The sound of ball meeting bat. The smell of summer in the air. The taste of that 2 foot long chili dog. The gritty, rubbery feeling of that old leather mitt on your hand.

The greatest sport in the world begins another season-long march towards immortality tonight, culminating in a 188 day, 162-game march towards October greatness. The usual suspects:













So who is going to win?

American League
East

Boston Red Sox
Current Odds: 3.39:1 to win division, 7.2:1 to win AL Pennant, 17.55:1 to win World Series



Offseason narrative: Signed Yoan Moncada, Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez, acquired Wade Miley, Rick Porcello. Finished last in the division in 2014 after winning the 2013 World Series. Wild mix of veterans and youth. Question marks surrounding young players (Betts, Bogaerts, Swihart?), rotation, and cupcakes.

Baltimore Orioles
Current Odds: 4.2:1 (d), 13.32:1 (P), 29.63:1 (WS)



Offseason narrative: A quiet offseason, likely due to the fact that a division rival was trying to poach their GM. No notable signings or trades, but they did manage to extend or re-sign a few players, and should actually get contributions from Matt Weiters and Manny Machado this year, and maybe Chris Davis isn't hot garbage now that he's back on the ADD pills. Question marks included rotation depth and whether or not magic is a thing.

Toronto Blue Jays
Current odds: 4.4:1 (d), 10.9:1 (p), 26.3:1 (WS)



Offseason narrative: Signed Russell Martin, acquired Josh Donaldson and Michael Saunders, and lost Marcus Stroman for the year to an ACL tear. Will break camp with 6 rookies, including top-100 prospects Dalton Pompey, Aaron Sanchez and Daniel Norris. Question marks include a lack of rotation depth, a pieced together bullpen, and LOLCanada.

New York Yankees
Current odds: 5.1:1 (d), 15.6:1 (p), 37.2:1 (WS)





Offseason narrative: The post-Jeter era begins with Didi Gregorius taking over at short, joining newcomers Nate Eovaldi, Chris Young, and Andrew Miller. Chase Headley also re-signed, and A-Rod is back after his suspension for PEDs. The loss of David Robertson, Brandon McCarthy, and Hiroki Kuroda makes pitching an area of concern.

Tampa Bay Rays
6.75:1 (d), 18.9:1 (p), 43.8:1 (WS)

Offseason narrative: Possible also-rans of the division, the Rays lost both GOAT manager Joe Maddon, and potential future GOAT GM-ish thing Andrew Friedman. They also traded Ben Zobrist, Wil Myers and Matt Joyce, but pieced together their team in typical Rays fashion, so it's probably stupid to write them off, just as it always is. Question marks include a possible move to Montreal.

Central
Chicago White Sox
Current odds: 3.29:1 (d), 11:1 (p), 25:1 (WS)



Offseason Narrative: Pinnacle's favorite in the toughest division in baseball going in to 2015. Arguably the busiest offseason in the AL, the White Sox acquired Jeff Samardzija, signed Melky Cabrera, David Robertson and Adam Laroche, and extended Adam Eaton. Question marks include 2B, 3B and RF, where they do not have a player projected for >1 WAR.

Cleveland Indians
Current odds: 3.3:1 (d), 11.8:1 (p), 23.2:1 (WS)



Offseason narrative: Not an overly busy offseason, but it wasn't overly necessary either. Acquired Brandon Moss to take AB's away from the ghost of Nick Swisher, and that's about it. Cory Kluber's extension will soon be announced, I guess, so that's something as well. Question marks include Michael Brantley being for real, and figuring out which month includes Nick Swisher's imminent DFA.

Detroit Tigers
3.55:1 (d), 8.34:1 (p), 18.65:1 (WS)



Offseason Narrative: Re-signed Victor Martinez and acquired Shane Greene, Anthony Gose and Alfredo Simon, didn't re-sign Max Scherzer. Question marks include Dr Ikes, Ian Kinsler's resrugence being real, and JD Martinez's breakout being real.

Kansas City Royals
Current Odds: 5.75:1 (d), 12.6:1 (P), 28:1 (WS)



Offseason Narrative: Signed Alex Rios, Kendrys Morales, and Edinson Volquez, and brought back pretty much everybody else from their surprise run to the World Series. The exception to that is Billy Butler, who I used in the above gif, because meh. Question marks include Ned Yost.

Minnesota Twins

Current odds: n/a

West
Seattle Mariners
Current odds: 2.46:1 (d), 7.4 (P), 13.9:1 (WS)



Offseason Narrative: Acquired JA Happ, Seth Smith, and Justin Ruggiano, extended Kyle Seager, and signed Nelson Cruz. Barely missed the playoffs in 2014, and appear to be relying on steps forward from their young rotation, as well as Mike Zunino and Brad Miller. Of course, there's also Robinson Cano and Felix. Question marks include 1B and how quickly Jesus Montero re-gains all his weight.

LA Angels of Anheim Los Angeles California Angels

Current odds:2.76:1 (d) 7.2:1 (P) 14.75:1 (WS)



Offseason narrative: Acquired Andrew Heaney, Josh Rutledge, Johnny Giavotella and Matt Joyce, traded away Howie Kendrick. Still have Mike Trout. Question marks include Matt Shoemaker being real, Garrett Richards returning from injury, and Mike Trout taking this team on his back and carrying them as far as they end up going.

Oakland A's
Current odds: 5.6:1 (d), 15.3:1 (P), 32.9:1 (WS)



Offseason narrative: lost everyone in free agency, traded away everyone else, acquired a few people, and now nobody has any idea who is on this team other than Billy Beane and Billy Butler. Question marks include whether or not anyone has learned their lesson with regards to betting against Billy Beane.

Houston Astros

Current odds: Slim.



Texas Rangers
Current odds: 10:1 (d), 24.7:1 (P), 55.75:1 (WS)

Offseason narrative: Didn't trade Adrian Beltre, will still suck. The Shin-soo Choo signing sucked, the Prince Fielder trade sucked, everybody has been hurt, and now Darvish is out too.

Just go scour the google results of "Adrian Beltre gif" and forget about it.


National League
East

Washington Nationals
Current odds: lock (d), 3.87:1 (p), 6.84:1 (WS)



Offseason narrative: Signed Max Scherzer, didn't trade Fister or Zimmermann. Elite rotation. Signed Casey Janssen, acquired Yunel Escobar, moved Ryan Zimmerman to 1B. Ridiculous team that probably needs to win now, because they're going to lose people to free agency this coming offseason and again the next. Question marks include "how many dozen games do they win the division by?" and clowns.

Rest of division:

drawing dead.



drawing dead.



drawing dead.



traded soon.

Central
St Louis Cardinals
Current odds: 2.23:1 (d), 6.51:1 (P), 12.23:1 (WS)



Offseason narrative: Acquired Jason Heyward, extended Lance Lynn, remained awesome. Question marks include... ?

Pittsburgh Pirates
Current odds: 3.31:1 (d), 15.6:1 (P), 28.8:1 (WS)



Offseason narrative: lost PROVEN WINNER Russell Martin to free agency, and replaced him with noted pitch-framer Francisco Cervelli. Backed by an all-world outfield, this team will need to get some good performances out of their pitching staff to make some noise in the division, especially now that the Cubs don't suck.

Chicago Cubs
Current odds: 5:1 (d), 15:1 (P), 30:1 (WS)



Offseason narrative: Well they signed Jon Lester, Jason Hammel and Jason Motte, and acquired Dexter Fowler and Miguel Montero via trade. In two weeks, Kris Bryant will be up to join Jorge Soler, Anthony Rizzo, and probably Javier Baez eventually. I'm sure I'm missing someone there as well. Question marks include the bullpen, and why don't you just extend Bryant now and bring him up Longoria-style?

Milwaukee Brewers
Current odds: Shoe

Cincinnati Reds
Current odds: Brandon Phillips obp

West
LA Dodgers
Current odds: 1.41:1 (d), 4.1:1 (p), 7.5:1 (WS)



Offseason narrative: Plucked Andrew Friedman from Tampa and Farhan Zaidi from Oakland. Acquired Howie Kendrick and Jimmy Rollins, signed Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson, traded Dan Haren and traded Matt Kemp, all over the course of what felt like 45 minutes. Joc Pederson will take over for Kemp, and Clayton Kershaw will continue to Clayton Kershaw. Question marks include Andre Ethier getting traded or released, and just what crazy blockbuster Friedman can come up with at the trade deadline.

San Diego Padres
Current odds: 5.5:1 (d), 11.3:1 (P), 23.3:1 (WS)



Offseason narrative: This offseason was busy as ****! Acquired Matt Kemp, acquired Justin Upton, acquired Wil Myers, acquired Derek Norris, signed James Shields. Question marks will include whether or not any of the players they acquired are actually any good, and if they can keep up with the Dodgers.

Colorado Rockies
Current odds: not last place.



Give me some Dickerson and Tulo. Change the stream when they're pitching.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Current odds: 154:1 (WS)

Offseason narrative: signed that Cuban guy, Archie Bradley pitched his way on to the team. Question marks include that_pope's competence as a judge of baseball team quality.


And finally. Your reigning, defending, World Series Champions
The San Francisco Giants







Current odds: 6.88:1 (d), 14:1 (p), 27.4:1 (WS)

Offseason narrative: Re-signed a bunch of guys from their world champ season, acquired Casey McGehee or whatever to replace Pablo, signed Norichika Aoki. Question marks include learning to win in even numbered years, and Tim Lincecum needing more In-n-Out.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let us baseball.

in for odd year bull****

Worthy OP imo.

sweet ass OP yo

in for the long haul

baseball is back!

also, is there more of a fitting way to start the mlb season than having opening night at wrigley field while that sh*thole is currently under construction.... lolcubs forever

OP

Let us baseball

LET'S GO BUCS!

wait it's at Wrigley? LOOOOOOOOOL

Here's hoping the cubbies start the season 0-20 and they decide to keep Bryant in the minors until next June

"Would be bad for baseball imo."

- signed, Scott Boras and Tony Clark.

i'd just like to remind everyone that elvis andrus and his 4 WAR over his last 313 games and his projected 2.5 WAR this season got 120 million over 8 years and it was somehow regarded as a good contract

In

BEISBOL

Can I get the opposite vesrion of the Harvey.gif and darvish.gif where it shows Javy Baez striking out on four different pitches.

Sup

Guys, we did it!

What channel is tonight's game on? Is it blacked out on MLBtv?

In for inevitable royals regression

A+ OP, would read again

ESPN2 I believe

cool segment of the greatest opening day moments on MLB network right now

Thanks, just tuned in to see what I was hoping to see -- George Bell hitting three homers against the Royals.

George Bell had better be in there.

Edit to add: Heh

love me some opening day

the season is gonna be a blast