(Photo via Rick Berry)
Folks, tomorrow is MLB Opening Day. Personally, I’m completely giddy for the start of the baseball season, and as both a Red Sox fan and a baseball fan, there are a few things that I want to see happen this season:
1. More rivalries: Baseball isn’t baseball without the Red Sox-Yankees or the Cardinals-Cubs, but as these rivalries have sizzled out in recent years (hopefully this year will jumpstart Sox-Yanks), it’s time for new ones like the Blue Jays-Orioles or Rangers-Astros to take over. Give me more of that.
2. Get rid of no DH in NL: This year, I want to see the MLB take steps towards unifying the biggest rule disparity in pro-sports. I think it’s ridiculous that pitchers are required to hit in the NL, risking injury and distracting them from doing their job. Get rid of it.
3. Healthy stars: I’d like to see full, healthy seasons out of the MLB’s biggest stars. The MLB is better when stars like Trout, Kershaw, Miggy, and Bumgarner are healthy and lighting it up.
4. More flair: If this upcoming season is anything like this past offseason, we’re in for a grueling 162-game stretch. A good example of flair is bat flips––something that used to not be frowned upon but is now becoming more acceptable. If I’m an MLB batter who just smashed a 400-footer, I’m tossing that bat and saying “I got you” to the pitcher, ‘cause he hung that slider and I just took advantage.
5. End the pace-of-play debate: Pace-of-play isn’t baseball’s biggest problem (*nervously looks around for MLB league office hitmen*). This is a very tiresome debate that has really gotten nowhere; the initiatives implemented for this year are greatly lacking in disincentives anyways. As I’ve said several times, the league would be better off focusing on marketing its stars and upping the flair-factor.
6. Bring back bullpen carts: Bullpen carts are just awesome. Who doesn’t want to see Craig Kimbrel ride out in one of these bad boys before striking out the side in the 9th? (Photo via slgckgc)
7. MLB Hard Knocks: I’ve been advocating for this for a while, but I’d love to see the MLB try to do an inside-access docu-series similar to the NFL’s Hard Knocks, where a TV show is built around an MLB team. Even though this would’ve been ideal during Spring Training, I feel as though it’s entirely possible to follow a team in-season. I’d definitely watch.
8. Big year for rookies: I’ve written a couple times about Shohei Ohtani, so obviously I’ll be watching him in hopes of success, but even outside of Ohtani, there are a lot of really good prospects this year that I hope get the call-up. If Ohtani has a good year and Vlad Guerrero Jr. gets the call and plays well, I’ll be satisfied.
9. Mix it up a little: This season, I’d like to see some surprises in the playoff picture come October. I think there are a lot of undervalued teams in the MLB, and I’m not talking about the Brewers or the Angels. It’d be great to see if the Phillies or the Braves figure it out this year and slither their way into a Wild Card spot. At the end of the day, the MLB truly is any man’s game in a given season.
10. Marlins don’t suck: Imagine how fun it would be if a team that threw away its entire roster and that’s led by Starlin Castro in every single batting statistic somehow managed to pull off an 80-win season. What if this is just the beginning of the story about how Derek Jeter is the greatest GM in MLB history?
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