Opening Day

I know that the A's and Red Sox officially opened up the baseball season last week, when the Red Sox and A's split a two-game series in Tokyo.  But it's hard to get that "baseball is back" feeling when the games take place in the middle of the night in another hemisphere, and the other 28 teams are still playing Spring Training games.

Not to mention the fact that both teams came back stateside and continued playing pre-season exhibitions... the A's against the Giants, and the Red Sox against the Dodgers.

But now that the Nats and Braves got things started last night with the first game in North America, and most of the other teams start today, it really feels like the season is getting underway.  Our parent club, the Arizona Diamondbacks, will begin defending their NL West title in Cincinnati today, if it stops raining.

Looking at their Opening Day roster, you can see just how talented the Diamondbacks' system is.  Of the 25 players on the roster, eight played for the Triple-A Tucson Sidewinders last year, and 13 played there in the past two years.  And four of the starters made their way through Tucson, including starting pitcher Brandon Webb.

Meanwhile, Randy Johnson is slated to be the Opening Day starter for the Sidewinders as their season opens up Thursday, as he works his way off the Disabled List.

Long story short: in just over a year, Reno is in for some exciting, high-level baseball.