MLB Bullets Wasn't Expecting That

I think no matter what side of the political spectrum you're on, I think we can all agree that the Bud Light Party is really lame.

• Now that the season is underway, Anthony Castrovince has drawn up some conclusions based on overreacting to what happened on Opening Day.
• Grant Brisbee also decides that we learned a lot on Opening Day. (Both of these pieces are somewhat-in-cheek. Although Grant is serious about having everyone move to California and then flooding the rest of the country for the water.)
• Steven Goldman reminds us that baseball is a marathon, not a sprint, and he refuses to get involved in the overreacting-to-Opening-Day fun.
• August Fagerstrom reminds us of all the weird stuff that happened on Opening Day.
• After the Nationals Opening Day win, Bryce Harper (who homered in the game) celebrated by wearing a cap that said "Make Baseball Fun Again."
• Dan Steinberg has the story behind that cap.
• Another thing that happened on Opening Day is that new Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke got shelled. It turned out that Greinke was pitching with the flu.
• D-Backs manager Chip Hale is upset that the media made a big deal about Opening Day. You'd rather they tell their readers that it's not a big deal and they should stay home, Chip?
• The Dodgers shut out the Padres 15-0 in the biggest Opening Day shutout victory in Major League history.
• Yet a lot of people in LA didn't see it, because it was blacked out on ESPN. Fans were not happy.
• The average major league salary is $4.4 million this season.
• The Orioles won on Opening Day but Jeff Sullivan writes that the best news was that pitcher Chris Tillman's velocity was up.
• Despite the ban, Adam Jones hit Matt Wieters in the face with a pie anyway. Manager Buck Showalter said "I've lost control of the team again."
• Yahoo! Sports announces that they'll broadcast one free MLB game a day this season. I checked, and the games they're broadcasting appear to be the same ones offered for free on MLB.com. But at least you'll have another option on where to watch. Also, they've got a list of all the games.
• Joe Posnanski has a preview of the American League and the National League. It's Posnanski, so it's worth reading.
• The gang at fivethirtyeight profiles the National League Central.
• The first application of the "Chase Utley rule" resulted in Nick Markakis getting called out at second base for oversliding the bag.
• As far as Utley goes, he slid into home illegally against the Padres. Catcher Derek Norris tagged him anyway, so the umpire had no need to step in.
• Jonah Keri writes about the growing movement to bring MLB back to Montreal.
• Some fans are complaining, but MLB players are all in favor of the extended netting at the ballpark.
• There's a report that MLB has approved the use of two pieces of wearable technology for use during games. One of these devices would measure stress on elbows and the other would monitor heart and breathing rates. Obviously the idea behind these is to prevent injuries.
• Bill Baer argues that the Indians need to get rid of Chief Wahoo.
• A former Chief Wahoo supporter went to Native American activists to apologize on Opening Day. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• Tom Verducci writes that the new MLB focus on bullpens is making the baseball comeback a rare occurrence.
• After giving up the former 1st pick in the draft and more for Ken Giles, the Astros named Luke Gregerson as their closer. Tim Healy explains why that might be a good idea.
• Robert O'Connell thinks that Hanley Ramirez will do better now that not so much is expected of him.
• Britini De La Cretaz writes about why it is so important that CC Sabathia has been so public about his battles with alcoholism.
• Jon Paul Morosi notes that the cleanup hitter isn't always a traditional power hitter anymore.
• A follow-up on an earlier story. A judge has ruled in favor of the High Desert Mavericks and against the city of Adelanto, who wanted to terminate the lease to their stadium. So the Mavericks will play in Adelanto this season.
• Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt gave up his locker to Rickie Weeks.
• You can vote for Curtis Granderson's walk-up song.
• The first fielding porn of the season comes to you courtesy of Kevin Pillar and Billy Hamilton.
• You may not want to watch this video, but it's a reminder of how dangerous playing baseball can be sometimes.
• And finally, if you're a fan of HBO's Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, you probably heard that they bought two front row tickets to three Yankees games and sold them for 25 cents each to protest what they called the elitist attitude of the team. The only catch was that the people who bought them had to dress like they had never sat in a premium seat location before. The first lucky fans came dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. (The Yankees, by the way, only said that they were happy to have sold the tickets.)

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.