MLB Opening Day 2014

MLB Opening Day 2014

The 145th Major League Baseball (MLB) season kicked off on March 22nd with an international series in Sydney, Australia between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. The 2014 baseball season features many changes such as restrictions on home plate collisions, an overhaul of suspensions for players busted taking illegal drugs, expanded instant replay, and also serves as the last season for MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and New York Yankees legendary shortstop Derek Jeter.

March 31st marked Opening Day for most teams throughout the league. Oversized American flags, famous performers singing the national anthem, and military flyovers were a staple as hundreds of thousands of fans flocked to baseball stadiums throughout the country. Cincinnati, Ohio, birthplace of the MLB’s first franchise celebrated Opening Day, a city holiday there, with a parade which citizens of the city skipped school and work to attend. Anheuser-Busch, a beer brewing company even sponsored a petition on the White House’s www.whitehouse.gov website to have Opening Day observed as a national holiday, which was ultimately denied. Opening Day is a special time for baseball players, who view the first game of the season as a fresh start.

“You look forward to Opening Day like a birthday party when you’re a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen, “said Joe DiMaggio

Big moves in the offseason such as the New York Yankee’s addition of stellar Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, former Braves catcher Brian McCann, and former Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, as well as the Texas Ranger’s addition of former Tiger’s first basemen Prince Fielder lead many to believe the 2014 MLB season will be a good one. There is much to look forward this year and this season will definitely not disappoint.