The Quest for Opening Day

Tomorrow marks the first day of Spring. No, it isn't the Vernal Equinox and the day and night aren't evenly split and you shouldn't try balancing an egg on its end. However, tomorrow Indians pitchers and catchers are due to report to camp, thus starting the annual spring training in Goodyear, Arizona (I would like to thank the nation's banks, schools, post offices, and government offices for closing in honour of the start of spring training). With spring training starting, that means Opening Day is just around the corner. My best friend and I just bought our Opening Day tickets last night: Section 101, Row H, right by the Indians' bullpen—the Bullpen Mafia. It's a few rows back from where I'd like to be, and not on the first base line, but when the game more or less sells out in about fifteen minutes (all that is left is the nosebleed section), you got to take what you can get. I could have bought some first base line tickets from Stubhub, which is where I got the tickets I did, but they were well over twice face value and when you're working for an hourly wage, that just isn't feasible, unfortunately. All games to come though, you'll find the two of us sitting somewhere just behind Casey Kotchman (or occasionally Carlos Santana) at first base.

With April 5^th looming, I find myself growing ever anxious for that first pitch at 3:05PM on what I hope to be a glorious, sunny afternoon (though I'm already anticipating an “unseasonable” snow delay to make up for Ohio's lack of a winter). Last year was my first Opening Day and it was one of the best days I had all last year and can't wait for this year. We're going to get up early for our 2 ½ hour trek to Cleveland, stopping at the Hamburger Inn in Delaware for a legit greasy short-order breakfast, fried to perfection on the old flat-top grill. The goal is to be in Cleveland by noontime so we can get in for BP and hopefully garner some autographs from our favourite players and maybe catch a ball. If we don't eat at the ballpark, we'll probably finish the day by visiting 5 Guys on Detroit Ave., just a few miles up the road from Progressive Field, for some burgers.

The line-up for Opening Day has been one under quite a bit of question going into spring training. With the signing of Kotchman, the Tribe could potentially feature nine left-handed hitters on Opening Day, which, frankly, I would like to see. There is some debate as to who will be starting too, but I already have my prediction set:

SP: Justin Masterson

C: Carlos Santana

1B: Casey Kotchman

2B: Jason Kipnis

SS: Asdrubal Cabrera

3B: Jack Hannahan

LF: Shin-Soo Choo

CF: Grady Sizemore

RF: Michael Brantley

DH: Travis Hafner

Bullpen: Chris Perez, Vinnie Pestano, Tony Sipp, Rafael Perez, Joe Smith, Frank Herrmann, and Corey Kluber (though I suspect Chen Lee could honestly see a shot at joining the Bullpen Mafia if he performs as well as spring training as he has in the minors)

On the Bench: Lou Marson, Shelley Duncan, Jason Donald, and Aaron Cunningham

The starting rotation will be rounded out, in order with Ubaldo Jimenez, Josh Tomlin, Derek Lowe, and Jeanmar Gomez

Notable absences are Matt LaPorta and Lonnie Chisenhall who, although have seen much time at the Majors, will most likely start out the year playing for the Clippers down 71 South in Columbus so that they can continue to play everyday rather than spending the majority of their time sitting on the bench.

When the Tribe and the Blue Jays clash, it is usually a pretty good game. A few times last year one team put up a huge score over the other. I don't anticipate that for Opening Day though. Rather, I suspect it will be a very close game coming down to the very last inning. The Tribe and the Blue Jays are pretty comparable teams and are both pretty low on the radar but are both seen as teams that wish to contend and are confident they will contend. I expect the Indians will start the season in a dramatic style, which we saw quite often last year with the slew of comeback and walk-off wins. I also wouldn't be surprised to see a home run from Jose Bautista.