The fans are wrapped up, shirted up, capped up, and waiting. 

The stadiums could not be welcoming.

 It’s a beautiful time to be alive. 

Yes, tomorrow's Opening Day for Baseball. 

For one day, we will forget about what feels like life right now and concentrate on the battles between pitcher and batter, the smell of grass and the shine of new gloves, helmets and gloves. The rookies will be playing for their futures, the veterans will be playing so they stick around for one more injection of money to pay for their futures, which may include divorces. Regardless of whether a team was crappy last year or brilliant last year, the new season brings along as much hope. If you’re 1-0 after this game, you’re going to the World Series. If you’re 0-1, then fire everyone and burn the whole thing to the ground. Because despite everyone telling you that it’s a 163-game season, baseball’s as irrational as any other sport. 

You won the World Series last year? You finished 0-163 last year and 3 people showed up to games all year? Doesn't matter. 

Because everyone's a World Series contender again.

 This year, baseball should have a special buzz. 

We’re coming off the World Baseball Classic, which was a damned near success (It should be called the Baseball World Cup, but it’s not. It will be blamed on FIFA and the fact that baseball is not played around the world, yet cricket has the name too, and not everyone grasps the willow). 

 There’s also the rule changes while enlargen the size of the base pads (helps base stealing and people getting on base), rules about infield shifts (whatever that means), batting clocks (means you can’t do your taxes between pitches) and everything else. It’s already turned 3 hour games into 2 ½ hour games, so getting there early before a game and having a pregame pee are essentials to seeing all 9 innings. Oh, and if you’re watching on TV, cherish those moments. One of the TV companies that carry games – Bally Sports – is in the financial crapper right now, giving everyone involved a headache. Including Major League Baseball, who seems to need a lot of Tylenol a lot of the time. 

 Baseball should be buzzing because we’re not going to have to see division rivals play each other 19 games, because the schedules more balanced (For me living in Houston, it means that it lowers the chances of me attending an Astros - Mariners 400 times in a season because the ‘Stros play no-one else for a month). We’re going to see every team in Major League Baseball play each other for a series, which leaves to some salivating line-ups. Get your hard-hats ready in the crowd for the Padres v Blue Jays series in Mid-July, folks. In early June two of the most storied franchises clash as the Yankees roll into LA to play the Dodgers. 

Oh, and for 163 games, it’s Shohei against The World, which we’re OK to watch. Shohei Ohtani watch should have you salivating, too. One of the best pitchers and batters in baseball is going to be a free agent next year, and it’ll be a matter of non-stop discussion. If Aaron Judge’s contract renewal was a heavy topic in 2022, this will be off the charts. Some people are talking a $500 million contract. Considering how much players below his level have raked in, this might seem a bargain, if $500m can ever be one. 

Oh, and the rookies. Anthony Volpe’s the youngest shortstop since Derek Jeter. So if he’s not hitting .500 in his first 10 games, then ship him back to AAA folks. Then there’s the dude who have a full season on this baseball planet, like Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez, Baltimore’s huge catcher Adly Rutschman and Houston’s flamethrower Hunter Brown. 

There are also questions about whether players can continue to be brilliant in their second full season, like Atlanta’s centerfielder Michael Harris, who seems to attract fly balls into his glove, whether he’s flying around the park or not, and the Astros’ Jeremy Pena, fresh off a World Series ring and MVP Award. Kansas City’s roadrunner Bobby Witt might be the under-the-radar funnest talent out there, while Oneil Cruz threw the ball 97.8mph from short to first last season. We all felt the first baseman’s pain after that.

 And there are the races. Oh, the races. 

 People are expecting a war in the East. In the National between the Mets, Braves and Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets bought Justin Verlander but their best closer blew out his leg celebrating a win in the World Baseball Classic, and is done for the season. The Philadelphia Phillies paid a king’s ransom for Trey Turner for the eleven years, and the Braves have the best young team in baseball that’s going to be just fine without Dansby Swanson, because this thing’s a machine, man. As for the American, the Yankees and Blue Jays absolutely hate each other, the Rays are the pesky and very successful afterthought-that-shouldn’t-be, and the Red Sox, who has a great pitching line-up but God only knows how the offense will hold up. Sadly, the Orioles have showed no interest in adding to their bright and fun line-up from last year.

 The family ownership is their own version of Succession, you see. 

 In the Central division, Carlos Correa – fresh from trying to get OUT of the icy tundra of Minnesota - will start 2023 playing in a Twins jersey after a bizarre offseason when he was a Giant and then a Met and then a Twin again and the Cleveland Guardians boast one of the best young teams in the majors (they have to, bearing in mind the ownership are tightwads). The Chicago White Sox will be fine-to-good, but their biggest success may be signing Tim Anderson to a mighty deal during the season. We are all thinking of their closer Liam Hendricks, who has non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, and will be cheering and swearing from the sidelines. Meanwhile on the North Side of Chicago, the fans are going to be excited about getting boozed up and seeing Dansby Swanson, because there’s honestly little else to be excited about up there. The Cubs’ biggeset rival, the St Louis Cardinals have remained solid during the offseason without doing anything special. And a lack of doing anything special will probably lead to yet another NL Central win, but the division isn’t. 

 Out West, where gold-diggers roam and Seattle crab fishermen worry about Alaskan red crab closures, make sure you watch every game between San Diego and LA Dodgers. The Padres idiotic, cheating, incredibly-talented shortstop Fernando Tatis will be back for the Padres, and the Dodgers are the Dodgers. And San Francisco TRIED to sign a superstar, but failed. Oh, and in the American, it’s Houston’s to lose – even with the lightning rod that is Jose Altuve out at the start of the year and question marks about the pitching, but J-Rod-led Seattle and Jacob De Grom-led Texas will make it interesting until, you know, two weeks to go. We haven’t a clue who’s going to win the World Series. 

But we do know this: At the end of Opening Day, one team will be 1-0 and another team will be 0-1. And it will be glorious for all concerned.