First pitch: Monday, 10:10 p.m. ET
Line: San Francisco +205, Los Angeles -225, Total: 6.0

The Dodgers and the division-rival Giants kick off a three-game series at Dodger Stadium on Monday night.

Neither the Dodgers (14-12) nor the Giants (9-17) have lived up to expectations in the first month of the season, though the former has been far better than the latter. The Dodgers come into the game in third place, .5 games behind the second-place Diamondback and two games behind the first-place Rockies. The Giants are in the cellar in the National League West, sitting seven games behind Colorado. In a battle of the teams’ aces, RHP Johnny Cueto (3-1, 5.10 ERA, 1.40 WHIP) opposes Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw (4-1, 2.29 ERA, 0.79 WHIP). Los Angeles has been hot of late, winning four in a row—including a three-game sweep of the Phillies this past weekend. San Francisco dropped two of three to the Padres this past weekend. These two clubs met last week at AT&T Park, in their first series of 2017, and split a four-game set. Notable Dodgers on the disabled list include 2B Logan Forsythe and CF Joc Pederson. Giants position players on the DL include SS Brandon Crawford and CF Denard Span.

Bruce Bochy’s team has really struggled to score this season. It’s last in the NL in runs (87), last in homers (16), third-to-last in average (.230), second-to-last in OBP (.289) and last in slugging (.342). San Francisco’s most consistent hitter thus far has been C Buster Posey (.354, HR, 3 RBI), though he’s hardly been a run producer. 2B Joe Panik (.301, HR, 8 RBI) is the only other Giants regular hitting over .300. RF Hunter Pence (.266, HR, 10 RBI), 1B Brandon Belt (.250, 4 HR, 11 RBI) and LF Eduardo Nunez (.250, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 7 SB) are all hitting below .270, with very limited power. Don’t expect them to break out against Kershaw, who they’ve had plenty of issues with in the past. In 14 career starts against the Dodgers, Cueto is 5-6 with a 2.86 ERA. He earned a no-decision against LA last week, surrendering three earned runs in six innings.

Dave Roberts’ offense is buoyed by his left side of the infield. 3B Justin Turner (.404, HR, 12 RBI, .465 OBP) is second in the NL in hitting and tied for fourth in WAR, and SS Corey Seager (.319, 5 HR, 17 RBI) is one of the most talented young players in the sport. After them, however, this offense falls off dramatically. 1B Adrian Gonzalez (.259, 0 HR, 10 RBI) isn’t nearly the threat that he once was, and RF Yasiel Puig (.236, 5 HR, 13 RBI) is essentially an all-or-nothing hitter. Seager (8-for-20, HR, 2B) has hit Cueto hard in the past, as has Turner (9-for-24, HR, 2 2B). 2B Chase Utley (.122, 0 HR, RBI) has been brutal so far in 2017, but he’s had great success against Cueto (12-for-37, HR, 2B, 3 RBI). Kershaw has utterly dominated the Giants in his career, going 19-8 against them with a miniscule 1.57 ERA. His team’s record in those starts is 23-13, and the total has gone under 26 times (over in eight). Kershaw was brilliant in a win over the Giants last week, allowing one earned run in seven innings and recording seven strikeouts to one walk.