MLB Opening Day 2022

Glancing out the window of Curmudgeon Central here in the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC, it is drizzling, and the total cloud cover is at about 3000 feet; it is a dreary day.  According to the weather app on my phone, the current temperature is 47 degrees; it will go up to 54 degrees today and the probability of rain is greater than 70% for the rest of today and into tonight.  I mention this not because it is important; I mention this because today is the day that I personally call the “First Day of Spring” – – because today is Opening Day in MLB.  So, today I want to present some random thoughts about the upcoming baseball season.

The beauty of Opening Day is that all 30 teams in MLB have a “magic number” equal to 162…

Two players should reach statistical milestones this year:

1. Miguel Cabrera enters the season with 2,987 base hits to his credit.  He may not be the hitter he was 5 years ago, but he should make it to the 3000 base hit level sometime soon.
2. Albert Pujols needs 21 home runs in what he says is his final season to become only the fourth player in MLB history to hit 700 home runs.  The other three are – of course – Barry Bonds, Henry Aaron and Babe Ruth.  Last year, Pujols had 17 home runs in only 85 games.

There are four  “recognizable players” who will be in new uniforms this year:

1. Kris Bryant will be in Colorado having signed a long-term deal worth $162M.  I was surprised at that offer by the Rockies given that they had Nolan Arenado signed to play third base for them and traded him away – – and they let Trevor Story walk away in free agency.
2. Freddie Freeman is now with the Dodgers after spending the first 12 years of his career in Atlanta.  The Braves sought to replace his bat in the lineup by acquiring Matt Olsen from the A’s.
3. Robbie Ray won the Cy Young Award last year with the Blue Jays – – after having a disastrous truncated season in 2020 – – and then signed on with the Mariners on a 5-year deal.
4. Noah Syndergaard had Tommy John surgery and then suffered “elbow inflammation” limiting him to two innings pitched since 2019.  He signed a 1-year “prove it” deal with the Angels for this season.  He will be 29 years old in mid-season; if his arm is right, he could be a top free agent next winter.

The Atlanta Braves will be an interesting team to watch this year and not just because they are the defending World Series Champions.  The Braves had a bizarre season in 2021.  They were at or below .500 until early August; at that point in the season, they had lost their best player, Ronald Acuna, Jr.; they looked dead in the water.  So, all they did was to go on a two-month rampage to win their division by 6.5 games and go on to sweep through the playoffs and win the World Series.  By the way, Acuna will not be available on Opening Day as he continues his rehab, but reports say he should be up and ready to go early in the season.

Speaking of the Braves, there was a report on CBSSports.com earlier this week that they will offer fans a special burger at the park this year to commemorate last year’s championship season.  Here is a link to the full report; I will just quote a part of that report here:

“For a staggering $151 – a price reflecting the number of years the Braves have been a franchise – fans can buy ‘The World Champions Burger,’ a ‘half-pound Wagyu beef burger topped with cage-free pan-fried eggs, gold-leaf-wrapped Hudson Valley foie gras, grilled cold water lobster tail, heirloom tomato, bibb lettuce, Tillamook Cheddar cheese and truffle aioli on a toasted, Irish-buttered brioche bun.’  All purchases of the burger include a replica 2021 World Series ring – and Parmesan waffle fries, of course.”

The American League East Division is loaded this year – – save for the Orioles of course who have lost 108 or more games in each of the last 3 full seasons of baseball.  Given the rest of the AL East teams, you can pretty much pencil the Orioles in as “Eliminated” from the playoffs as of tomorrow.  In fact, if you list the teams in the AL East alphabetically by their cities you just might have the final standings of the division at the end of the season in reverse order:

• Baltimore
• Boston
• New York
• Tampa
• Toronto

There are three wildcard slots available for the playoffs this year.   Were it not for the fact that these AL East teams will beat each other up during the season, it might just be that the top four teams in that division could make the playoffs.

Here are a few random and brief observations:

• Astros look like the class of the AL West – – especially if Justin Verlander can return and resemble his former self.
• Mariners won 90 games last year; that performance came out of nowhere.  Was it a mirage or is this team poised to be a playoff team in 2022?
• Padres folded last year after looking like a shoo-in for the playoffs in early August.  Can they put that 79-83 horrible record behind them for 2022?
• White Sox lost several of their best players for over a hundred games to injury – – and all they did in 2021 was to win the AL Central by13 game as the only team there better than .500.  Absent more injuries, I think the White Sox might be playing very late into October this year…

Finally, Opening Day for MLB presents fans everywhere with hope for their local heroes.  So let me close with this view of “hope” from Nietzsche:

“Hope in reality is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs the torments of man.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………