Baseball is back: O's begin AL East title defense today

Well, that was a fast offseason.

Seriously, it did feel that way to me. It seemed like we had just gotten off the plane from Kansas City, had a few weeks to catch our breath and then it was off to San Diego for the Winter Meetings. Then it was Christmas, then FanFest was here and then spring training.

Now, spring training did drag on. Seemed like it was the longest it has ever been. Glad that part is over.

But finally today, the Orioles play a game that counts and begin the defense of their first American League East championship since 1997.

Should they win two in a row, it will be the first time they've gone back-to-back in the division since 1973-74. Yep, it's been that long.

In 1974, Bobby Grich and Mark Belanger were turning double plays, Boog Powell was years away from making barbeque sandwiches and Brooks Robinson was in the twilight of a Hall of Fame career. Earl "Big Money" Williams was behind the plate and Mike Cuellar won 22 games.

Check this out: Ross Grimsley led the staff with 295 2/3 innings, followed by Cuellar with 269 and Dave McNally at 259. A different era for sure, but just as they did then, the O's now look to go back-to-back for the first time in 41 years.

The Orioles' 62nd season begins this afternoon on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Orioles went 7-1 in the first eight games between these clubs last year and finished 12-7 for their most wins against the Rays since going 13-6 in 2006.

Today's game will be a temporary tiebreaker - after 296 regular season games, the all-time record between the O's and Rays sits at 148-148.

Last year was just the second time in the last seven years that the O's won a season series against Tampa Bay, going 2-4-1 since 2008. Since the O's begin winning again in 2012, they are 38-38 versus the Rays for their worst record in that stretch against any AL East team.

It's great to have baseball back and now we all settle in for the grind of a long season. To me, a baseball season is like a book with about 50 chapters and I can't wait to see how each one turns out.

As for the Orioles, there are some storylines to watch: Will the pitching be as good as last year? Will they make up for the losses of Nick Markakis, Nelson Cruz and Andrew Miller? Will Matt Wieters return to health and will Manny Machado stay healthy?

A big question for me will be whether this is the last call for this current group, which features 11 pending free agents. Are O's fans getting their last look at players like Chris Davis and Wieters?

We have all season to ponder those questions, track the team and see if the Orioles can defend the division championship.

By the way, the game blog returns this year for your pregame and in-game comments, so keep them coming as you did last year when that became a great place for O's fans to discuss the game in our virtual world at MASNsports.com. The first one for this season will hit this space around 2 p.m. or so today.

Baseball is back and it's great.