Winter is depressing.
There's snow everywhere, you won't walk anywhere because you will freeze, and everything's always gloomy. You also can't watch baseball.
Even pre-season is annoying. You're forced to watch your favorite team play in beautiful weather, your favorite players barely play, and it's essentially a baseball tease. They're giving you just enough to keep you really interested, even though you know you're not getting the entire package.
On Sunday night, the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs will open the season by facing off against each other at Wrigley Field. In doing so they will not only be throwing out the first pitch of the 2015-16 MLB season, but they will also restore order to the world.
Without baseball, how do hot dog stands stay in business? Without baseball, what am I going to do with all of my sunflower seeds? I mean, what other sport am I going to watch? Golf? No, thank you. I'll stick to America's pastime.
In a 162-game season, you can make a case that baseball can get boring, but I hope these story lines will be able to keep you interested for all 162 (plus All-Star break).
The Kansas City Royals were one of the most unlikely candidates to make the postseason last year, but somewhere inside themselves they found a way to make it out of the stacked American League and into the World Series, where they would eventually fall to the San Francisco Giants. Now that we know that you can't sleep on any team, what upstart team is going to be the 2015-16 version of the Royals? The Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners both hold 13-year playoff droughts, but with key additions to both teams, I wouldn't be surprised if both teams were to make the playoffs.
Can the Red Sox go from worst-to-first? This is my shameless plug for Red Sox Nation (Go Sox, ladies and gents). Two years ago the Sox were hoisting the 2013 World Series trophy. The team was in a good spot. They had incredible team chemistry, they finally had a steady coach that wasn't Terry Francona, and they seemed like they would be good for years to come.
Then the 2014 season came in like a wrecking ball and the Sox found themselves back in an all-to-familiar place. Last place, actually. The Sox have revamped their offense this year, adding the two most expensive free agents in Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez. Their pitching is suspect, but this team has the offense to carry them far into October.
Knock-knock. Who's there? It's A-Rod. The most hated man in baseball is back this year. Alex Rodriguez, the man made famous for his steroid usage will be back in pinstripes to DH for the New York Yankees. People have been downplaying his above average pre-season numbers, but we'll see how he fairs when the actual season starts. All I know is he'll have to get used to boos. And not just at Fenway park. He'll have to get used to those boos everywhere he plays.
Through the past few years, there hasn't been a truly dominant team in the MLB. There hasn't been that team like the New York Yankees that won back to back to back World Series Championships in a row. The Washington Nationals might have that team. They are proud owners of one of the best pitching rotations the league has ever seen, and they have an offense to match headlined by the fiercely competitive Bryce Harper. We'll have to see if they can live up to the hype.
Speaking of hype, there is a lot of it in the Windy City. The best fans in baseball finally have something to cheer about this year. Joe Madden is heading the ship of an upstart Cubs team that has a healthy balance between youth and veterans that will give any team fits. Anthony Rizzo is the real deal, and once Kris Bryant is moved up to the show (No doubt it will happen soon) Rizzo and Bryant could become the new Ortiz, and Manny in terms of one-two punches in the middle of the batting order.
