Baseball: Five story lines which may define MLB 2015

Baseball: Five story lines which may define MLB 2015

• Baseball (Representational image) Getty Images

Here are five storylines to track during the 2015 Major League Baseball season which opens on Sunday.

CHICAGO CUBS

Is this the year the Chicago Cubs, who have long been known as ‘lovable losers’, snap a 107-year-old World Series title drought?

Chicago have finished below .500 the last five seasons but have been the darling of spring training after hiring top drawer manager Joe Maddon and signing ace Jon Lester to a six-year $155 million deal.

The hype machine is humming in Wrigleyville but if the Cubs are to return to the postseason for the first time since 2008 it will depend largely on the play of prospects such as centre fielder Arismendy Alcantara, shortstop Starlin Castro and first baseman Anthony Rizzo.

PACE OF PLAY

In a world where attention spans are shrinking like glaciers in the summer heat and information is consumed in 140 character Twitter-sized bites, baseball’s leisurely flow has fallen out of step in a fast-paced world.

The average MLB game took 3 hours 2 minutes to play last season, nearly 30 minutes more than it did in 1981. MLB will introduce several rule changes this season as timers will be added and fines applied for lollygaggers while hitters must keep at least one foot in the batter’s box.

Baseball may not be on the verge of turning into an action-packed sport but the grinding marathons of pitchers and batters stalling and fidgeting that slowed the game to a crawl may be about to end.

via NorthEast Calling http://ift.tt/1F93iCp