The first pitch of the Major League Baseball season was a Cubs homer

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo attended the Parkland, Fla., high school.

In the wake of Jeter’s offseason payroll purge, 12 Marlins made an opening day roster for the first time. He’s also the only player to hit a lead-off homer on opening day in consecutive years, having also homered in last year’s opener against Seattle. But how do you get on the same sheet of music quickly?

Springer, last year’s World Series Most Valuable Player, became the first season leadoff homer hitter for a defending World Series champion.

Rizzo, who was wearing a patch to honor the victims, pointed up to the sky after the home run. We still have a lot of young guys trying to learn and get into their roles.

Perhaps the biggest key to continued success is Happ, who goes from being an afterthought in October to one of the more important cogs in Maddon’s ever-changing lineup puzzles. The fact that he hit just.164 has to be though.

And in Seattle, Felix Hernandez used a biting curveball to outduel Cleveland ace and AL Cy Young award victor Corey Kluber. Steve Cishek did a great job out of the Cubs bullpen as he went 1.2 innings while allowing just one hit, two strikeouts and earning the win.

Here’s how Game 1 of the new season shapes up on paper.

As part of MLB’s pace of play initiatives, mound visits are now counted.

On Thursday’s “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz”, producer Billy Gill called into the show for the first pitch of the Marlins season.

“I didn’t throw the ball very well at all”, Lester said. Urena would need 36 pitches to get through the inning. Here’s the latest opening day game preview for these teams with odds, start time, television channels, and how to watch the Cubs vs. Marlins live streaming online Thursday.

“I think these kids are standing up for what they believe in”, he said.

Rizzo said it’s good “the cameras are not going away” and the kids “are really stepping up”.

Early in the day, the rain was the big victor.

Two games postponed • Pittsburgh’s opener at Detroit moves to Friday due to rain, the same with Washington at Cincinnati. He’s a bottom-five pitcher when it comes to holding on runners.

All over the majors, there was expanded netting to provide extra protection for fans sitting near the field.

But like Castro, third-year manager Don Mattingly applauds the franchise’s direction under Jeter. He and Dan Straily make up the Marlins top pitching combination.