Spring is in the air: baseball is back
After a three month absence, baseball is finally back.
That cold winter wait follows the dramatic end to last year’s World Series, when the Washington Nationals won their first championship in seven games over the Houston Astros.
Pitchers and catchers reported in early February, and position players reporting a week later. After about a week of practice with an entire squad, games began on February 21st.
In addition to the Astros’ loss in early November, the spotlight swung onto the organization after their massively illegal sign-stealing campaign was revealed to the public. Mike Fiers, a former Astros pitcher, disclosed details of the scandal to the media. Since then, much of the offseason attention has turned towards the Astros.
Rob Manfred, the commissioner of the MLB, came down with a much-maligned response to the scandal. He did not issue punishments to any players involved, and coaches and front office involved were fired without official punishment.
This lack of punishment, combined with the Astros organization’s lack of responsibility for the scandal, combined for a collective hatred around the league for the Astros.
“I lost some respect for some guys. All the stuff coming out, it’s tough to see,” commented Mike Trout, the reigning AL MVP.
As of today, Astros players have been hit by a pitch seven times in Spring Training, which leads the league by a large margin. In addition, a prop bet has opened in Las Vegas sportsbooks, with an over-under of 83.5 Astros batters being hit by a pitch in the regular season.
Aside from the Astros’ scandal, several other events have made headlines in the baseball world. For example, former Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow was invited to Spring Training for the fourth year in a row. On February 25th, he hit his first home run against Spring Training pitching, a two-run shot against the Tigers.
Chris Davis, who signed a $161 million contract with the Orioles in 2016 and went 0-54 at-bat to start the season in 2019, now leads all of Spring Training in home runs with five. The bottom-feeding Orioles likely hope that this enormous contract does not go to waste and that Davis has a bounce-back year. A return to prominence for Davis could result in the Orioles slowly making their way back to contention after a last-place finish in the AL East last year.
On the topic of the AL East, the Yankees are the World Series favorite going into the year. After the signing of Gerrit Cole to a $324 million contract, they seem geared for a World Series run, although injuries could derail that dream. Just last week, star pitcher Luis Severino went down with an arm injury and needs Tommy John surgery. This will knock him out for the entirety of the 2020 season, making it the second year in a row he will miss significant time.
In the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers made a major splash in February in order to compete with the superpowered Yanks. A trade for former AL MVP Mookie Betts and former AL Cy Young winner David Price puts the Dodgers as NL frontrunners. These key players should provide a significant foil to the Yankees’ title push, as Los Angeles hopes to bring home their first title since 1988.
With all this said, the baseball world is more than geared up for an exciting season ahead, and baseball fans globally are excited for what is to come.
