Major League Baseball Regular Season Starts Today

The 2016 edition of Major League Baseball begins in earnest today with three opening-day games: St. Louis @ Pittsburgh, Toronto @ Tampa Bay, and New York Mets @ Kansas City (a World Series rematch). The three games are all in the afternoon and will be broadcast on either ESPN or ESPN2.  Interestingly enough, the regular season "day one" overlaps the conclusion of spring training, as the Chicago Cubs will be playing the Los Angeles Angels in an exhibition game today...

It always amazes me how different my two favorite televised sports, soccer and baseball, are from each other.  With soccer, the action is more or less continuous: even with the occasional interruption in play, the game clock continues to run.  If I walk away from the game for even just a few seconds, I carry the risk of missing a crucial play, as I have learned a few times already.  With baseball, on the other hand, it seems that, oh, about 99% of the time, nothing at all is happening...its just the pitcher standing there fidgeting around on the mound while glaring at the hitter and catcher. Ultimately, when the pitch is finally thrown... for maybe a couple of seconds...there is actually some action.  And if the batter then manages to make contact with the ball, we're treated with a few seconds more of play before the inactivity settles back into dominance.  And I'm not even talking about the breaks between innings or the interminable managerial walks to the mound that extend the non-playing time even further.  Yes, with baseball it's very easy for one to go about one's own business without missing very much.  Maybe that's one reason why I like having it on...

As for the teams I follow in Major League Baseball, I predictably support the Florida teams: Miami in the National League and Tampa Bay in the American.  Secondarily, I've also traditionally rooted for the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, and San Francisco Giants.  Other than that, though, I'm quite content simply sitting back and watching a game, even if I don't particularly care about the outcome...

I am at a loss to predict which teams will do well this year and which ones will tank.  I do believe that both Florida teams, especially those Marlins down south, have the potential to possibly make the postseason playoffs if they can manage to avoid debilitating injuries to key players.   But win or lose, it's going to be fun following baseball this season...