baseball is back!
Baseball returns with historic all-team opening day
Baseball returns Thursday with an all-team opening day, the first of its kind since 1968, when there were just 20 Major League Baseball franchises. It is also the earliest domestic opening day in MLB history "partly because of a new collective bargaining agreement that gives players an extra three to four days off," writes Pittsburgh's Action News.
While 15 games were scheduled for Thursday as to make for an appearance of all 30 teams, the Cincinnati Reds and the Washington Nationals have preemptively postponed their game until Friday due to "impending inclement weather" in Ohio, so only 28 baseball teams will ultimately play, SB Nation reports.
The marathon otherwise kicks off at 12:30 p.m. ET when the Chicago Cubs face the Miami Marlins. The 2017 World Series Champions, the Houston Astros, will play the Texas Rangers at 3:30 p.m. ET in Arlington, and games will continue on through 10:10 p.m. ET when the last, between the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks, begins in Phoenix. See the full schedule, and which games are worth watching, at The Ringer.