Baseball’s back, back again

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Happy New Year!

Okay guys. It’s safe to stop pretending to care about hockey.

The Diamondbacks’ pitchers and catchers, along with the pitchers and catchers of five other teams, reported to work yesterday and will have their first workout today. Arizona fans will finally get to see the likes of Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller take the field in a Diamondbacks uniform for the first time ever today. The Diamondbacks’ top two starters were acquired in December and will undoubtedly be the focal point of today’s coverage. This will begin a new era of Diamondbacks baseball.

Today is the New Year’s Day of the baseball calendar. The Diamondbacks may have won the offseason, but as of today, that offseason is over. Now the signees and trade acquisitions will actually get a chance to hit the field– and in less than two months, the games will start counting. So while today might not count for anything, hey: it’s nice to see baseball being played again.

The sentiment right now around Arizona is very positive. Chip Hale is excited. Tony La Russa is using bad words to describe how pumped he is. Diamondbacks brass gave up an awful lot to get to where they are right now, so they obviously buy into the system that they have established.

The rest of the Diamondbacks’ squad must report to Scottsdale by Monday. Most, however, will report prior to that date. The Diamondbacks’ first spring training game will be an exhibition against the University of Arizona on March 1, followed by a “road” game against the Rockies the following day.