Dodgers have new competition

For the past decade, the National League West championship flag has usually flown either in Los Angeles or San Francisco, with the Dodgers winning the division six times and the Giants twice. Of course the Giants went on to win the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014, the third title captured as a Wild Card.

This year, the Giants are floundering near the bottom of the pack while the Dodgers trail the Rockies by 3.5 games with May winding down.

At the beginning of the season, it appeared the Dodgers were heavy in pitching and would have serious competition for a number of roster spots. Now, with injuries taking an early toll, L.A. skipper Dave Roberts is shuffling his rotation around to try and maintain pace with the Rocks and D-Backs.

Rookie sensation Julio Urias was sent back to AAA after several sub-par outings, Rich Hill had control problems in a loss to the Cards last night and Hyun Jin-Ryu has struggled. On the plus side, Clayton Kershaw is 7-2 and looking invincible and Alex Wood is 5-0 and his 1.88 ERA is even better than Kershaw's.

Offensively, the Dodgers have Justin Turner on the DL, Andrew Toles out for the season with a knee, Yasiel Puig and Joc Pederson recovering from a collision in the outfield and Logan Forsythe just off the DL.

I think this team has all of the elements to win another division title and be relevant in the playoffs -- if they can get healthy. Adrian Gonzalez is finding his stroke after coming off the DL, Corey Seager is legit and young Cody Bellinger could be another in a long line of Rookies of the Year wearing Dodger Blue.

I like the contributions from Chris Taylor and Brett Eibner and the bullpen, long a weakness, appears to be relatively stable with Kenley Jansen solid as the closer.

I still predict we will catch Colorado and Arizona by the All-Star break.