The opening baseball game of the 2009 season has arrived for fans and they are preparing themselves for a season that should feature some of the best baseball ever. The powerhouses of the league loaded up in the offseason and the smaller teams have finished hunting for their statistically-rich bargain players. The best baseball game ever may be played this season as the match-ups and lineups look intriguing.

The tradition of the opening baseball game of the season is rich in history. Recently, with the advent of ESPN, a Sunday night game has been introduced and broadcast on television ahead of the wide-league opening day on Monday. Fans take this cherished day as a sign that all is right in the world and that they will be occupied for at least 162 days in the next 5 months. The league has also changed the opening day tradition for the defending World Series champions, sending them and a same-league opponent to play their opening series in a far away land. The locales, which have been lately in the Far East, are chosen by the league to introduce new fans to the best baseball ever.

The best baseball plays sometimes occur for fans lucky enough to watch an opening baseball game from the stands. In 1940, the only no-hitter thrown at a season opener occurred when Hall of Famer Bob Feller delivered for Cleveland. Hank Aaron got the fans stirred up when he hit his Babe Ruth-tying 714th home run on his first swing of the 1974 season when he was with Atlanta. One pitcher, Hall of Fame inductee Walter Johnson, made opening day his best career day. Over 14 seasons, he pitched a record nine shutouts, including both of his most famous starts.

But the main reason that fans can expect the best baseball ever in 2009 was the unexpected outcome of the 2008 season. In 2008, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays turned the odds on the head by making the World Series, which the Phillies eventually won. It reminded fans and other teams that payroll alone does not dictate performance and that all of these teams are loaded with talent. The traditional powerhouses, New York and Boston, also responded by making aggressive offseason moves to compete with their traditional rivals and these upstarts.

Last season also saw excellent team play and individual play from the opening baseball game forward. Francisco Rodriguez, the closing pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels, set a Major League record with most saves in a season. Rodriguez racked up 62 saves in 2008, soundly trouncing the old record by five saves. The best baseball plays of 2008 featured two outfield catches. Reed Johnson of the Chicago Cubs made a catch for the ages against the Washington Nationals when he stretched out in center field for a diving, sliding catch that sent him head-first into the wall–but he held on. Another highlight was Willie Harris of the Nationals in the bottom of the ninth against the Mets, stretched out in left field to slide in the dirt and catch a popup over the foul line that preserved the shutout and the win.

Here, at Electro-Mech, we not only produce electronic baseball scoreboards but we are also big sports fans- baseball included. We’re your one stop for all things baseball.