Today marks day 1 of the long journey. Yes it's only exhibition but it's baseball and that is a wonderful thing! Yes it's just Oakland vs Seattle but it's baseball time. Yes it's time for uniform number 67 or 73 that no one knows but that's ok.

We are on the verge of  new Playoff rules that will make the season even more exciting. adding 1 more Wild Card is a good idea..It still doesn't dilute the post season and still takes away nothing from the regular season. Not sure I love the 1 game wild card scenerio but hey you can't have everything you want.

We have star players moving to new teams. Albert Puljos leads that pack. We have young players ready to take this game to even higher levels. We have a clean game instead of the roid fest it was. We have great young pitchers who make them game more fun and competitive. We have new teams perhaps on the verge of breaking through. We have  a setup for great pennant races and competitive balance. It's a major misnomer and mistake about baseballs competitive balance. In fact I saw a study recently that says Baseball has the best balance in terms of teams getting to the post season.

We have drek teams we can make fun of like my beloved NY Mets. We have former stars trying to come back or hang on. See Manny world in Oakland for example.

I can make the case that at least 20 teams have a legit shot at the World Series this year and that's exciting. All you want is the chance. A realistic chance!

For my money the NL central is perhaps the toughest of all. I like the Reds right now. The NL east is a bear with 4 teams with a legit shot. Even the former 2 team AL east is better with Tampa bay and perhaps Toronto being good. Nothing new for Tampa of course.

Sure the game has issues cause life has issues. The steroid mess still hangs over the game. See Ryan Braun.

I won't even give you the pollyannish "smell of freshly cut grass and hot dogs. The game doesn't need that to talk about it being back. The greatness of the game speaks for itself. So today when Oakland takes on Seattle in sunny Arizona marking the 1st game between 2 major league teams it starts anew. The great game is back and we are better for it! Play Ball!

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