For several decades, Major League Baseball has not been the most popular competition in the United States, a position now held by the NFL. However, there is something that the game of baseball will never lose: a tradition that is over a century old, crossing through the country’s modern era and always generating a special excitement when the “Opening Day” arrives, the season’s opening day.
PUBLICIDAD
Of course, in this blend of tradition and modernity where Major League Baseball seeks its balance point, a few days ago in Tokyo, the first two official games of the 2025 season were already played, when the champions Dodgers won both games against the Cubs.
PUBLICIDAD
But in the United States, the first games will be played massively this Thursday, March 27, marking the beginning of a championship that will have many new features, such as two teams having to play at a Minor League stadium.
Who is the top candidate for the title?
Far from settling for the title of the 2024 World Series, which they won against none other than the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Dodgers once again demonstrated their financial power during the offseason with the hope of becoming the first consecutive champion since 2000.
Blake Snell and the coveted Japanese rookie Roki Sasaki joined a pitching staff led by Yoshinobu Yamamoto and which should also include Shohei Ohtani starting in May. Ohtani has not pitched since the end of 2023 when he was with the Angels.
In his dual role, something baseball had not seen since Babe Ruth, the Japanese star will once again be the offensive star, who will now have Mookie Betts playing as shortstop.
Disparity in spending
MLB increased its revenues to a record amount of $12.1 billion last year, up from $11.6 billion in 2023. Attendance rose by 0.9% to an average of 29,568, the highest since 2017 and the first increase in consecutive years since 2011-12.
Commissioner Rob Manfred predicts that MLB will exceed 70 million for the third consecutive year. The Dodgers’ victory in the World Series in five games over the Yankees averaged 15.81 million viewers, the highest figure for a Fall Classic since 2017.
Three out of the four teams in the League Championship Series were among the highest spenders: the Dodgers were second in payroll and luxury tax at 374 million dollars, behind the New York Mets with 430 million dollars and just ahead of the New York Yankees.
At the bottom, the Athletics spent only 66 million dollars during their last year in Oakland, and the growing disparity has reignited the conversation about owners pushing for a salary cap when the current five-year labor contract expires after the 2026 season.
The Mets made the biggest move of the offseason by luring outfielder Juan Soto from the Yankees with a record-breaking contract of $765 million over 15 years.
Temporary homes
The Athletics and the Rays are the two teams that will play home games in Minor League stadiums.
The A’s left the Oakland Coliseum, where they had played since moving from Kansas City for the 1968 season, and will spend at least three seasons at the Sutter Health Park with 14,000 seats in Sacramento (home of the River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants) before moving to a stadium in Las Vegas.
The Tampa Bay Rays were forced to abandon Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg this season due to damage caused by Hurricane Milton and will play home games at the 11,000-seat Steinbrenner Field, the spring training base of the Yankees.
What will happen with the television contracts?
MLB will produce the local television broadcasts for Arizona, Cleveland, Colorado, Minnesota, and San Diego this season as it seeks to consolidate the rights for as many teams as possible.
The national contracts of Major League Baseball with FOX and Turner Sports expire after the 2028 season, and ESPN decided to advance the end of its contract to 2025, three years earlier than agreed.
Now new players, such as Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and YouTube, could secure future rights, something that is already happening, albeit to a lesser extent, in the NBA and NFL.
Important dates to mark on the calendar
- March 27th: Opening Day. Highlights include Juan Soto’s debut when the Mets visit the Astros.
- May 16: on “Rivalry Weekend”, Juan Soto and the Mets will cross the East River to face the Yankees. The Dominican outfielder already knows that he will not be well received for “betraying” the “Bronx Bombers”.
- May 31: reissue of last year’s World Series, when the Dodgers host the Yankees at Chavez Ravine.
- July 15: the All-Star Game, which will take place at Truist Park in Atlanta.
- August 2: The Cincinnati Reds and the Atlanta Braves will play a baseball game at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, one of the most traditional circuits in Nascar. A record attendance of 140,000 people is expected.
- September 28: end of the regular season of Major League Baseball.