Best of Yardbarker: Bring on Opening Day
Spring is here and, starting Sunday, so is the 2017 MLB season. Opening Day begins with a triple-header, starting with Yankees-Rays, followed by Giants-Diamondbacks and culminating with the defending World Series champion Cubs taking on their heated division rival Cardinals. The rest of the league has its Opening Day Monday, and frankly we can’t wait.
One of the most intriguing stories to come out of spring training is the San Diego Padres’ decision to have one of their players actually see time on the mound and behind the plate. That got us wondering, can the Padres' Christian Bethancourt really succeed at pitcher and catcher? "It's the Padres. Who expects them to do anything that makes any sense? Sure, it's possible, but it feels like a minor league baseball gimmick rather than something that holds any real value."
That brings us to the 'It appears as if the Padres aren't even pretending to try in 2017' quiz as Opening Day approaches: "There's really no other way to put it. The Padres starting rotation is going to be bad, maybe even historically awful."
The Padres won't be the only awful team, of course. Some teams lost major talent, while others made some moves that could potentially help them take the next step. We laid out the best, worst and hard to stomach MLB offseason moves as we head into the start of the season: "I think that the Rockies may have made a mistake by giving not-a-first-baseman Ian Desmond $70 million to play first base."
Don't despair, Rockies fans. While some folks are down on the Ian Desmond signing, he did have a very good 2016, and even if he flops, just about everyone is enthralled with Jon Gray, who just so happens to be one of MLB's potential breakout stars in 2017:
Moving on to the less serious side, with the baseball season comes a plethora of promotion nights. Here are the MLB promotions we're dying to see teams incorporate: "The Giants have no problem promoting Metallica throughout the season, but Bay Area native E-40 is a huge Giants fan. There has to be a 'Ghost Riding' bobblehead in his honor."
Speaking of bobbleheads, take a look at the most interesting recent MLB bobbleheads:
As excited as we are for Opening Day, before all that, the Final Four tips off Saturday night. South Carolina continues its surprising run, taking on one seed Gonzaga in the first semifinal, followed by fellow one seed North Carolina taking on Oregon.
If you want a refresher on what it took for each of these teams to get to Phoenix, from the beginning of the season to now, we laid out the five best moments from the season for each Final Four team:
Believe it or not, a very prominent retired MLB All-Star actually played in a Final Four himself. Back in 1988, four-time Gold Glove center fielder Kenny Lofton was a backup to current Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr on the Arizona team that lost to Oklahoma in the semifinals. The following year, Lofton actually started at point guard for the Wildcats, helping them reach the Sweet 16.
The former Cleveland Indians great is one of several athletes in other sports (or famous professions) who played in the NCAA Tournament:
Finally, we leave you with a little brain teaser to prepare for this prominent sports weekend. We present the 'Are you mentally prepared for 'One Shining Moment'?' quiz: "At the conclusion of the March Madness tournament, the NCAA hands out the Most Outstanding Player award to the best player from that year's tournament. How many of the MOPs from the last 40 years can you remember?"
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