The 2010 Major League Baseball season begins tonight the way it should every year: with the Yankees and the Red Sox dueling it out in Fenway Park. We would have also accepted Giants-Dodgers and Cubs-Cardinals.
The Yankees are preparing to defend their 27th World Series title with a team that is just a few tweaks away from their 2009 squad. Granted, at this time last year, Cody Ransom was their third baseman and Johnny Damon was patrolling left field, but with some mid-level (for the Yankees at least) moves -- trades for outfielder Curtis Granderson and pitcher Javier Vazquez and naming Phil Hughes as their fifth starter -- they return essentially the same core group of players.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, look to improve upon a 2009 campaign that ended in a three-game ALDS sweep loss to the Los Angeles Angels with three new additions that put the emphasis back on defense. They harken back to the 2004 late-season trade of Sox legend Nomar Garciaparra for defensive specialists Doug Mientkiewicz and Orlando Cabrera, which eventually brought them the elusive World Series title. Marco Scutaro is the latest in the post-Nomar revolving door of shortstops, Adrian Beltre was signed to play third base, and Mike Cameron will patrol centerfield. The three additions have five Gold Gloves between them.
So pay no attention to that final exhibition game today between the Giants and Mariners, dangling above the real seaon opener on the schedule like a confusing, low-hanging fruit. Instead, re-read former Commissioner Bart Giamatti's paen to the game, "The Green Fields of the Mind" and prepare yourself for the start of a new season with one of the game's oldest rivalries.
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