MLB Task Force

Hi folks!! Today I’m going to talk about MLB and their efforts to bring more diversity to the game. Earlier this week, Major League Baseball announced that they are going to create a task force to work on improving diversity on the field. Major League Baseball has made progress when it comes to bringing the game into urban areas. Currently Major League Baseball runs 7 Urban Youth Academies and has RBI program but they want to do more to make the game popular in urban areas. This announcement comes on the heels of the anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color-barrier and the release of the movie depicting the life of Jackie Robinson. The latest player diversity reports says that there are 8.5% players on this year’s opening day roster that are African American. This committee is made up of 18 people who are owners, players’ union representatives, Major League Baseball scouts, minor league managers and college baseball coaches. Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg and Detroit Tigers president Dave Dombrowski will run the committee. The goal of this task force is to increase the number of minorities’ especially African American players in Major League Baseball. The fact that Major League Baseball is taking the step to try and get African Americans to play the game of baseball is a good thing because the numbers have gone down in the past couple decades. It is a rarity that you see an African American in the game of baseball at all levels so now it is Major League Baseball’s job to try and make the game popular amongst African Americans.

Recap of the First week of the Season

The first week of the season has been a good one. Some teams are off to a good while others are off to bad starts. The Detroit Tigers and the San Francisco Giants, the two teams who played in last year’s World Series both had their home openers. The Tigers raised their American League Pennant Flag while the Giants raised their National League Pennant Flag and their World Series Championship Flag. The Giants also received their World Series Championship rings. The Giants star player Buster Posey received his National League MVP trophy and his Silver Slugger award. The Tigers star players Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera received there Silver Slugger awards while Cabrera received his American League MVP award. The Tigers also received there American League Championship rings. The Atlanta Braves and the Arizona Diamondbacks have the best records in Major League Baseball with a 4-1 start while there are 6 teams that are off to 1-4 starts. Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis is off to a hot and historic start. Davis already has 4 homeruns and 16 RBI’s. Davis’ homerun streak for his first 4 games matches the mark that was previously set by Willie Mays, Mark McGwire and Nelson Cruz. Davis holds the record for the most RBI’s in his first 4 games. There was also a near-perfect game. Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers was one out away from throwing a perfect game against the Houston Astros. I hope that the second week of the baseball season and the rest of the baseball season are as good as the first week of the baseball season.

Sunday Night Baseball opening day 2013 recap

Last night officially marked opening day in baseball. The two teams that played were the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros in a contest that was played on Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. This also marked the first regular season game that the Houston Astros are playing in the American League. The Astros won the game 8-2 behind Justin Maxwell’s two triples and two RBI’s and Rick Ankiel’s pinch-hit three-run home run in the bottom of the 6^th inning. Astros starting pitcher Bud Norris threw 5 2/3 innings and had 5 strikeouts. He also gave up 5 hits and 2 runs. This was a big win for the Astros because they have been taking a lot of criticism for having one of the lowest payrolls in Major League Baseball. They have also been criticized for not spending money on a big time player. A lot of people are predicting that the Rangers and the Astros will in the bottom of the AL west so for the Astros to get a win against their in-state and AL west rivals was big. The loss for the Rangers was not a good way to start there season. They lost Josh Hamilton, who their best player in 2012 to free agency and now they are trying to move on past that.

Today most of the teams open up their season including the World Series champion San Francisco Giants who play their rivals the Los Angeles Dodgers and the American League champion Detroit Tigers who play the Minnesota Twins. The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox open up against each other. I am excited for today’s games but more importantly I am excited that the regular season is here.