Pitchers and catchers have begun reporting for all 30 Major League Baseball clubs. The 2019 MLB regular season officially gets underway on March 20 with the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics playing a two-game series in Japan. The rest of the league is scheduled to open the season on March 28.
As for the Buffalo Bisons, they will open their 2019 season on April 4 at Sahlen Field when the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders come to town to kick off a four-game weekend series between the two squads. At this point, we do not know where uberprospect Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. will be playing to start the season. The 19-year-old son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, finished out his 2018 season with the Bisons, hitting .336 with 37 hits, six home runs and 16 runs-batted-in in 30 games played.
The Bisons' parent club, the Toronto Blue Jays, will open up their 2019 season with a home matchup on March 28 against the Detroit Tigers at Rogers Centre.
Blue Jays play-by-play broadcaster Mike Wilner on Sportsnet 590 the Fan in Toronto joined Mike Schopp on WGR Sports Radio 550 on Thursday to talk about what's to come for the Jays and Bisons in 2019, as well as a widened look at the state of the league and the controversial offseason of free agency.
Here is some of what Wilner had to say:
"Strategically, it's not a bad idea at all. Especially to spell the back end of your rotation. It caught on last year, and it might even more this year. The Tampa Bay Rays had to get past some major injuries to their rotation, and were unsure about the durability of guys like Ryan Yarbrough and Yonny Chirinos, so they employed this idea."
"It seems to me that the Blue Jays are trying really hard to say [his delayed call-up] is not about service time, even though we all know it is. I wonder if they'll leave him in Buffalo for about a month after. Early May debut, maybe?"
"It's going to be a tough year. Expect a season of development, and a chance to get a look at guys to see what the team can do long-term. They are honestly one of about 20 teams in the league that don't expect to contend this year."
"The overall lack of serious contenders this year is embarrassing. There are three teams in the American League that don't suck."
"Baseball has no lottery at all. There has to be ways to de-incentivize tanking. I blame the [Chicago] Cubs and [Houston] Astros. There might be 13 fanbases that think their team will rebuild and win the World Series in three years."
"The bad part about baseball being taken over by the 'geeks' is everybody seems to think bottoming out is the way to do it. They're forgetting this is an entertainment business and you need butts in the seats."
"His Hall of Fame induction was more than deserved. He was the best pitcher in the game for a decade. In that decade after the Jays brought him back after rebuilding his delivery, the Jays were a 100-win team when he took the mound. Every other game? Closer to a 75-win team. It was a pleasure to watch him carve up hitters year after year. You guys had a front row seat being so close to Toronto, too."
You can listen to the entire interview below: