The orbital mechanics of Planet Earth allow for the days to lengthen in the Northern Hemisphere at this point in the journey around the Sun. The calendar mechanics for MLB are such that:
- Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Spring Training sites in 4 weeks. The Dodgers and the Rays report on Feb 11th. The other 28 teams report on or before Feb 13th.
- Opening Day for MLB’s 2025 season is10 weeks from now – – at least for teams not named the Dodgers or Cubs.
- On March 18 and March 19, the Dodgers and Cubs will play their first two regular season games in Tokyo.
- The Dodgers and the Cubs will take advantage of being in Japan and each will play an exhibition game against the Hansin Tigers of the Japanese Central League. The Dodgers will play the Tigers on March 15 and the Cubs will play the Tigers on March 16.
- [Aside: 2025 will be the 150th year for the Cubs in the National League.]
The Rays’ stadium was destroyed by Hurricane Milton a few months ago and is inoperable at this time; so, the Rays will play their home games in 2025 in George Steinbrenner Field which is the home field for the Yankees during Spring Training. The dislocation of the Rays and their need to play in a facility with limited seating capacity stems from an “act of God”.
Not so with the “Las Vegas/Oakland/Sacramento” A’s. They will play their home games 2025 in Sacramento, CA; the reason the A’s are playing in a minor league facility is because the team is in the process of leaving Oakland to take up residence in Las Vegas and the new stadium there is nowhere near ready and may not be operable until 2028.
Three MLB teams will have new field managers in 2025.
- The White Sox lost 121 games last year. It is not surprising that they have a new manager.
- The Marlins lost 100 games last year. It is not surprising that they have a new manager.
- The Reds’ record in 2024 was 77-85; that is not a laudable record, but it is certainly not in the same category as the ones posted by the White Sox and the Marlins. And yet, they have a new manager.
I mention all this today because it will only require the days to get a little bit longer than they are now for fan to hear a welcome sound around the baseball world:
- Play ball!
Moving on … I ran across an interesting historical tidbit I wanted to share. In 1983, the Detroit Pistons defeated the Denver Nuggets in triple overtime by a score of 186-184. That is the highest point total for two teams and the two individual highest team scores in NBA history. Here are the tidbits that makes that score even more amazing:
- Four players scored 40 or more points in that game. That is the only time that has happened in NBA history.
- This scoring tsunami involved only two 3-point field goals. Each team made exactly one 3-pointer in the game. Compare that to a typical NBA game in 2025 where teams combine to throw up about 60 3-point shots and make about 25 of them.
- NBA basketball was indeed a different game then…
According to a report at CBSSports.com, 41.5% of all the field goal attempts in NBA regular season games this season have been 3-point attempts. In fact, as of now, the Celtics have attempted more 3-point shots than 2-point shots; since the Celtics are the reigning champions, there is some “copycat” strategy at work throughout the league. The report says there has been “fan pushback” to that style of play; let me translate that for you by saying that TV ratings are in the dumpster.
Adam Silver to the rescue? In an interview with Colin Cowherd, Silver said the league is “considering serious change” from a rules standpoint. Let me offer some ideas here:
- Simply moving back the 3-point line might have a short-term effect until players adjust to the new line.
- Eliminate the corner jump shot for 3-points by changing the shape of the 3-point arc. Have the arc extend as a curvature to the point where the existing line now drops straight down to the base line and instead have the line from that point go perpendicular to the sideline.
- Test out a rule in the G-League where teams have a fixed allocation of 3-point shots in a game; once they have tried that number of 3-point shots, all future shot attempts are worth only 2 points no matter where they come from on the floor.
- Test out a rule in the G-League where the ball must be in the possession of an offensive player in the 2-point zone at least once before a shot worth 3 points can be attempted no matter where on the floor that shot originates. That rule will stop the offensive play of dribbling over the half-court line and just launching a long shot.
Finally, it is a rare occasion where I disagree with someone like Frank Deford but given this statement by M. Deford, I must object:
“In days of yore, Opening Day of the baseball season was special, signifying that spring had come at last. Today, however, Opening Day sort of dribbles into existence, and the spiritual start of spring now belongs to the Masters golf tournament, where the azaleas and magnolias and dogwood bloom.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports ………