Faithful, Too: "Opening Day"

The MLB season kicks off on Opening Day and today is Opening Day, even though the Cubs also had Opening Day last Wednesday, will have another Opening Day next Monday, and a final Opening Day next Friday.

I promised I wouldn’t complicate things for the baseball neophytes, and I know I’ve failed already. Let me make good.

The Cubs traveled to Japan last week to play the Los Angeles Dodgers in what many considered a good way for the MLB to both brand out the league internationally while also being in the bag for the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (end of conspiracy theories, I almost promise). They housed the first two regular season games a full week ahead of official Opening Day for 26 other teams, were played at ungodly times for this Chicagoan (think 5, as in 5 a.m.), and I don’t believe they have a significant bearing on the rest of the season due to the circumstances. Either way, Opening Day #1 in the bag. Oh, and the Cubs lost both games.

Today is Opening Day #2, in which every team plays except for the Colorado Rockies and Tampa Bay Rays. Why? Because the Rays home stadium, Tropicana Field, was severely damaged in a storm last year and they are playing in a minor league stadium in the interim, which needed an extra day of prep. Opening Day #3 for the Cubs is what is considered the Athletics’ opening day at home, and Opening Day #4 for the Cubs is their own home opener late next week.

Now for a few predictions going into the season:

• The Cubs will win the Central Division. The other four teams of in the division didn’t get better or got worse while the Cubs simply got better on paper. “On paper” it looks good. We’ll see how it looks on the field.
• Pete Crow-Armstrong will be an All-Star. Fun fact: PCA’s parents met as actors and were both on NBC’s Heroes together (Ashley Crow as “Sandra”, Matthew John Armstrong as “Ted”. Couldn’t tell you anything about these characters.
• Kyle Tucker will miss at least 40 games of the 162-game season. Yes that number is correct.

Because of that weird Japanese twofer last week, the Cubs find themselves a full game behind everyone else in the division at 0-2 (0 wins, 2 losses). I won’t overreact just yet. That’s what game 3 is for.

Funny enough, the Cubs are in Arizona to play the Diamondbacks for four games, a team I would have loved instead of the Cubs had they existed during the three years I lived in Phoenix. More on that as the season goes on. Hoping for a good win tonight to kick off the season.

Let’s go Cubs!