6th Man: Hope springs eternal
By: Will Chukerman
The marathon that is the MLB season begins today where, for the only time during the season every team is in first place, starting with a clean slate.
Fans will fill the park in hopes that this is their team’s year.
It’s a sign that winter is over, and that summer is just around the corner.
Words that are normally used to describe what we eat, tell us what the pitcher is throwing, what the runner is stuck in, or what the hitter just hit out of the ballpark.
Kids eyes light up as they walk up that final step, and before them lies the luscious green that is a MLB field.
Opening Day is a day like no other.
Many teams come into the season expecting to win the World Series, only to be let down a month into the season.
Heck, even Pirates fans can dream for a week or two—just kidding Pittsburgh
The 2012 season looks to offer much the same uncertainty that past seasons have offered.
With the new playoff format, adding another wild card to each league, that uncertainty increases as yet another team will be thrown into the playoff mix.
Two more marque players have switched from the National League to American League in Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols, making the already strong AL only stronger.
In the offseason we saw Ryan Braun—the NL MVP—get suspended and then have that suspension rescinded as an arbitrator ruled that the sample was not handled properly.
This ruling didn’t solve any problems, if anything, it only raised more questions and calls into a question a procedure that the MLB has been so proud of the past couple years, trying to rid their game of performance enhancing drugs.
Yoenis Cespedes and Yu Darvish, two of the most talented players to come into the majors, look to make a name for themselves as Darvish looks to fill the void left by C.J. Wilson, and Cespedes looks to turnaround a once proud A’s franchise.
The now Miami Marlins begin a new era, as they move into a new stadium, one that has a sculpture in left-center field that can best be described as something you might see at a circus or mini golf course.
A new skipper and new attitude is something that the Marlins boast. With Ozzie Guillen now in charge and Jose Reyes at the top of the order, many believe this Marlins team has the talent to compete well into October.
After two of the most epic collapses in baseball history, the Braves and Red Sox are most likely the two teams most eager for opening day.
Bobby Valentine, the new Red Sox manager, is looking to change the culture in the clubhouse and to put the Red Sox nation back on top of the AL East.
With all of this, it’s no wonder why everyone is anxious to get the season going.
Baseball is back, and it couldn’t have come soon enough.
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