Author: Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY

The wins just keep coming for the Tampa Bay Rays, who improved to 11-0 after Tuesday night’s win over the Boston Red Sox.

Three years after a pandemic reduced baseball in the USA to a 60-game MLB season, it’s clear a handful of young players benefited greatly from 2020.

The Rays became baseball’s first team to start 9-0 since 2003, slugging an MLB-best 24 home runs in the process.

The Orioles were a nice little surprise last year, crawling out of the darkness with 83 wins and a minor threat to win a playoff berth.

Tampa Bay pioneered use of the “opener” but this year’s starting rotation has an air of permanence for the AL contender.

Anthony Rendon was suspended for five games by Major League Baseball, three days after videos emerged showing him confronting a fan in Oakland.

The average nine-inning game is already 25 minutes quicker than the full-season 2022 edition, and a 32 minutes ahead of 2021’s torturous 3:10 rate.

Video showed Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon in a heated confrotation with a fan after his team’s opening day game in Oakland.

Major League Baseball’s opening day can offer an occasionally instructive peek under hood, even if it’s merely just 1/162nd of the season to come.

Baseball’s new rules got a chance to shine in the first game of the new season, a cold and dull contest at Nationals Park.