Well, one of the best times of the year is finally here, and that my friends would be Opening Day in baseball! The good part about this season is that there is actually some sense of normalcy. Almost every team is allowing fans into their stadium! And better yet, Rob Manfred hopes to have full capacity at every stadium sometime in the middle of the summer. What a great year.
I will tell you what I myself am especially excited about. I am a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. I have been to so many games over the years, including the last regular season game at the old Busch Stadium. I guess you could say my fandom runs pretty deep. The Cardinals made a huge splash this offseason, acquiring top-5 third baseman Nolan Arenado. The best part about this trade? The Cardinals gave up nothing! They kept all of their top prospects, and get this: the Rockies sent 50 MILLION dollars back to the Cardinals to help pay the rest of Nolan’s contract! What an absolute robbery. So with this trade, the pop of Paul Goldschmidt, and the emergence of future star Dylan Carlson, I think the Cardinals could possibly make a run as long as the pitching doesn’t cave in.
Let’s look around the rest of the league though. Let’s talk about the two Chicago teams. First off, the Cubs. They are very bad. And I love that I am finally able to say that. They traded away their ace Yu Darvish this past offseason, and still could not find a way to extend Anthony Rizzo. Kris Bryant still stinks, so that just leaves Willson Contreras to try and save the Cubs’ offense. So yeah, that could go down the drain soon. But let’s talk about those beautiful South Siders, the Chicago White Sox. They are absolutely loaded this year, having one of the best bullpens in the league, mashers at every spot in the lineup, and a stellar pitching staff. The almost 12 year rebuild is finally complete, and the Sox are ready to make some noise in the American League. I could see them winning the AL pennant.
This is one of the craziest divisions in baseball, the NL East. You have the Braves, who have won the East for three straight years. But then you have the Mets, who just went out and acquired Francisco Lindor and gave him a huge extension on top of that. You then have the Phillies, who have the roster to contend, but never do. The Marlins made a dark horse run to the playoffs last year, and even beat the Cubs in the playoffs. So with these 4 teams, this should be the craziest division in baseball.
With all of this being said, this season will definitely be a lot better than last year’s. We finally get the long 162 game season, and it really feels like we are almost back to normal. So no matter what team you are a fan of (even the Yankees!), here is to a great 2021 season. Play Ball!
Hayden's Blog 