Happy Father's Day, baseball fans!

Shall we talk NL West for a moment? The 2015 Dodgers have been bad against the Giants and, broadly speaking, good against the collective remainder of their opponents. Yes, they pounded the Giants on Sunday night, but in doing so they moved to a mere 3-9 on the season against their blood rivals. Versus everyone else, they’re playing .621 ball.

In an admittedly meandering way, this raises the matter of how the NL West figures to play out the rest of the way. Yes, the Giants are the reigning champs, but the Dodgers, what with their star power and revamped roster, remain the favorites. Injuries can happen (as they already have, to the Dodgers especially) and reasonable expectations can be defied, but, yes, L.A. does indeed project better than the decorated club from upstate.

In part, the Dodgers have a better near-term outlook because they’ve been a bit unlucky to date. After Sunday night’s win, they’re 39-31. However, if you look at the BaseRuns standings available at FanGraphs, which evaluate what a team’s record should be based on fundamental indicators, the Dodgers ought to be 44-26 (here's a lengthier explanation of BaseRuns). That is, they’re under-performing their component numbers by five full games. That’s a lot! In part it’s because the Dodgers' tremendous offensive numbers haven’t translated into runs on the board quite as often as you’d expect. They're first in the NL in OPS but just sixth in runs scored. That’s likely to correct itself moving forward (although that’s not the sole source of the disconnect).

All of this is significant because the Dodgers have the best BaseRuns winning percentage in all of baseball, and, like it or not, BaseRuns records project future performance better than actual records do. As for the Giants, they’re pretty much in line, from a BaseRuns standpoint, with their actual record.  

A galling lack of respect for the belt-and-title holders in San Fran? Not especially. No one’s denying the rings. Let’s bear in mind, though, that in that championship season of 2014, the Giants finished 6.0 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West. Tap into the projections, and you come out forecasting a similar margin in 2015 (and, yes, that takes into account the patchwork back end of the L.A. rotation). All of this is developing, but don’t let the Giants’ pre-Sunday run of success against the Dodgers and their recent October glory force you to overlook the likely realities in the NL West. 

If all of the above seems to imply a wholesale dismissal of the Diamondbacks, Padres and Rockies, that's because, yes, those three teams don't figure to have much of a chance over the long haul. 

The Dodgers brought the lumber against the Giants on Sunday night. (USATSI)
The Dodgers brought the lumber against the Giants on Sunday night. (USATSI)

Elsewhere ... 

Heading into Sunday, the Rays were probably the hottest team in the majors, having won four straight and eight of their last nine. They saw starter Alex Colome take an unlikely perfect game into the sixth inning, too, but he was only matching zeroes with Indians starter Cody Anderson, who was excellent in his MLB debut. The rookie worked 7 2/3 shutout innings, allowing just six hits and a walk while striking out four.

The game headed to the bottom of the ninth tied. Roberto Perez got things started with a single and was followed by a Jason Kipnis single that got Perez to third. After Kipnis took second on defensive indifference, Francisco Lindor lined out, setting the table for Michael Brantley. The Rays elected to walk Brantley intentionally and David Murphy came through with the walkoff sac fly.

The play very nearly sent the game to extras, though, as Kevin Kiermaier's throw from center was excellent and beat Perez to home, but catcher Curt Casali was unable to corral the throw and the Indians won.

Cody Anderson had an impressive MLB debut.
Cody Anderson had an impressive MLB debut. (Getty Images)

And now welcome to The Eye. As always, we'll be building this thing out as the day progresses. Stick around or come back later, the choice is yours.

Today's MLB action (all times ET) (Full scoreboard)

Dodgers 10, Giants 2 - Recap | Box score

Regarding Sunday's starter for L.A. ... 

Indians 1, Rays 0 - Recap | Box score

Tigers 12, Yankees 4 - Recap | Box score

Phillies 9, Cardinals 2 - Recap | Box score

Nationals 9, Pirates 2 - Recap | Box score

Cubs 8, Twins 2 - Recap | Box score

Red Sox 13, Royals 2 - Recap | Box score

Orioles 13, Blue Jays 9 - Recap | Box score

White Sox 3, Rangers 2; 11 innings - Recap | Box score

Of note: Gordon Beckham now has walk-offs in each of the two Honorary Parental Holidays of 2015 ... 

Rockies 10, Brewers 4 - Recap | Box score

Diamondbacks 7, Padres 2 - Recap | Box score

Athletics 3, Angels 2 - Recap | Box score

Braves 1, Mets 0 - Recap | Box score

Related ... 

Astros 6, Mariners 2 - Recap | Box score

Reds 5, Marlins 2 - Recap | Box score

Milestone Watch

Longest active hit streak: Should-be All-Star starter Jason Kipnis brought to Sunday a 15-gamer and he extended it to 16 in the ninth inning.

Elsewhere, David Ortiz's homer against the Royals on Sunday pushed him past a couple of all-time greats ... 

Also, J.D. Martinez hit three homers. More on that here.

Daily Awards

Bases of the day

Stanley Cup shot of the day

WWE reference of the day

You can't see me, says Jose Bautista.

Moonshot of the day

Bryce Harper's 23rd homer was far from cheap.

Great debut, kid

Cody Anderson of the Indians had never pitched in the majors until Sunday. And he did this:

Close call of the day

Here's the aforementioned winner for the Indians.

Best Father's Day message

Dangerous intentional walk of the day

It's Kevin Jepsen, getting a little close for comfort in his attempt to issue a free pass to Michael Brantley ... 

Ceremonial first pitch of the day

King Felix's kiddo was through with it before you knew what to do with it ... 

Dance moves of the day

It should be no surprise that this one goes to Munenori Kawasaki ... 

Totally chill slide of the day

Lorenzo Cain is all good, y'all ... 

Catch of the day

We'll go with a deserving fan for this one ... 

More to come!

Injuries, News & Rumors

A limping Blake Swihart could mean Red Sox to call up catcher

Orioles call up Oliver Drake, send down Kevin Gausman

Pirates 2B Neil Walker (stomach) on bench again Sunday

Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre has issues gripping bat

Justin Masterson throws bullpen, rehab start likely off

Mets' Ruben Tejada sits with ankle injury

Report: Mets SP Dillon Gee placed on outright waivers

Mariners SP Hisashi Iwakuma to make Triple-A rehab start Thursday

Brewers CF Carlos Gomez likely to avoid disabled list

Mets INF Daniel Murphy (quad) likely out another week

Angels SP Jered Weaver destined for tests on ailing hip

More player updates

Looking Ahead to Tomorrow's MLB action (all times ET)

It's a light one after a long week, but there are some intriguing ones in here.

Away Home Time Away Starter Home Starter Natl TV
Philadelphia N.Y. Yankees 7:05 pm Correia (0-1) - 1.69 ERA Pineda (8-3) - 3.54 ERA  
Detroit Cleveland 7:10 pm Ryan (1-1) - 3.26 ERA Bauer (6-3) - 3.22 ERA  
Toronto Tampa Bay 7:10 pm Hutchison (6-1) - 5.33 ERA Andriese (2-1) - 3.26 ERA  
L.A. Dodgers Chi. Cubs 8:05 pm Kershaw (5-4) - 3.29 ERA Wada (1-1) - 3.68 ERA  
Chi. White Sox Minnesota 8:10 pm Danks (3-7) - 5.16 ERA Milone (3-1) - 3.67 ERA ESP2
Houston L.A. Angels 10:05 pm Oberholtzer (2-1) - 2.73 ERA Santiago (4-4) - 2.77 ERA  
Kansas City Seattle 10:10 pm Blanton (1-0) - 1.80 ERA Hernandez (10-3) - 3.08 ERA