been called into action and will start the Giants’ second game today, with both Peavy and Cain going on the DL. He’s been serviceable, but not great since his hot start a few years ago. Petit is an interesting option and, given the collective age of the Giants’ starting staff, should also get an opportunity at some point this year to show what he’s made of.

There are lots of other pitchers on the Giants’ pipeline page, including former Cal Poly hurler Chase Johnson at #24, but I haven’t heard a whole lot about them. Maybe it’s because I’m not paying enough attention… .

That said, when it comes to organizational depth at the starting pitcher position, the Dodgers are in pretty darn good shape compared not only to the Giants, but to most other teams in baseball.

Advantage: Dodgers

Overall, the Dodgers have clear advantages in pitching outlook, but there’s a big caveat in the form of three trophies now sitting in San Francisco. Bruce Bochy is probably the best manager in baseball, and pitching staffs are affected by how they are utilized. It remains to be seen how the Dodgers protect, utilize, and try to get the most out of their guys this season. I’d rather be Don Mattingly with the Dodgers’ depth this season, but we know Bochy gets the most out of his guys.

What did I miss? Who did I miss? Why am I wrong? Add your comments below!

By signing with the Angels, Josh Hamilton must believe that the West Side is, indeed, the best side. By Keith Allison (Flickr: Josh Hamilton) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

I was sixteen. And since then, the musical machine has introduced collaborations between the likes of Tim McGraw and the dirty South’s representitive Nelly. Life is one big puffy cloud of peace now. It’s all so peachy and sweet.

Just fifteen years since what was a radical split between music’s most popular form, baseball has survived steroid scandals, broken records, and now, a major shift in league power.

After last season’s signing of Albert Pujols and C.J Wilson, the Los Angeles Angels officially put their face on the map as a legitimate threat. Tack on this year’s surprise signing of 2010 MVP Josh Hamilton to fill in rightfield, and the Angels not only boast arguably the greatest player ever in Pujols, but the best outfield in baseball — Hamilton, Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo.

Not so angelic. As aren’t the Dodgers.

From the Halos, the Blue Crew courted 2009 AL Cy Young winner Zack Greinke, with the largest contract ever to a right handed pitcher. This capped a midseason spending spree that brought third baseman Hanley Ramirez, returning outfielder Carl Crawford, first baseman Adrian Hernandez and the hard-throwing Josh Beckett to Hollywood.

Name 50 major stars in Baseball and these from the Angels and Dodgers would be listed. Albert Pujols,  Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp, Mike Trout, Adrian Hernandez, Zack Greinke, Jered Weaver, Mark Trumbo, Josh Hamilton, Tommy Hansen and Andre Ethier. Carl Crawford, Hanley Ramirez, Josh Becket, C.J Wilson and Kendrys Morales would be easily listed in the next 50. They will all be well-owned in the upcoming fantasy season.

It goes without saying that there is a major power shift occuring between America’s two coasts. Where once the Yankees and Red Sox competed yearly in bidding wars, now the Dodgers and Halos will.

The Angels allowed Greinke, Torii Hunter and Dan Haren to walk, only to upgrade with Tommy Hansen and Josh Hamilton. The Dodgers reconfigured their management, and since erecting men like Magic Johnson as the face of the franchise, have returned to form, adding five all-stars to their roster since June.

More perfect than the Yankees – Red Sox rivalry is the mere fact that both freeway rivals exist in entirely different league hemispheres. Despite their close proximity, the two can adequately meet each other in the World Series — and event I’m sure woould erupt Southern California into a horn-hollering traffic jam of ravenous fandom.

How perfect is that? Like a high-priced pickup game between neighbors: “Meet in my backyard at sunrise. Winner takes all in your backyard after school.” Weeeesssstttt Siiiiiddde, now has a whole new meaning.