Baseball

It's the most wonderful time of the year. Baseball is back.  

The Pittsburgh Pirates opened up their season on Monday with a 5-2 loss to their division rivals, the Cincinnati Reds, at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.

Let's take a look at the three things you need to know following Monday's opener.  

The beginning of April means millions of fans tune in for MLB Opening Day 2015, but what did we learn from the first day of meaningful baseball?

When the Boston Red Sox traded Yoenis Cespedes for Rick Porcello last December, they signaled that they were willing to roll the dice on the hurler's big 2014 breakout.

Now they're really rolling the dice on that breakout, suddenly putting an $82.5 million wager on it.

Opening Night could easily be labeled a failure for the Chicago Cubs organization, a team with a new manager and sky-high expectations. The Cubs' $155 million investment, Jon Lester, struggled throughout his first National League start, and the team was 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

No, those are not good numbers.

You get the feeling this is what is going to have to happen fairly often.

A pure offensive onslaught.

You had to be a dummy not to realize the Boston Red Sox had built one hell of an attack over the offseason, tossing in Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval with an already-formidable group of David Ortiz, Mike Napoli and Dustin Pedroia. Them scoring was never in doubt.

The Boston Red Sox wasted little time locking up Rick Porcello, who would have been a free agent after this season.

Opening Day couldn't have gone much worse for the Milwaukee Brewers. First, they lost 10-0 at home to the Colorado Rockies. Then came news that Ryan Braun suffered an injury in the defeat. He was not in Tuesday's lineup either. 

Continue for updates.    

The Miami Marlins spent a lot of money on their new stadium—$515 million, mostly funded by Miami-Dade County, to be specific.

It features some interesting things, like a quasi-strip club at field level, an exploding fantasy fountain and a monstrous retractable roof. 

If the New York Yankees want to return to the postseason in 2015, they're going to need Masahiro Tanaka to be the ace he was in 2014.

Baseball is back!

The Detroit Tigers' Yoenis Cespedes hopped on the highlight train with an incredible leaping grab in the top of the third inning against the Minnesota Twins.