Preview/Prediction

The San Francisco Giants won't have to face Clayton Kershaw Tuesday night, which is important to consider when making your MLB picks, as they face the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

Sports bettors will find that the Giants are minus-101 road underdogs in the pro baseball odds (courtesy of SBR Forum), while the total varies between 6.5 and seven in the market.

Let's take a closer look at this National League West matchup from a betting perspective, while offering an official pick along the way.

Johnny Cueto is the ace of the Cincinnati Reds pitching staff.

This season, that role will come with a lot of notoriety as the Reds currently have the sixth best odds to win the World Series in 2013 (per Betvega.com).

The Cincinnati Reds spent the offseason expecting Aroldis Chapman to join the starting rotation in 2013, but now they will have to face the pros and cons of their decision to keep him as the closer.

One of the new advertising billboards for the Chicago Cubs is a simple saying: "Not if. When." Although this is a clever campaign that will give fans hope, there should probably be a question mark at the end of the second sentence. 

The Los Angeles Dodgers' record-breaking annual payroll of approximately $223 million shows how much the Guggenheim Partners group desires to resurrect the franchise. However, the product that appears on the field on Opening Day will be less than stellar.

New season. New players. New enthusiasm. A beautifully renovated stadium. For the first time in four years, hearts are thumping in anticipation amongst Dodgers' fans everywhere.

With spring training headed out the door and fans welcoming Opening Day tomorrow, the excitement is building around the country.

Spring training allowed players to get back into the swing of things with their teams, after taking a break in the offseason. This time lets new acquisitions get used to their new teams for the upcoming season.

Teams like the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles excelled in spring training. Sometimes, spring training success doesn’t always translate into the regular season.

What makes a fresh baseball season so beautiful? Maybe it's that moment when you first open the newspaper and see the standings and find every team tied at zero. It's the only time during the season where every team has an equal chance to succeed. Even the Astros, however briefly, take comfort in not yet being mathematically eliminated.

What if each of Major League Baseball's awards were given out to every team—who would end 2013 as the Oakland A's Most Valuable Player? Who would be their Cy Young winner? What about Most Improved Player or Comeback Player of the Year?

Whether any player actually wins any award is yet to be seen. Regardless, there's going to be a top hitter and a top pitcher. Someone will rebound. Guys will improve.

Count on it.

Here's an analysis of who could win these awards if they were doled out, one to each team.

Enjoy the first round of your 2013 fantasy baseball draft. When it's over, you'll still be left with nearly 20 or so positions to fill and a bench to outfit for an entire 162-game season.

As it usually is with fantasy drafts, it's the mid-to-late round hits that really make your team successful in any given sport, or any given season.

Baseball is no different.

Opening Day is always a special event around Major League Baseball. It signals the start of a new season, which means the warmer weather should be right around the corner. And in a season of 162 games over six months, the first one always means a little bit more.

The Texas Rangers and Houston Astros—new division rivals—get the season started with a single game on Sunday night. Monday is when things really get rolling, though. There are 12 games that will likely run from about 1 p.m. until 1 a.m. ET.