Play ball! Baseball season begins

The Associated Press

Time to throw out the pitch.

Featured Topic | Posted 35 weeks 1 day ago

Play ball! Baseball season begins

The Major League Baseball season gets underway in earnest tonight with a game between the Washington Nationals and the Atlanta Braves in the Nationals' spiffy new ballpark. Baseball has endured another brutal offseason, though -- with the release of the Mitchell Report and allegations that the game's most dominant pitcher, Roger Clemens, used performance-enhancing drugs during his career. Can baseball retain its credibility and popularity? Is it still America's pastime?

Ben likes: An 8-letter word for the ultimate sport

George Will/Washington Post

Bill Veeck, who did more for America in one night than most of us do in a lifetime (the night in September 1937 he planted the ivy along Wrigley Field's outfield walls), said that the great thing about baseball -- aside from the fact that you do not need to be 7 feet wide or 7 feet tall in order to play it -- is: Three strikes and you're out, and the best lawyer can't help you. Baseball, which provides satisfying finality and then does it again the next day, is a severe meritocracy that illustrates the axiom that there is very little difference between men but that difference makes a big difference.

Joel likes: Steroids don't dampen fans' love of baseball

Seattle Times

The steroids-related bombshells keep coming, so many now that it's hard to muster shock, let alone outrage, over the latest Jose Canseco revelation kinda sorta implicating Alex Rodriguez.

But the fans keep coming, too. It's the anomaly of our times. Even as baseball remains embroiled in arguably its most damaging scandal, it prepares for another season of record-breaking attendance and revenue.