A week in baseball

So here we go, the baseball season is in full swing after a week of play. And it seems that a few teams try to ridicule some of the experts who were labelling some clubs as losers before opening day. I found it quite surprising to see that the Orioles, the Royals, the A's or the Rangers (incidentally all AL teams) who were all considered to be cannon fodder for the big teams before the season suddenly turned out to be good ball clubs. Now I know that there will change a lot over the course of a 162 game season, but I found it quite astonishing that there wasn't a single team who was predicted to lose really did so. Everyone was talking about the great offense of the Detroit Tigers (0-7 after last night's loss to the Red Sox), the great Angels (5-4) and so on. In football the three teams who get promoted usually are considered to the the first three candidates for immediated relegation. Normally there's one stand out surprise (this year that would be Karlsruhe), but usually they go down the drain as the season continues. But that doesn't seem to be the case in baseball. What I like about that is the balance of the league. It's not like that every team has a chance to win the World Series, but it's close. Closer than in European football competitions.
And, oh boy, you got to give credit to the Americans for celebrating their championship teams. I was watching the ceremony for the Red Sox yesterday and that was brilliant. Although I don't really like F-16 flyovers, but bringing out legendary players from different sports teams (Bruins, Celtics, Patriots), honouring a former player who gave the club one of it's worst memories (Bill Buckner in 1986) by letting him throw the opening pitch, that's something you won't get in German stadiums. I like the way they honour their tradition.

In Japan meanwhile the spring Koshien ended with a win for a school from Okinawa. I guess that the population of those islands down south is rather small so that must have been a highlight for the region.
So this means the Hanshin Tigers finally get to take their home field again after having a great start on the road. They are now 8-2-0 and lead the Central League. I still wasn't able to watch a game because of the different time zones (Japanese baseball games will air at 11 am over here), but I really hope to catch one on some weekend in the future.