There's been one near no-hitter, and a game in which a player hit three home runs. There have been trades.
Baseball has announced its return with authority.
After the unexpected World Series matchup of Royals and Giants, the offseason gave us a pledge to speed up games, more crazy spending by owners, as Jon Lester signed with the Cubs, Jeff Samardzija with the White Sox, Max Scherzer with the Nationals and their loaded staff and James Shields with the Padres. The preseason gave us the return of Alex Rodriguez from his drug suspension — and start of Ervin Santana's drug suspension.
What a way to start the season.
Here are five story lines to follow in the weeks and months ahead:
1. How will the Dodgers mess things up this time? A loaded team oozing star power won 94 games during the regular season, then pulled a clunker in the postseason, losing to the Cardinals. That triggered a change in the GM office and led to the trades of Matt Kemp and Dee Gordon. The Dodgers might be even better in 2015. Jimmy Rollins is a winner, but that clubhouse, with Yasiel Puig and Andre Ethier, will never be tranquil. And they still have four starting-caliber outfielders who deserve playing time.
2. Policing pace of play: MLB this week sent out warning letters to about 10 players for violating the new pace-of-play rules and will follow up with fines starting on May 1. Is this really going to work? David Ortiz and Miguel Cabrera should just give the league account numbers for withdrawing fines. Listening to players complain about getting letters from the league will be season-long entertainment, but how the league cracks down on offenders will go a long way toward speeding up — or not speeding up — games.
3. Who is this year's Kansas City? The Royals rose from the ashes last season to get within one game of the World Series title. Many believe that the Seattle Mariners, thanks to offensive upgrades, can be this year's Royals. But there are other worthy candidates. The Padres have added Matt Kemp, James Shields, Craig Kimbrel and the Upton brothers, and the Marlins gladly took Dee Gordon off the Dodgers hands. Some feel the Cubs can contend after landing Joe Maddon and John Lester.