Featured Image: The Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan. The Polo Grounds were the home to the NY Giants before they moved to San Francisco and the NY Mets until Shea stadium opened in 1964. It was approximately a quarter mile from Yankee stadium in the Bronx across the Harlem River.
Major League Baseball returns today with 28 of the 30 MLB teams playing. Tampa Bay and Colorado are the two not playing.
First pitch for the first game – the Brewers at the Yankees – is 1505 EDT. That matchup features Freddie Peralta (11-9, 3.68 ERA last year) facing off against Carlos Rodon (16-9, 3.96 ERA). The game time temp is expected to be a sunny but chilly 49°. That kind of thermometer reading is pretty normal for the Bronx at the end of March.
Other marquis matchups include Last year’s NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale and his Atlanta Braves facing Michael King in San Diego and last years AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal and the Tigers up against the Dodgers and two time Cy Young winner Blake Snell in Chavez Ravine.
Among the story lines for the 2025 season is the question of whether the Dodgers can repeat as World Series Champs. They picked up the above-mentioned Snell, starter Roki Sasaki from the All Nippon League and lefty reliever Tanner Scott. Scott posted a 1.75 ERA and reached his first All-Star Game last year after splitting the season between the Marlins and the Padres.
Will Aaron Judge hit 63 homers this year? Will he win the Triple Crown after just missing it – he led in homers and RBI but was 10 % points behind Bobby Witt jr for Average – last year? Can Shohei Ohtani be the first member of the 60-60 club? Who will be this years Cy Young winners?
Well, we’ll start finding that out starting today.