This Week in Baseball – Opening Day, Dodgers Sewage, Red Sox Payroll, Mike Trout, Game of Thrones
Open for Business…
For the first time in decades, baseball’s Opening Day was actually scheduled to be every team’s Opening Day. The weather got in the way of Nationals-Reds and Pirates-Tigers, so it didn’t quite work out. But the return of games that count in baseball is a reason for all to celebrate. Opening Day is the one day when every team and its fans still feel that this could be their year (except for the Marlins, of course).
Blue is the Smelliest Color…
A pre-season game at Dodger Stadium between the Angels and Dodgers was cancelled due to a water main break, that left a stinky, brown pool of sewage near the Dodgers’ dugout. “It smells really bad, man,” one Angels fan in the stands said as he watched the cleanup crew work. At first, many thought the scent emanating from the Dodgers dugout was the leftover odor from their World Series Game 7 loss to the Houston Astros.
Hey, Big Spender…
This season the Boston Red Sox payroll will top the major leagues at about $223 million, ending the Los Angeles Dodgers’ four-year run as the top spender. The Giants will be second at around $203 million, and the Cubs are set to be third at about $183 million. The top five teams account for nearly $1 billion in payroll. But please tell me again about how minor leaguers can’t be paid minimum wage.
Be Like Mike…
The game’s greatest player will now be its best-compensated, too. Mike Trout, the two-time Most Valuable Player for the Los Angeles Angels, will take over as baseball’s top earner, as his salary jumps to $34 million in 2018. The greatest pitcher in the league, Clayton Kershaw, comes in second with $32 million. Wow! How embarrassing for him!
Summer is Coming…
MLB and HBO announced on Tuesday that Game of Thrones theme nights are returning to ballparks for the 2018 season. The eighth and final season Game of Thrones won’t arrive until 2019. But fear not: The big leagues will provide your Westeros fix. GoT theme nights took Major League ballparks by storm last season – really, what more could you want than Chris Devenski riding a dragon?
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