Category: Teams

It’s Never Too Early in Baseball

We are already through one week of games in Major League Baseball. If you are like me in New York, you have already seen the Mets rained out three times. The weather has wrecked havoc on teams all up and down the East Coast. That’s baseball life in March and April where the only predicable thing is that the weather stinks. Now is about the time we will start to hear folks stay things like, “there is still a lot more baseball to go so don’t panic” or, “it’s still way too early in the season for X”

Oh really?

At 0-8 and with no Sandy Alcantara, it is already late for the Marlins. Photo from Yahoo Sports

Tell that to the Miami Marlins who are 0-8 as I write this. No matter how you thought the Marlins would fare in 2024, 0-8 is already too big a hole to crawl out from. To boot, their first four games were at home. It is already late for them. Even if they play .500 ball over the first half of the season, they are still eight games under .500 and most likely out of playoff contention. At this point, with no Sandy Alcantara, do you see Miami being even a .500 club? Conversely, the New York Yankees had perhaps the best start of any team in baseball. They went 6-1 against two of the premier squads out there, with all games away from home. Beginning a season as the Yanks have done can carry a team all the way to a division title. This is not to say New York will win the American League East as the defending champion Baltimore Orioles will have plenty to say about that. However, the odds are long that the Yanks will miss the postseason for the second consecutive year.

I know, there are over 150 games remaining in the Major League Baseball season. There is still much drama left for all teams, even for the Marlins. However, just know that even though we are early in this campaign, it is getting really late for Miami.

New York Yankees: New Hope, New Look

Things have certainly started off swimmingly for the New York Yankees. They have won their first three games of the season against the rival Houston Astros. Making it sweeter is the fact all of the victories have come at Minute Maid Park. After the Easter Sunday finale, it’s off to Arizona for three games against the National Champion Diamondbacks. What a start for the new look Bronx Bombers if they can go, say 5-2 against two of the best teams from 2023. It will certainly set the Yanks up for a season that will make memories from last year’s mediocre campaign disappear quickly.

Oswaldo Cabrera rocking at the plate and rocking new threads. Photo from Yahoo Sports.

Two of the new arrivals into the Bronx have paid immediate dividends. Juan Soto is already 6 for 12 and saved the opening win with a throw to snuff out the game tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Marcus Stroman did not allow an earned run in six innings on Saturday. Returning youngster Oswaldo Cabrera already has two home runs and six RBI’s in three games. His play means that DJ LeMahieu can take all the time he wants to come back from his foot injury. There is another change New York has made not affecting the field of play that makes me smile.

The new road uniforms are a great look. For a team that hasn’t changed their uniforms much over the last one hundred years and are steeped in tradition, these grays are fantastic. They remind of the road uniforms that Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle once wore. Soto’s home run in that classic gray could have been Lou Gehrig going the opposite way in 1931 vs. the Philadelphia Athletics. Not all uniform changes are for the better. Changing the design of an iconic uniform such as the Yankees’ can be a tricky proposition. No need to worry. The updated look is a home run.

My Heart Is In Cincinnati On Opening Day

The first game of the Major League Baseball season took place today with the Los Angeles Dodgers defeating the San Diego Padres by a score of 5-2. This was no ordinary first game as this contest took place in Seoul, South Korea. This is not the first time MLB has ventured outside of the United States to begin the season. The first time it happened was in 1996 when the Padres played the New York Mets in Monterrey, Mexico. However, if you are of a certain age, the first game of the season should be reserved for one city.

That city is Cincinnati.

There is nothing like Opening Day in Cincinnati. Photo from WLWT.

For so many years, up until the early 1990’s, the first pitch of the season was thrown by a Reds’ pitcher. Like so many other traditions, be it in baseball or life in general, this was sacrificed in pursuit of greater riches. Contrary to what I believed to be true, Opening Day in Cincinnati was not because the Reds are the oldest professional baseball team. Early on, it was the southern most city in the National League, making it the most likely to have the warmest weather. According to this article in the Cincinnati Enquirer, when the league wanted the Reds to open on the road in 1935, general manager Larry McPhail pointed to the 60 year old tradition of starting the season in the Queen City and he also told the league the franchise could use the money from the sellout. The Reds still generally play their first series at home. Since 1876, the only years the Reds have played on the road have been 1877, 1885, 1888, 1966, 1990 and 2022. Even though the tradition of playing the first game is gone, Cincinnati still celebrates Opening Day, with thousands of people skipping work and school to attend the parade that celebrates the start of another season.

I am glad baseball is back. It feels like a year since the last out of the World Series was recorded. However, I would take the start of the baseball season beginning a week or two later if the tradition of Opening Day returns to Cincinnati.