"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!"

It's official:  Spring Training 2013 has begun!  All pitchers and catchers have reported to their respective camps, and regular players are starting to trickle in as well.  The off-season wasn't so bad - we had Thanksgiving and Christmas, the Ravens won the Super Bowl, my husband remodeled one of our bathrooms, and Tim Lincecum got a haircut.  But it's time, my friends - time for the smell of fresh-cut grass and leather baseball gloves.  Tine for "Take me out to the Ballgame" and the seventh-inning stretch.  Time for overpriced beer and chili dogs.  I know; it may be freezing here in Maryland, but in Florida and Arizona, the players of the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues are ready to play some ball.

So what do we have to look forward to in the 2013 season?  Here's a rundown of what's not to be missed:

• Before the regular season even starts, the World Baseball Classic will take place in Japan, Puerto Rico, and the US.  Baseball teams from sixteen different countries will be competing for the ultimate World Championship.  First-round games begin on March 2, with finals being held two weeks later at AT&T Park in San Francisco.  These teams feature veterans like Adam Jones and Joe Mauer (playing for Team USA), Yadier Molina and Carlos Beltrán (representing Puerto Rico), and Robinson Canó and Melky Cabrera (for the Dominican Republic), but also include young players who will be getting their first taste of international competition.  Stay tuned to my blog, because I will surely have a lot to comment on during the WBC.
• The Yankees' Mariano Rivera looks to be ready for his comeback after last year's season-ending knee injury in May.  He is all rehabbed and ready to go, and at 43 years young, he will hopefully be back in pitching shape by the end of Spring Training.  He did say that he will decide before Opening Day if this will be his last season as a Major League baseball player, but since his contract with the Yankees is only for one year and he has always been in pinstripes, I'm sure this will be Mo's last season.
• Seventy-year-old Davey Johnson, the manager of the Washington Nationals, has said that this will be his last season managing a Major League baseball team.  And with his "World Series or Bust!" attitude, we can hope to see a lot of special moments from our nation's capital this season.
• Speaking of the Nationals, they have added a new mascot to their Presidents Race.  For those of you unfamiliar with this DC tradition, the four Mount Rushmore Presidents would race around the field at Nationals Park between the two halves of the fourth inning.  Since the Presidents Race began, Teddy Roosevelt would always lose.  Well last year, during the last homestand of the season, Teddy finally won, so the Nationals had to come up with a new gimmick.  After asking fans to vote for their favorite addition to the Presidents Race, William Howard Taft was chosen.  Why?  Probably because he was fat, had a cool mustache, and was the first President to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game.  Let's see how the mascot version of Taft does this season.
• The revamped Toronto Blue Jays are ready to kick some baseball ass.  With new acquisitions to their pitching staff (Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, and Josh Johnson) and offense (José Reyes and Emilio Bonifacio, to name a few), they look very good on paper.  Let's hope they can stay healthy this year - injuries have plagued the Jays for the past few seasons - so they can contend like in the days of John Olerud, Roberto Alomar, and Roger Clemens.

Another thing that is different from last season is that my husband and I opted out of the 5-game "Flex Plan" that we bought last year.  Not only did prices go up (we liked it better when our team sucked and tickets were cheaper!), but the seating choices were lousy.  I'm not going to watch 5 games while sitting in the scorching sun in the middle of the outfield seats nor am I going to be able to see anything from the mezzanine level.  So we're going the Stub Hub route this year, and hopefully we'll go to three or four games at Nationals Park (including a playoff game, hopefully!).  We do have a trip planned to PNC Park in Pittsburgh to watch the Pirates play the dreaded Phillies - can you guess for which team I will be rooting as I wear my Roberto Clemente t-shirt?

And don't forget your local minor-league baseball teams!  We will surely catch a handful of games at Harry Grove Stadium, where our Orioles' affiliate Frederick Keys play.  They may have gotten rid of their Puerto Rican manager, but the games are still fun to watch and still affordable for our family of four.

Now if the weather would only warm up here...