Play Ball!
After the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the start of the 2020 season, and after Major League Baseball and the MLBPA finally came to an agreement on how players would be paid, the sixty game season gets underway for the A-L Champion Houston Astros tonight at Minute Maid Park against the Seattle Mariners. Geoff Blum of the Astros TV crew is happy that the sounds of summer will return, even if there are no fans in the stands for now.
"It's going to be exciting to get the games back. It looks like the guys are ready. They are prepared. They are anxious. I think we all are anxious in a sense to get on the field and see how this thing is going to unfold," Blum explained.
Major League Baseball is attempting a re-start one week before the NBA does and after Major League Soccer made its return. As excited as Blum is to get the season started, he's also nervous.
"As much as we think we know about what's going on, we really don't. It's a day to day process," Blum said.
The season will consist of 40 games against teams from the AL West and 20 games against teams from the NL West. There have been some changes between Game Seven of the World Series last year until now. Blum says the Astros remain contenders despite those changes.
"You lose Gerrit Cole to the Yankees. Yordan Alavarz isn't healthy. Jose Urquidy is not in camp. You start to wonder about how these guys are going to be. But their offensive lineup is one of the deepest in all of baseball," Blum explained.
First pitch tonight is at 8:10, with Justin Verlander getting the start. Pre-game coverage here on KTRH gets started at 7.