Barry Izbak
U.T.A.
Sunday is opening day in the 2009 Major League baseball season when the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies host the Atlanta Braves.
The other 28 Major League teams start on Monday and then go on to play 162 games in the regular season by the end of September. That’s an average of six days a week, and the best supported clubs draw over 3 million fans to their home games over the season. That’s an AVERAGE of over 37,000 for every home game whether its at the weekend or midweek, daytime or evening. I think that is amazing.
There are two leagues, The American and the National. Each league is split into three, East, West and Central. After the play offs the winners of the NL play the winners of the AL in the World series.
Like in football its all about money. Unlike football though the biggest spenders don’t always win. Last year the New York Yankees (AL) spent $209,081,579 on salaries and got knocked out in the first round of the play offs. Meanwhile the unfashionable Tampa Bay Rays, who play in the same division as the Yankees and the Red Sox, overcame both to win the American League on a budget of “only” $43,820,598, only to lose to the NL Phillies in the Series.
Although you can’t watch baseball on terrestrial TV in the UK this year, you can follow your team at The Official Site of Major League Baseball | MLB.com: Homepage and if you are sufficiently interested you can play the UK version of fantasy baseball at Fantasy Baseball UK . The sport lives and breaths on statistics and statistics about statistics and this makes it ideal for fantasy baseball leagues.
The “experts” are tipping The New York Yankees to win the AL this year (again), and most seem to be going for the Choking (edit, sorry, a bit of mid west bias creeping in there, that should be Chicago) Cubs for the NL.
If you love baseball you will know how great a game it is. If not, I recommend you pick a team and follow the game. Before you know it, you too will be looking forward to Opening Day every April too. It certainly makes the current gloom at the Albion easier to bear.
The other 28 Major League teams start on Monday and then go on to play 162 games in the regular season by the end of September. That’s an average of six days a week, and the best supported clubs draw over 3 million fans to their home games over the season. That’s an AVERAGE of over 37,000 for every home game whether its at the weekend or midweek, daytime or evening. I think that is amazing.
There are two leagues, The American and the National. Each league is split into three, East, West and Central. After the play offs the winners of the NL play the winners of the AL in the World series.
Like in football its all about money. Unlike football though the biggest spenders don’t always win. Last year the New York Yankees (AL) spent $209,081,579 on salaries and got knocked out in the first round of the play offs. Meanwhile the unfashionable Tampa Bay Rays, who play in the same division as the Yankees and the Red Sox, overcame both to win the American League on a budget of “only” $43,820,598, only to lose to the NL Phillies in the Series.
Although you can’t watch baseball on terrestrial TV in the UK this year, you can follow your team at The Official Site of Major League Baseball | MLB.com: Homepage and if you are sufficiently interested you can play the UK version of fantasy baseball at Fantasy Baseball UK . The sport lives and breaths on statistics and statistics about statistics and this makes it ideal for fantasy baseball leagues.
The “experts” are tipping The New York Yankees to win the AL this year (again), and most seem to be going for the Choking (edit, sorry, a bit of mid west bias creeping in there, that should be Chicago) Cubs for the NL.
If you love baseball you will know how great a game it is. If not, I recommend you pick a team and follow the game. Before you know it, you too will be looking forward to Opening Day every April too. It certainly makes the current gloom at the Albion easier to bear.
GO TIGERS 
