Opening Day?

The Mariners/Athletics opened the 2012 regular season this morning in Tokyo, Japan. Two west coast teams, still the game began at 3AM Pacific. What is Major League Baseball thinking? Japan, 16 hours ahead of the west coast, began the game at 7PM Wednesday evening local time. Why could they not wait until 11AM Saturday in Tokyo so the game could be broadcast in Seattle or Oakland at 7PM Friday? Just play a two game series Saturday/Sunday. I always like to see the first pitch of the season but when my alarm went off this AM, I just said "Hell, no" and went back to bed.

Full disclosure, I'm all for playing a handful of regular season games in foreign countries.

I agree. I also think opening day should be on US soil. They don't sell the Japanese people on baseball. They already love it. So what's the point of having opening day there? Maybe in Europe to try and get them on board, but not Japan. I'm sure as soon as Cuba opens up they will try and have an opening day game in Cuba.

Would have been great to have the game in Havana, Cuba. In connection with the pope's visit this week, MLB could have had the holy pontiff and Fidel Castro throw out the first pitch.

Has a pope ever thrown out the first pitch at a baseball game?

Well stayed up for the 2AM start of this mornings' game. Not worth it (4-1 Mariners loss). The Mariners/Athletics schedule for these opening series games is brutally strange:

March 28-29: Two game regular season opening series in Tokyo v. A's
March 31-April 4: Five Cactus league exhibitions in Arizona
April 4-5: Two game regular season "opener" in Oakland

Why? Seattle already travels more than any team in the league. That's more miles than St. Louis will travel in the first month of the season, for ONE series!

Has any regular season began, then a team reverts to spring training games only to begin the season again? I realize it may APPEAR the M's should return to spring training for more familiarity with fundamentals. But really, has this happened before?

mlb starting a week before real season starts in tokyo is stupid. i'm thinking it's more for the japanese fans, as most americans didn't even know about it (i certainly didn't before seeing this thread).

...and the dodgers being sold for 2.15 BILLION...ack.

Pretty big price tag on the Dodgers. I heard it was $700 million more than the next highest bid. Nice to have Magic Johnson in the ownership group, and good to end the McCourts' soap opera.

It was an insane bid.

Completely agree about starting the season in Japan - don't like it at all.

so steamed about mccourt, he turned 9mil cash and a parking lot into about 1bil+ in profits while syphoning off $150mil and running the dodgers into the ground the past 9 years. and he's still going to get residual for the dodger's land when they decide what to do with it.

sports is like fantasyland to me and it never personally affect me...but those people are horrible and should diagf.

the high price for the dodgers is also alarming. at the end of the day any group that pay 2bil+ are businessmen and all about bottom line. they'll want a return on their investment. the muscle of the group is based in chicago...magic is just a friggin mascot.

Opening day needs to be in Cincinnati, get back to tradition folks that what this game has above all others.

Lee

Yankees-Red Sox Opening Day is the most exciting. Or you could hold it in St. Louis. Maybe Cards vs. Philly.

I'm with my brother, Opening Day should always been the Reds. I don't mind change, but you also need to respect some traditions.