When it rained blue and green confetti on Sunday evening in Super Bowl 48 (I refuse to use Roman numerals, as the NFL still insist on doing), it meant only one thing for baseball fans: Spring Training is around the corner.
Now everyone wants to get back to playing catch; even Super Bowl winning quarterback Russell Wilson, the former Colorado Rockies single-A second baseman who is reportedly attending Rangers camp this month.
What the SCG will look like when the two teams face each other next month
For the Dodgers and Diamondbacks, Spring Training has been sped up because of their tour of Australia which will culminate in opening the 2014 season at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) for two games. Make no mistake, those two matchups count toward the standings, and whilst MLB hopes to raise its profile in a growing baseball nation – Australia has competed in all three World Baseball Classics and had four major leaguers last season – the Dodgers and Diamondbacks hate eachother.
Like, hate.
Over to you Bud Selig. Selling the game to the Aussies is tough enough without shipping over two teams who brawled back on June 11 at Dodger Stadium, with breaking-the-speed-limit enthusiast Yasiel Puig the spearhead to the rowdiness that went down on that pleasant evening. Then again, the commissioner might have seen something we didn’t as LA and Arizona may replicate an Aussie Rules matchup, which would definitely please the Wallabies. Spreading the goodwill may become easier for the league because the two teams will meet, quite fittingly, for their spring openers on February 26and 27, getting the throwing-at-batters-heads duties over and done with in the Cactus League.
The last thing the Dodgers did to Arizona? They swam in the Chase Field pool after clinching the NL West division, which was against the D-Backs’ wishes. While over in Australia this winter – or summer once they arrived – Dodgers Catcher A.J. Ellis, along with other members of the two organizations, said the potential for a brawl was the most popular question he had to answer.
Back in June last year, even coaches got involved during the brawl
Both teams will go over to Sydney to try and win ballgames, but starting early and travelling such a distance is definitely a disadvantage, and maybe even a distraction to preparation. No matter what the owners say about globalizing the sport across the world, there is no doubt that, especially for the Dodgers who played deep into October, clocking in to spring workouts a week earlier than everyone else then flying to Australia and back is more than an arduous task.
The players should enjoy the experience, no doubt, but it should ring notice that if individuals pull out of the World Baseball Classic – which was played mostly in the United States last March – there is no chance they would play in Australia before Opening Week if they weren’t obligated to do so.
When watching the Athletics and Mariners do a similar thing in Japan several years ago, it actually made me tired just thinking how far away from their bases the two teams were, and how much recovery time they would need on their return. Arizona holds their first pitchers and catchers workout in Scottsdale, Az. on Friday. The Dodgers report two days later. Management have been preparing for this since the Australia dates were set last year.
The key will be not to overwork guys, especially pitchers who went deep into the postseason – ala Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke – and take more rest days during spring training that wouldn’t usually be down days. Kershaw has just signed the most expensive contract for a pitcher in history and will earn more annually than any player, ever, so looking after him is a priority for Los Angeles anyway. But no one other than the two-time Cy Young winner and Greinke will throw in the two regular season games at the SCG on March 22 and 23, because after all Los Angeles wants to win a championship this year – along with Arizona – so they will put out their best from the get go.
It promises to be a spectacle. The Dodgers will be wearing their new throwback road uniforms for the two games, which remain grey but have ‘Dodgers’ emblazoned on the jerseys instead of ‘Los Angeles’. Although it is an American event and two American organizations competing, as a Dodgers fan I feel like we need to go to Australia and win after the humiliating Ashes series. Do it for England, Dodgernation. Rest assured, Puig-mania will fill the Sydney streets in late March, and I hope the Cuban is remembered not for his bench-clearing ability but his baseball ability. The sport needs to grow globally, and positively.
