Opening Day – Another New Beginning

Edward Alec Leon

“It’s a past time, something you do. It’s entertainment, something you watch and it’s a shared experience, something you talk about and read about and that’s marvelous. But you can apply those same three criteria to other things. What makes baseball special is that it’s the best game that’s ever been devised.” –Robert Creamer, American sportswriter.

As April begins and the weather starts to warm up, we look forward to be new beginning of the baseball season. Following the busy month of March and its abundance of spring training events, April holds the only start to the season that matters, opening day.

There are story lines for each and every one of the 30 Major League Baseball teams, and here in the southwest, we get to see what the Arizona Diamondbacks have in store for the 2015 season. Last year was a poor showing for the once powerful World Champions, but hopefully the offseason moves have made a positive impact to improve on the league’s worst record in 2014.

This year marks the first full season for newly appointed Chief Baseball Officer and former championship manager, Tony La Russa, who cleaned house last season by the manager, bench coach and general manager of the Diamondbacks. He has brought on a new coach and GM and made some serious off-season moves. The D-Backs are looking to improve on struggling players and hopefully keep their stars healthy for the entirety of the season. They have dealt some of the main players from previous seasons to competitors but look to bring up young talent and the signing of Cuban star, Yasmany Tomas, should bolster some of the problem areas in the lineup. Either way, the Diamondbacks have quite a task ahead of them, starting with the always competitive National League Division which is always full of potential playoff teams.

This will be the first start to a season in the past few years that will not feature an international series, but will begin with a more traditional fashion. ESPN will host Sunday Night Baseball on April 5, showcasing the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs. Opening day (April 6) will then kick off the following Monday with 14 more games with the rest of the league.

Teams have spent the last several months preparing for the 162 game season, making moves, rebuilding rosters, and bringing up new up-and-coming talent. No matter what happened last season, all thirty teams start off with a clean slate. One thing is certain for the start of the season, and that is the fact that it’s anybody’s ballgame.