Miguel Cabrera took a trot, eventually, in the snow at Comerica Park. Mookie Betts started the champion Los Angeles Dodgers with a hit at Coors Field.
And the Bleacher Creatures did their thing at Yankee Stadium. All-Stars on the diamond for opening day, fans in the socially distanced stands eager to cheer them. “Just having those smells hit you, walking in and having that experience back, it’s invigorating,” Tonia Smith of Sussex, Wisconsin, said Thursday before Milwaukee hosted Minnesota.
Along with the hits, runs and errors, there was a stark reminder of what baseball went through last year. The New York Mets’ game in Washington — a prime pitching matchup between Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer —was postponed because of COVID-19 concerns.