MLB season arrives with good baseball in tow for area teams

Mar. 29—The Kansas City Royals play host to the Minnesota Twins to open the regular season while the St. Louis Cardinals welcome the Toronto Blue Jays to town on Thursday.

It appears there's some decent weather in store for both cities this weekend as the Major League Baseball season begins as well.

Talk about a perfect time to take some time off work and take a little weekend trip if you're a fan of either team. If you're like me, you're realizing you've missed out on a great opportunity.

The MLB season is guaranteed to throw some new things at us in 2023. From various rule changes to some elite talent making debuts or expected to break out this year, it should be a fun 162 games.

The most significant rule changes include a pitch clock, larger bases and outlawing the defensive shift.

In my opinion, the pitch clock is nonsense along with the bigger bases. I'm a big fan of outlawing the shift, though.

The pitch clock was obviously added in order to try to speed up the game. But, why? Why should we speed up a game that is expected to take longer? There are no quarters or halves in baseball. There is no dedicated length of time for each game to end. At least not at this level.

So, now we get to see balls called if the pitcher isn't ready to pitch in time or strikes called if the batter isn't in the box and ready for the pitch. Give me a break. Complete nonsense.

The bigger bases might be an even worse change. I just don't see what purpose it can serve or why it's necessary. I'm sure the stolen base totals will go up some, and maybe more double plays will be broken up. For what reason do we need those things?

I'll take the defensive shift being outlawed as a win though. No more shifting to try to beat a big lefty who only pulls the baseball. Good. At least we made one step closer to how baseball was when I was growing up. Unfortunately, we took two steps backward as well.

Enough of my complaining, lets get into excitement around Kansas City and St. Louis.

ROYALS

Opening Day should be fun. Division rival in town and fan-favorite Zack Greinke will be on the mound for what might be his last season-opener of his 20-year career.

Greinke began his career with the Royals after being drafted sixth overall in the 2002 draft. His first seven seasons were in the Royal blue.

There will also be some buzz around young prospects potentially breaking out in 2023.

Vinnie Pasquantino, MJ Melendez and Bobby Witt Jr. are names in the field that stand out. Each of them spent time in the big leagues last year, but they didn't all play a complete season.

The 25-year-old Pasquantino played just 72 games. Witt Jr. is a potential future phenom at shortstop for KC at just 22 years of age who played 150 games last year. Witt slugged 20 homers, swiped 30 bases and drove in 80 runs for a bright rookie campaign. Melendez is just 24 and was another spark last year in 129 games. The catcher/outfielder hit 18 home runs and had 62 RBIs while also tallying 21 doubles.

There's a bright spot in the pitching staff as well in Brady Singer. The 25-year-old emerged in 24 starts last year with a 10-5 record and a 3.23 ERA. He struck out 150 batters in 153 1/3 innings.

I don't anticipate the Royals will make major improvements, but I do expect them to be better than last year's 65-win, cellar-of-the-division finish they saw in the AL Central.

I'll give KC 75 wins and a 4th-place finish in the division, above the Detroit Tigers.

CARDINALS

The St. Louis squad is also littered with some young talent expected to make an impact this year.

Even more importantly, it will look to improve on what it did last year after winning the NL Central but falling in the wild-card round to the Philadelphia Phillies.

In order to do that, the pitching must be better. You can safely assume you'll get similar numbers out of Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado both defensively and offensively.

Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina are gone, but those numbers can be replaced and St. Louis has the guys to do so in 2023. Willson Contreras as the everyday catcher will fill in for Molina's offensive stats. Guys like Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman and others can fill the void of Pujols' designated hitter duties.

The question mark is pitching.

Adam Wainwright is injured to start the year. Will Miles Mikolas be consistent? I believe Jordan Montgomery will have a good season. What will you get from Steven Matz? Is Jack Flaherty capable of giving you 170 innings?

Guys like Zack Thompson, Gordon Graceffo and Jake Woodford are capable of coming in to help out when needed in spot starts. But you don't want to have to call upon all three of them to give you 15 starts this year, I don't think.

All-in-all, I expect another division title to go to the Cardinals. I'll give them five more wins from last year with 98.

To go even further, I predict the pitching situation goes well enough to compliment an elite offensive team with strong additions to reach a World Series. But I see them falling to an even stronger offensive team in the Blue Jays.