And the season begins! First game is Yankees at Rays, and it appears the Rays can’t sell out opening day.
But they CAN knock Masahiro Tanaka out of the game in the third inning.
Real baseball!!!
Madison Bumgarner currently leading the NL in home runs.
Bumgarner is now the first pitcher in MLB history to hit 2 home runs in 1 Opening Day game. Way to go, dude! Too bad you play for the team you do. 
Well the Yankees lost on opening day, so the season is off to a decent start.
And go Bumgarner!
Yep, go home and cry!
DBacks! Woot! (now keep it up)
ESPN set the mark early this year for butt-kissing, devoting an entire half inning to praising Kevin Kiermaier seemingly without end. Is there nobody in the ESPN truck that could yell in their earpiece “Jesus, get a room will you?”
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASEBALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!
It’s back! Thank God and all the Gods that ever were, baseball is back! Finally, finally, finally, winter is over and spring is here, baseball returns!
And the Opening Day gods have given us wins by the Mets and Red Sox, and a Yankees loss.
A fine start. 
Kevin Pillar just threw his bat into the stands on back-to-back pitches. :smack:
The Orioles start the year with a walk-off, 11th-inning win over the Blue Jays.
It was a Mark Trumbo home run, exemplifying the gritty work ethic that makes white guys such great baseball players.
Meanwhile, here in Southern California, the bunch of kids and minor-leaguers assembled by the Padres front office got its ass kicked to the tune of 14-3 by the Dodgers.
The Padres are paying Melvin Upton 11.5 million to play for the Blue Jays this year, and about the same amount to James Shields, who’s pitching for the White Sox. Matt Kemp will spend the year in the outfield for the Braves, and will still be paid $2.5 million by San Diego.
Of the guys on the Padres’ opening day roster, only three of them will receive more money from San Diego this year than Matt Kemp. And 16 of the 25 players on the active roster will receive less than the $1 million that the Padres are paying Alexei Ramirez NOT to play for them.
I’ll definitely head out to the ballpark for a few games this season. It’s a great place to watch a game. But i’m not expecting to see many in the W column for the Padres.
Also, the entire Padres’ active roster is making about the same amount as the guy who took the mound against them today.
Correction: they are paying Upton $11.5 million to not play for the Blue Jays. He’s been designated for release.
So he has. I hadn’t seen that.
Can’t say i’m surprised. Upton’s line, in the four seasons since signing a 5yr/$72m contract, is .218/.288/.356, for an OPS+ of 78. Wow!
Now that I have started thinking about hiring Larry Reynolds as my agent, I can also mention that I was watching the Phillies-Reds opening game today (thanks to MLB.TV’s ongoing practice of cherry-picking and withholding the hottest games from us). Actually this turned out well enough. In the top of the first inning, César Hernández of the Phillies hit a leadoff home run.
Noteworthy because, as both the TV screen and Phillies announcer Tom McCarthy proclaimed, César was the first Phillie to hit a leadoff home run on opening day since…Emmett Mueller in 1938. Oh. Wait. Who‽ Who was “Emmett” Mueller? Turns out he was the second of two players known in the 1930’s as Heinie Mueller, first Clarence Francis then Emmett Jerome. I’m now wondering if anyone other than their parents and taunting fans called them by their given names. Does César have a nickname yet?
Wow, the 7th inning of the Royals-Twins game was a complete Travis-ty.
When the Reds get Homer Bailey and Anthony Desclafani back, we may have a team to discuss.
The Dodgers and Kershaw did to the Padres what I had hoped.
Life is good.
First game shutout win for the Astros, so that’s all good. Good first game for Keuchel, in any case.