Major League Baseball is like a national holiday, with every team starting with a clean slate. Baseball is now with us for the next seven months.
It’s been 148 days since Walker Buhler (then of the Los Angeles Dodgers and now of the Boston Red Sox) struck out Alex Verdugo (then of the New York Yankees and now of the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves) to close out the 2024 World Series.
Today is Opening Day – non-Dodgers/Cubs/Japan division. As Alex Cora recently said, Opening Day is similar to a national holiday. And for 28 clubs, it is the last time they will have a clean slate (the Dodgers are already 2-0 and the Cubs are already 0-2).
Rogers Hornsby, arguably the greatest second baseman of all-time, was once asked what he does all winter when there is no baseball. His famous response: “I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”
Well, he and we need not stare out the window any longer. In 14 different ballparks today (the Tampa Bay Rays and Colorado Rockies will have to wait until Friday to begin), players will jog out of the dugout and lineup along the chalk that runs from home plate to the outfield poles. Starting lineups will be announced, ginormous flags will be unfurled, fighter jets will fly overhead, and pop sensations will sing the national anthem. And then an umpire will step behind the plate and say maybe the two most beautiful words in the English language: “Play Ball!”
The winter hot stove season was as robust as ever.
