Opening Day 2011 Schedule Brings Excitement Back to Baseball

The 2011 Opening Day schedule is now just days away. Major League Baseball opens the doors on Thursday for the first games of the season, and there are six games already scheduled for consumption. The 2010 season seems so very long ago at this point, and now every fan gets to watch as the San Francisco Giants try to defend their World Series victory.

Last November it was San Francisco that beat Texas in a very competitive World Series, showing that pitching could indeed still beat a great offense. The Rangers lost Cliff Lee to free agency though, as he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies, and now they have been supplanted by the Boston Red Sox as the favorites to win the American League title. Boston had a very busy offseason where they picked up first baseman Adrien Gonzalez through a trade with the San Diego Padres and then signed free agent outfielder Carl Crawford away from the Tampa Bay Rays.

There are six games taking place on Thursday for Opening Day 2011. The remaining teams will have their first games on Friday, providing fans with the staggered Opening Day schedule that has become so familiar in baseball. ESPN will be airing the Detroit vs. New York Yankees game beginning at 10:05 a.m. PDT and then the San Diego vs. St. Louis game right after it. Prime time gets the big game, as San Francisco vs. Los Angeles will begin at about 5 p.m. PDT.

It's safe to assume that the coverage of the Cardinals game (beginning around 1:15 p.m. PDT) is going to be heavily slanted to discussions about Albert Pujols. Pujols failed to sign a new contract with St. Louis this offseason, and now he is going to be a free agent at the end of the 2011 season unless something changes. That could force the franchise into a scenario where he gets traded before the deadline so that St. Louis doesn't risk losing him to free agency for nothing more than two draft picks.

Opening Day in Texas will be on Friday, where the Rangers take the field at 1:05 p.m. PDT to host the Red Sox in a game that could actually be foreshadowing the 2011 American League Championship Series. That should be a great set of games down in Texas, and it will certainly set the tone for one of these teams to jump out as one of the clear favorites in the American League.

The games are coming baseball fans, and now everyone is about to find out which teams made the necessary adjustments to compete for a title this year, and which will have to look forward to the 2011 MLB Draft instead.