Today is the day baseball fans all over America have been waiting for since Nov. 2, 2016, exactly five months ago today, when the Chicago Cubs, after blowing a three-run lead in the last of the eighth inning, in the seventh game of the World Series, came back to win their first World Series title in 108 years. Today is opening day for Major League Baseball.

The excitement of that  World Series made the wait seem longer than usual.  For Red Sox fans, who had expected their team to be there, it was agony to watch Terry Francona, who will always be the Red Sox manager to most of  them, take the Indians to the seventh game of the Series against the powerhouse Cubs before losing the final in 10 innings.

For Cubs fans, after waiting a lifetime for a championship, the time must have flown. The championship parade, which produced the sixth largest gathering of human beings in the history of the world, must seem like yesterday.  

But here we are. Of course, the Red Sox do not open until tomorrow against, of all people, the Pittsburgh Pirates from the National League. There are three games today, all on national television. I am sure there are many baseball fans, like me, that will be glued to the television set for the whole day.  

In 2012, we were in Tampa Bay on opening day, waiting for the Rays to host the Orioles in the first game of their season at Tropicana Field the next day. There were four games televised nationally that day and we watched them all. There is nothing like opening day. As the Cleveland Indian’s great right hander, Early Wynn,  once said  “An opener is not like any other game. There’s that little extra excitement, a faster beating of the heart. You have that anxiety to get off to a good start, for yourself and for the team. You know that when you win the first one, you can’t lose ‘em all.”

Believe it or not, since 1901, this is the first time that the Red Sox have opened the home season at Fenway on April 3. Since 1901, they have won 69 and lost 47 in their first game of the season at Fenway.

It is also the first time they have opened the season at home since 2010 when they beat the Yankees 9-7.  In that game, which was the only game that opening day, they were down 5-2 going into the sixth when Kevin Youkilis hit a two run triple and scored on a single by Adrian Beltre to tie the game. After giving up two in the top of the seventh, they came back with three in the bottom of the inning on a two run homer by who else but Mr. Opening Day, Dustin Pedroia, and a double by Youk who scored on a passed ball to put them up 8-7. They added a run in the eighth on an RBI single by who else, Pedroia, to win 9-7.

In the intervening six years, they have won three and lost three on opening day on the road.  

There have been many outstanding performances on opening day, throughout baseball history. In 1940, Bob Feller pitched the only opening day no hitter in history as his Cleveland Indians downed the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Field in Chicago, 1-0.

In 1974, Hammerin’ Hank Aaron, of the Atlanta Braves, tied Babe Ruth’s record of 714 career home runs on the first swing of his bat in the season. He did it in the first inning, off Jack Billingham, of the Cincinnati Reds, on opening day, in Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium. 

Two of the greatest performers in opening day games were the Red Sox Ted Williams and the Washington Senators Walter Johnson. Teddy Ballgame, as he was often called, had at least one hit in each of the 14 openers he appeared in and batted .449 on opening day with 14 RBI’s in 14 games.

Johnson, The Big Train, threw nine complete game shutouts on opening day in 14 starts, including a 15 inning duel with Eddie Rommel of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1926. Both pitchers went all the way and Johnson got the 1-0 win on six hits. He also had a 13 inning, complete game shutout of the Athletics on opening day in 1919, winning 1-0. 

Tomorrow, the Red Sox open their defense of the American League East Division Championship against the Pirates. I have been following the Red Sox and Yankees since the 1940’s and I can honestly say that I have more confidence in this Red Sox team than in any I have ever seen.

This is a talented young team with the ability to score as well as any team in baseball. Even if the unthinkable happens and they should lose David Price to elbow surgery, they still have one of the best pitching staffs in either league.  

The keys to the season are Chris Sale, Pablo Sandoval, Mitch Moreland and Hanley Ramirez. If Sale can continue to throw as well as he has in spring training; If Sandoval keeps the weight off and plays like the Pablo Sandoval that played in San Francisco; If Moreland proves to be as well suited for Fenway Park’s friendly confines as I think he will, and if Hanley adapts to the DH role as effectively as he should, there’ll be another Duck Boat Parade in Boston in November.  

That may seem like a lot of IF’s but it’s not when you realize how much back up talent is in place to fill any holes that appear. This is going to be an exciting year for Red Sox Nation.