This is the traditional “Opening Day” for major league baseball. However, in this era where television dictates every schedule imaginable, two major league games have already been played. The Dodgers and Diamondbacks played 10 days ago in Australia and that counts for their season. The Dodgers won both games, and so they are 2 up on the rest of baseball. As most of you know, the Cincinnati Reds used to get the honor of starting every baseball season first because they were the first professional baseball team.
This year the Reds will play at 4 p.m. in the afternoon, because that is when television says they will get aired. Since this game is still in March, it may be below freezing before this game is over. At least they are playing the game in Cincinnati and not in Chicago where the ground is still probably covered with snow. Back in the day, the Reds would have their parade at approximately 11 a.m., and the game would begin at 1 or 1:30. At least this time of the day you had the sun at its peak and there was a better chance of it being warmer.
I wonder what TV will do with schedules in the future since we now have an MLB network which will broadcast at least one game every day during the season. We already have basketball games starting as late as 10 p.m. just so they can fit into a TV schedule. If you listen to the public relations people, they will tell you that they are doing everything to make the game fan friendly. Who are they kidding?