NL West

The Los Angeles Dodgers started off the season a perfect 3-0 both straight up and on the run line, sweeping the San Diego Padres and winning each game by three runs or more. The Dodgers face a much tougher opponent in their weekend series against the San Francisco Giants.

It's high noon in the NL West. Into a deserted clearing step Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Madison Bumgarner. A breeze rolls tumbleweeds across the ground.

What happens next?

Hunter Pence is excited about an Opening Day victory and the rest of the month of April.

Get used to the ear-to-ear grin Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Kenta Maeda flashed for almost the entirety of his major league debut against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.

We saw it before his second at-bat in the fourth inning. A late arrival to the on-deck circle prompted a Little League-like jog to the batter’s box. He grinned as he took his stance.

To say the San Diego Padres started their 2016 in uninspiring fashion would be an understatement. 

According to Elias Sports Bureau (via SportsCenter on Twitter), the Padres became the first team in Major League Baseball history to get shut out over the course of the first three games of the regular season.

It's been a little while since Colorado Rockies fans could associate hope with the shortstop position.

If you want to circle a date, go with July 28, 2015, the day Colorado traded franchise shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to the Toronto Blue Jays for a package that included Tulo's ostensible replacement—Jose Reyes.

The first time the San Francisco Giants won the World Series, they scored the fewest runs of any team that made it to that postseason. They won the National League Division Series in October 2010 despite scoring just 11 runs in four games and won the National League Championship Series with just 19 runs in six games.

They were built on brilliant pitching, and it worked.

It must be an even year.

The San Francisco Giants put together a dominant Opening Day performance against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park, slugging three consecutive home runs in the top of the eighth inning.

Johnny Cueto has yet to throw a meaningful pitch for the San Francisco Giants, so it's a bit early to be talking about his opt-out clause. Right?

Well, yes. But let's do it anyway, because speculation is fun and opt-outs matter in today's MLB.

Arizona Diamondbacks center fielder A.J. Pollock left the field with a fractured elbow during Friday's spring training game against the Kansas City Royals. The injury will require surgery, and it's unclear when Pollock will be able to return to the lineup. 

Continue for updates.