LEADING OFF: 3 games on opening day, capped by Cubs-Cards

The Cubs, who won their first title in 108 years when they knocked off the Cleveland Indians last fall, come into the new season as one of the favorites to win the championship once again, but a grueling 162-game schedule awaits them as they learn to deal with the giant target that gets painted on the backs of any champion.

St. Louis Cardinals’ Randal Grichuk, left, celebrates after hitting a walk-off single as Jose Martinez, right, comes in to score the winning run to defeat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3, in a baseball game Sunday, April 2, 2017, in St. Louis. They certainly should expect nothing less from the Cardinals, who are used to being the alpha males in the National League Central and to pummeling the Cubs throughout the generations.

“I’m not too anxious about it at all“, he said of batting first. A strong start at the Triple-A level could earn him some fill-in work for the Cardinals this season. The Cardinals lost top pitching prospect Alex Reyes to season-ending Tommy John surgery while staff ace Adam Wainwright is healthy, but he’s 35 years old.

The Cardinals scratched out a run in the third inning off Chicago starter Jon Lester as new Redbirds center fielder Dexter Fowler beat out an infield hit to get it started.

Manager Joe Maddon #70 of the Chicago Cubs speaks to his players before the game against the Texas Rangers at Surprise Stadium on March 5, 2017 in Surprise, Arizona.

“Believe me, believe me, believe me, I thought about it”, Maddon said.

“I came from Boston, where if you didn’t make the playoffs, it was all hell breaks loose”. I know Rizzo is not a Cubs’ draft pick, but he was a Theo Epstein draft choice with the Boston Red Sox and Epstein quickly reacquired him in trade when he took over operation of the Cubs. First pitch for tonight’s game is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET. “Mix in that players are maturing into [having] a little bit more of a voice, and all of that has created an atmosphere that has been very positive but also very intentional – intentional about getting better, intentional about making it look right”. Well, the Cubs are off to another head-spinning, get-me-rewrite start, with the added cinematic touches of rain falling in the eighth and ninth innings. The Giants wasted a memorable performance by Madison Bumgarner, who retired his first 16 hitters and became the first pitcher ever to homer twice on opening day.

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“I think our guys are ready to turn the page and move on to this year”, he said. “It was fun. Obviously there’s irony in that, but it was fun for us to be out there again”. You always need bullpen arms, especially ones that can miss bats at a clip of more than one an inning, but you also [need to] see consistency.

And a reminder that the Cardinals might not be fading away from prominence as past year might have suggested. I don’t think we think that way for the best way to describe it. Lester hopes to continue where he left off last season when he finished second in the Cy-Young voting, posted a 19-5 record and had an incredible 2.44 ERA.

The seven-time All-Star catcher, who hit.307 last season, has said he wants a contract finalized before the opener against the Cubs, and each side sounded optimistic in the last couple days. As in: Carlos Martinez is the first Cardinal to strike out 10 or more batters to open the year since Bob Gibson. “The whole city shuts down”. You can also get radio feeds for all of these games if you purchase At-Bat premium, which is something like 20 bucks, I think?