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D-backs Roster News
D-backs Make Final Preseason Roster Moves
There weren't really too many unexpected moves. For those of us that hoped for Peter O'Brien over Rickie Weeks, this article would indicate the biggest reason was playing time.
Arizona Diamondbacks Announce 25-man Opening Day Roster
Brandon Drury Slugs His Way to Diamondbacks Opening Day Roster
D-backs Carry 4 Rookies on Opening Day Roster
Other News
Diamondbacks Hire First Female Head Athletic Trainer in Team History
This is a few days old, so may have already been posted. Apologies in that case.
Chris Owings Shines at Plate as Diamondbacks Win
And I'll add that he wasn't half bad in the field either, if the radio announcers could be believed.
Pollock Going to Push for Return This Season
Regarding the discussion of who "our Carlos Correa" might be, in terms of someone joining the team and giving a boost for a postseason push, why not Pollock, if he could make it back sometime in July/August? Granted, it's too early for this to be anything but speculation. Good luck to him if he returns, but better to be all healed up.
Replacing the Nearly-Irreplaceable A.J. Pollock
On that same note, Magruder discusses the difficulty of replacing Pollock.
Today's Games and Where to Watch
MLB figured it out, partially accidentally. First, they went from one single opening game to three. Then, they lucked into one of those games being a rematch of the World Series. One reason for the success of the NFL has been their ability to dominate the airwaves on Sundays; MLB has that chance basically only on opening weekend. Baseball fans will be watching their teams, pretty much exclusively, on every other weekend. Today, a substantial number of baseball fans will imitate football fans by watching the sport from 1 ET on.
The games start at 10 AM Arizona time, with the Cardinals traveling to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates, who are my surprise pick to win the NL Central this year. Adam Wainwright and Francisco Liriano will be the starting pitchers, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN. The slate continues at 1 PM Arizona time (4 ET) with what will likely be the most-watched Rays game of the season, as they host the Blue Jays with Chris Archer and Marcus Stroman the starting pitchers. Finally, the evening will conclude (likely a bit earlier than the typical NFL evening, barring more extra innings) with the Mets in Kansas City watching the Royals receive their World Series rings. Deadspin (likely with encouragement from the MLB office, because controversy sells) stirred up the question of whether the Royals will throw at a Mets batter in vengeance for Syndergaard throwing at Alcides Escobar. (In fairness to the Royals, this really was a mistake by MLB; purposefully throwing at a batter is clearly grounds for ejection, and between Syndergaard's words and actions, there's no doubt his action was purposeful. Had the umpires followed the letter of the law instead of not doing so because of the stage, Syndergaard would have been gone after one pitch, and the Royals probably win in a sweep.) Anyway, first pitch is supposed to be at 8:37 ET, and it will likely not be thrown in the direction of anyone's head.
I'd anticipate that if this is successful, we see an attempt to structure the season so that the opening series will normally (always?) be a rematch of the World Series. That will require some sort of "flex scheduling" as the bulk of the schedule is typically released in August or September, and while it might be inconvenient for fans who attend the games, the greater TV audience probably will tend things in that direction.