Chicago Sports

The start of the 2022 MLB season has finally arrived!

Beginning with seven Opening Day games on Thursday and continuing with the rest of MLB in action Friday, it’s time to welcome in a new year on the diamond. To celebrate baseball’s return, we’ve asked our experts to weigh in on what they are most excited to watch — and make a fearless Opening Day prediction.

Be sure to refresh this page early and often for our live updates and takeaways from every Opening Day game on both Thursday and Friday.

Season preview: Power ranks | Predictions | Moves that rocked the offseason
ESPN+: Passan’s predictions | How Opening Day was saved | 2022 changes
Play: ESPN Opening Day classic | ESPN fantasy baseball: Sign up for free!

Thursday’s Opening Day schedule

ESPN

All times Eastern

2:20 p.m.: Brewers (Burnes) at Cubs (Hendricks)
4:10 p.m.: Guardians (Bieber) at Royals (Greinke)
4:15 p.m.: Pirates (Brubaker) at Cardinals (Wainwright)
7:05 p.m. on ESPN+: Mets (TBD) at Nationals (Corbin)
8:00 p.m. on ESPN2: Reds (Mahle) at Braves (Fried)
9:38 p.m.: Astros (Valdez) at Angels (Ohtani)
9:40 p.m.: Padres (Darvish) at Diamondbacks (Bumgarner)

Friday openers: Red Sox-Yankees, White Sox-Tigers, A’s-Phillies, Orioles-Rays, Dodgers-Rockies, Mariners-Twins, Marlins-Giants and Rangers-Blue Jays

First home run of the year

Cubs shortstop Nico Hoerner hit the first home run of the MLB season. He smashed a pitch by Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes out of the park in the bottom of the fifth inning.

First run of the MLB year

After three innings, the first run of the season is on the board. Brewers outfielder Lorenzo Cain hit a groundout to first, but Andrew McCutchen was able to make it home to give visiting Milwaukee a 1-0 lead over the Cubs in the top of the fourth.

Welcome to the league

Getting called up to the majors is a big moment for any baseball player. Leading up to Opening Day on Thursday, players were notified that they made their teams’ rosters, which produced some touching moments for the teams and players.

During the Chicago Cubs‘ spring training game against the Chicago White Sox on Monday, pitcher Ethan Roberts was notified by manager David Ross that he made the Opening Day roster. Roberts, who was drafted by the Cubs in 2018, was visibly emotional after receiving the news. The Cubs’ first game of the season is against the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday.

Julio Rodriguez, the No. 3 prospect as ranked by ESPN, got the nod for the Seattle Mariners‘ Opening Day roster. He signed with the team as an international free agent in 2017. Rodriguez is slated to start in center field and will make his debut on Friday against the Minnesota Twins.

Rodriguez was full of excitement when manager Scott Servais broke the news. Things got even better for the 21-year-old when he was informed that his parents will be in attendance for his first MLB game.

The Kanas City Royals drafted Bobby Witt Jr. second overall in the 2019 MLB draft. Roughly three years later, he will make his big league debut, starting at third base for the team against the Cleveland Guardians. The 21-year-old was all smiles after hearing he made the Royals’ Opening Day roster.

Seiya Suzuki made his MLB debut against the Brewers on Thursday. In March, he signed a five-year deal with the Cubs. Before joining Chicago, he played in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league, in which he was a four-time All-Star and three-time Golden Glove winner. In the bottom of the fifth, Suzuki hit a ball into left field for the first hit of his MLB career.

Opening Day predictions and what we can’t wait to see

What’s the one thing you are most excited to watch on Opening Day?

Bradford Doolittle: I’m in Minneapolis for a Twins-Mariners series that was pushed back a day because of some inhospitable early spring weather. The upside is that I get two Opening Days and can watch the debut of Bobby Witt Jr. in Kansas City on a screen of some sort Thursday before getting to see Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez firsthand on Friday. We haven’t always seen the most exciting prospects on Opening Day (Witt is No. 2 and Rodriguez is No. 3 on Kiley McDaniel’s top 100 prospect list), so this is a wonderful thing. A great American League Rookie of the Year race is on.

2 Related

Jesse Rogers: The debut of Cubs rookie Seiya Suzuki. He’s a multiple-tools player with power to all fields and a rocket of an arm. As noted in the recent collective bargaining agreement battle, most rookies don’t make a lot of money — but Suzuki signed a five-year, $85 million contract this offseason, so eyes will be on him throughout the baseball world. He has a chance to be the next big star on a team suddenly void of them. Thursday is his first chance to show fans across the city of Chicago what they’re getting.

David Schoenfield: The most fascinating team to watch in April might be the Padres. There is a lot of pressure on a team that now runs one of the highest payrolls in baseball and is coming off a losing season. They collapsed down the stretch, and while the rotation is healthy again, the Padres will have to play a couple of months without Fernando Tatis Jr. So on Opening Day, I want to see how Yu Darvish looks after going 1-8 (6.16 ERA) in the second half. I want to see how new manager Bob Melvin sets up his late-game bullpen. I want to see if Ha-Seong Kim can not only fill in for Tatis but hit like he did in Korea after struggling in his debut season. I want to see which Manny Machado shows up. The Padres begin with 14 games against the Diamondbacks, Giants, Rangers and Pirates — a golden opportunity to get off to a hot start and put 2021’s disappointment behind them.

Joon Lee: I’m with David on this one. The Padres are at a fascinating inflection point in the tenure of AJ Preller with the injury of Tatis and the level of financial investment in this team’s core. According to multiple sources, the Padres club chemistry suffered under Jayce Tingler, so the addition of Melvin will completely shake up the team’s locker room dynamics. I’m interested to see which Darvish shows up on Opening Day and how former Cy Young winner Blake Snell fares in his second season in San Diego after struggling to put up numbers akin to his tenure in Tampa Bay. Especially after the trade for Eric Hosmer fell through and Tatis’ injury, the team will need its high-salary players to play better in 2022.

Buster Olney: I’m in Atlanta, and I’ll be fascinated to see the reception for new first baseman Matt Olson — and I’d expect that it will be loud and lasting. If anybody is going to replace Freddie Freeman at first, Olson is the perfect candidate given his local roots, his age, his power. If the Braves’ magic script from last year’s World Series is still in play, then Olson will get a pivotal hit — and the Atlanta fans will go wild. What a story that would be.

Coley Harvey: I am beyond excited to be joining Buster in my hometown of Atlanta, where I’ll have a front-row seat for a coronation that’s been a generation in the making. And as a lifelong supporter of all things ATL, 404, Chick-fil-A and Waffle House, the 10-year-old inside me still can’t believe one of the pro teams from his city is finally about to have another banner-raising night. The Braves’ 1995 and 2021 championships and Atlanta United’s MLS title in 2018 are all we’ve got! After the 28-3 memes and jokes, the City Too Busy To Hate more than deserves to celebrate last October’s World Series win one more time. Atlantans have earned it.

Alden Gonzalez: I’ll be at Angel Stadium on Thursday, and because of that I’ll be the luckiest of us all. Shohei Ohtani will be on the mound and he will be in the lineup, beginning what promises to be another enthralling season as a two-way player. The talk around Angels camp this spring centered on whether Ohtani can actually be better this year, given how he improved as a pitcher and how he grew comfortable with the two-way role as the season progressed. It sounds impossible — until you realize how special this man is.

Tim Keown: The Mets got Max Scherzer to team with Jacob deGrom, and they’re Opening Day starter is … Tylor Megill. Next to the Pirates’ JT Brubaker, Megill is the most non-Opening Day starter on Opening Day. Even Oakland has Frankie Montas, even though there’s a chance he could be traded before Friday’s first pitch in Philadelphia. This might not mean a whole lot — Scherzer is supposed to be back soon, maybe even for the second game — but is sure feels like an omen.

Jeff Passan: All due respect to Bobby Witt Jr., whose debut I’ll see in person, but the greatest show in sports is performing today on a different stage. For the first of hopefully many times this season, Shohei Ohtani spends his day pitching in the top half of innings and hitting in the bottom half. He will do that thing where he throws 100-mph pitches and hits 100-mph rockets. His magnificence knows no bounds. And as a bonus Opening Day treat, the Shohei Ohtani Rule — which allows him to remain in the game as a hitter after he’s yanked as a pitcher — gets its first whirl.

It’s time to call your shot: What is your one Opening Day prediction that will definitely come true?

Doolittle: Albert Pujols is going to homer in St. Louis. Even if it turns out to be the only homer he hits all season, there is no way this doesn’t happen. There are a lot of young Cardinals fans in St. Louis who have only heard about Pujols from their parents. It’s tremendous that they get to experience him this year as he moves on from a Hall of Fame career.

Rogers: Corbin Burnes will one-hit the Cubs — and Suzuki will be the only hitter to get to him. Chicago has little left-handed pop, while right-handed opponents compiled a miniscule .179 batting average against him in 2021. With a right-handed-hitting player at first base and right field — two positions often reserved for lefty power hitters — the Cubs will be at a disadvantage against top righties all season. Trying to hit against Burnes on Thursday, in 40 degree weather, will make things that much more difficult.

Schoenfield: Machado got off to a slow start in 2021, but with Tatis out, the Padres need him to hit from the get-go. He hasn’t hit Diamondbacks starter Madison Bumgarner that well during his career (.212/.257/.515), although three of his seven hits off him are home runs. I say he goes yard twice off MadBum as the Padres win their opener.

Opening Week is here! You can watch the 2022 season begin with a schedule featuring some of baseball’s biggest names.

8 ET Thurs. on ESPN2: Reds-Braves

7 ET Sun. on ESPN: Red Sox-Yankees
KayRod Cast debuts on ESPN2

Olney: He’s not pitching on Opening Day, but I’ll call that this will be the last year that future Hall of Famer Jacob deGrom is with the Mets. Steve Cohen has demonstrated he’s ready and willing to invest in any way he feels can help the Mets, but there are just too many variables involved for deGrom to return — the questions about his health now, his health moving forward, and most importantly, what he wants. We’ll look back at his assertion that he’s opting out of his contract in spite of his recent injury as the first true signal that he’s headed elsewhere.

Gonzalez: Rodriguez and Witt Jr. will each hit home runs in their major league debuts. The two highlight what looks like an incredibly deep AL Rookie of the Year field, along with Spencer Torkelson. Eventually Adley Rutschman and Riley Greene will join them. Not included in this list: Wander Franco, who exceeded his rookie eligibility last year but will play in his first full season in 2022. He might be the biggest star of them all. The young talent in the sport is amazing right now — and I only accounted for one league.

Keown: We’ll all be reminded that Mike Trout not only exists but remains the best player in the sport. The eyes of the game will be on Shohei Ohtani to start the Angels’ opener against the Astros, but by the end of the fourth or fifth inning, it’ll be Trout’s night.

Lee: Shohei Ohtani will come out of the gates strong on Opening Day, showing that last year wasn’t a mirage and that it’s possible to pitch and hit at a high level across multiple seasons — and opening up the idea that teams could potentially develop more two-way players, not necessarily at the level of Ohtani, but to maximize the value of every roster spot.

Harvey: OK, so Austin Riley‘s Grapefruit League showing wasn’t the strongest (.214, 6-for-28), but I’m banking hard on him having a big opening night. This will happen in what will be his first game at Truist Park since the World Series. At home last postseason, he hit .419 (13-for-31) with five extra-base hits. He’ll tap into that hitting success again in front of another raucous and frenzied Atlanta crowd, giving fans some late-inning magic.

Passan: Last we saw Max Fried, he was throwing six shutout innings for Atlanta in a World Series-clinching game. Prior to that, he had the lowest second-half ERA of any pitcher (1.74). And today, in front of a Truist Park crowd ready to fete its world champions, Fried gets the ball against a Cincinnati Reds team that traded its best hitter amid an ugly teardown. All of which is to say his pitching line will be 6 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, 1 walk and 9 strikeouts — and he’ll be in Cy Young contention throughout the season.

Opening Day well wishes

The Atlanta Braves begin their quest to defend their World Series title against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday. The Georgia Bulldogs, who won the College Football Playoff National Championship in January, wished the team good luck on their upcoming season.

The Chicago Bears shouted out to both the White Sox and Cubs ahead of their first games of the MLB season.

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How many layers to wear?

Whether to share your name with a newspaper reporter and risk the wrath of your boss for ditching work?

Whether one should drink cold beer in 40-degree weather?

These were questions several Cubs fans wrestled with Thursday outside the ballpark on Opening Day.

Well, that’s not entirely true.

The last one required little soul searching.

“Is that a real question?” asked one bemused fan.

A beer vendor on his way into the park just laughed when asked if sales would suffer.

Dan Sewell was one of the few fans, it seemed, who planned to stick to hot chocolate.

Sewell wore three pairs of socks, two hats, three pairs of pants, and five layers under his coat. He arrived at 10 a.m. to soak up Opening Day vibes but spent much of the morning keeping warm inside the McDonald’s across from the ballpark.

“This is football weather,” he said, his enthusiasm unaffected.

The ballhawks — the die-hards who stand outside the ballpark, mitts on hands, hoping to catch a home run — entrenched early Thursday beyond the left-field wall for pre-game batting practice.

Veteran ballhawk Mike Wolf, 41, dreamed of catching a homer on the fly. “I’ve only gotten one on the fly,” he said.

A nearby peanut hawker attempted to convince people the peanuts he was selling were bigger than the ones in the park.

“Opening Day is spring Christmas,” said Jackson Bungart, who flew in from San Francisco for the game.

He was raised a Cubs fan in Highland Park before journeying to the West Coast.

Andrew Tiede, a gas station worker from Thomasboro, just north of Champaign-Urbana, was tickled to be part of it all.

“It is great that for the first time in three years we have our first Opening Day, at the ballpark, with no restrictions. It makes you feel better about the last couple years,” he said.

Yvette Burgos, 39, prayed for a Cubs win before leaving her West Loop home with her two kids, Lukas and Brielle. The trio were first in line to enter the ballpark under the iconic Cubs marquee.

“The excitement warms you up and the adrenaline keeps you warm,” she said, her face peeking out from a winter hood.

Cubs fans who arrived early also faced light rain and ice pellets with winds gusting to 30 mph.

“It’s warm enough that you can enjoy a good baseball game,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Jake Petr, who hails from Nebraska.

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The White Sox will open the season Friday with 14 pitchers and 14 position players. Lucas Giolito will start Friday afternoon against the Tigers in Detroit (12:10 p.m. NBC Sports Chicago).

Here is the full 28-man roster:

Pitchers

Tanner Banks

Aaron Bummer

Dylan Cease

Kyle Crick

Matt Foster

Lucas Giolito

Kendall Graveman

Liam Hendriks

Dallas Keuchel

Michael Kopech

Reynaldo Lopez

Jose Ruiz

Bennett Sousa

Vince Velasquez

Catchers

Yasmanin Grandal

Reese McGuire

Infielders

Jose Abreu

Tim Anderson

Jake Burger

Leury Garcia

Josh Harrison

Danny Mendick

Gavin Sheets

Outfileders

Adam Engel

Eloy Jimenez

AJ Pollock

Luis Robert

Andrew Vaughn

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DETROIT — The injury bug bit a little harder on the White Sox, who added third baseman Yoan Moncada and right-hander Ryan Burr to the injured list Thursday, one day before the team’s season opener against the Tigers.

Moncada, who was scratched from the Sox’ Cactus League finale Tuesday with soreness in his right side, has a Grade 1 oblique strain. Burr has a right shoulder strain.

Jake Burger was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte to take Moncada’s spot on the Opening Day roster and will play third base Friday. Matt Foster was called up to take Burr’s spot in the bullpen.

Moncada will be out about three weeks, general manager Rick Hahn said.

“It is mild,” Hahn said of Moncada’s injury. “We expect him back, let’s say approximated three weeks. Could be quicker. Certainly the kind of thing you do not want to mess around with where it could become a major issue and much longer time down.”

Hahn said Moncada wanted to play through it but feels it when he laughs or sneezes or coughs.

“So it’s probably not something to be torqueing and trying to hit a baseball with,” Hahn said. “But we feel we caught this one early. If it had gone on a couple of days, swinging it could have been far more significant.”

Pitchers Lance Lynn and Garrett Crochet also open the season on the IL, and right-hander Joe Kelly won’t join the team for a few weeks probably.

The Sox also designated outfielder Micker Adolfo for assignment and outrighted catcher Seby Zavala to Charlotte.

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As the Cubs announced their Opening Day roster, they also placed three players on the 10-day injured list.

Along with lefty Wade Miley (left elbow inflammation) and shortstop Andrelton Simmons (right shoulder inflammation), who were dealing with injury in the last weeks of camp, the Cubs placed Alec Mills (low back strain) on the IL, all three retroactive to April 4.

Carrying 14 position players, the Cubs broke camp with all six outfielders who were vying for spots on the roster.

The infield mix included Alfonso Rivas, who made the Opening Day roster for the first time in his career and gives the Cubs depth at first base and even outfield if they need it.

Here’s the full 28-man roster:

PITCHERS (14)

RHP Marcus Stroman,

LHP Drew Smyly

RHP Ethan Roberts

RHP Kyle Hendricks

LHP Justin Steele

RHP David Robertson

RHP Jesse Chavez

LHP Daniel Norris

RHP Rowan Wick

RHP Scott Effross

RHP Chris Martin

RHP Michael Rucker

RHP Mychal Givens

RHP Keegan Thompson

INFIELDERS (6)

2B Nick Madrigal

SS Nico Hoerner

3B Patrick Wisdom

1B Frank Schwindel

3B/2B/SS Jonathan Villar

1B/OF Alfonso Rivas

OUTFIELDERS (6)

Ian Happ

Jason Heyward

Seiya Suzuki

Michael Hermosillo

Rafael Ortega

Clint Frazier

CATCHERS (2)

Willson Contreras

Yan Gomes

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It has two games to reconnect.

Zach LaVine wasn’t sure how or in which of the final two regular-season games it could happen, but the Bulls guard knows there is very little choice.

“It’s hard to play when we’re disconnected like this and the result shows,” the All-Star said after the latest embarrassing loss on Wednesday. “Offensively and defensively, we’re disconnected right now. We’re trying to figure out how to get back in rhythm because we’re not looking like the same team we were earlier. That’s upsetting. We obviously have shown it, that fight, that hunger, but we look like a totally different team right now, so we’ve got to hurry up and get back to what we were doing and not hope and wish.

“I’m optimistic we can because if I’m not what are we doing this for?”

It’s a fair question.

The way this roster has played against the NBA’s elite lately, what are they doing this for?

Coach Billy Donovan had his take on it. Or at least what he hopes will come out of it. And the fact was it might not be something this group can display until next season or maybe longer.

Iron sharpens iron, just not overnight.

“There’s a fight that you have to have this time of year,” Donovan said. “Because you’re fighting for margins. When we have these huge losses, Milwaukee and Boston understand the margins. And they’re fighting like crazy for them. And we’ve gotten dominated on the margins. That’s why we’ve lost by 20.”

And not just to those two teams.

Miami, Phoenix, Memphis, Philadelphia … go right down the list of elite teams from the Eastern and Western Conferences, and there’s a concerning pattern.

Not a pattern that’s just a few weeks old, either. It’s been going on most of the season. Of the team’s currently considered contenders to at least play for a conference title, the last one the Bulls beat came on Nov. 10, when they beat Dallas.

That’s why the Bulls currently sit with a combined 3-22 record against teams sitting at a .600 winning percentage or better as of Thursday morning.

To Donovan’s credit, he’s fired multiple warning shots throughout the year that trouble was coming. He did so back in January, when the Bulls were riding out a nine-game winning streak, and then he did again just out of the All-Star Break.

The coach saw a team that was losing its defensive edge, while relying on hot shooting against average to subpar competition.

Then sprinkle in the injuries to Alex Caruso, Lonzo Ball and Zach LaVine, and even with Caruso and LaVine back, they both look less than 100% from game-to-game.

“We’re not as bad as we’ve played … we’re not,” Donovan said. “But you know what? We probably weren’t as good when we went on a nine-game winning streak. Probably the truth is somewhere in the middle.”

A middle ground that needs to be found either against Charlotte on Friday, or by Sunday when the Bulls wrap up the season in Minnesota.

Find that first, and then be prepared to take that next step.

“What I am saying is there is a growth period that you have to become tougher, nastier,” Donovan said. “You just become hardened and understand what it’s all about.

“I’ve loved these guys. They’ve been great. And what they’re going through is going to be very valuable in terms of helping them grow. But there’s a lot that goes into this. And it can’t be, ‘Sorry, it’s my fault.’ Those things add up over a period of time.”

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Three people were killed and four others were wounded Wednesday in shootings across Chicago.

A man was shot and killed by a viaduct near the Concordia Place Apartments on the Far South Side, Chicago police said. Officers were called about 9 a.m. to a person down and found the man, 18, with several gunshot wounds in the 200 block of East 130th Street. He died at the scene.

Minutes later, another man was fatally shot in a parked car in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. The man, about 30, was in the 4800 block of South Loomis Street when a red SUV pulled up and someone inside opened fire about 9:15 a.m. The man was shot several times and pronounced dead at the scene. The SUV fled south.

Around 10:50 a.m., a man was shot in his head in the 7800 block of South Sangamon Avenue, police said. The man, 37, was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center and pronounced dead.

In nonfatal attacks, a man and woman were shot while driving in the Lower West Side late Wednesday night.

They were traveling about 10:45 p.m. in the 2000 block of South Oakley Avenue when two suspects started shooting inside their vehicle, police said. The woman, 18, was shot in the arm and the man, 19, was struck in the abdomen. They were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition.

At least two others were wounded in citywide shootings Wednesday.

Nine people were shot, four fatally, Tuesday in Chicago.

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Even with yet another beat-down by an elite Eastern Conference team on the resume and only two regular-season games left, DeMar DeRozan will have to be pried out of the starting lineup.

The veteran’s mindset was there are no such thing as meaningless NBA games.

Especially for a Bulls team that continues searching for something … anything.

“I don’t need no time off,” DeRozan said. “It takes that one game for us to be going completely in the right direction.”

It sure wasn’t going to be found on Wednesday.

In what is turning into a depressing storyline for not only the Bulls, but their fan base, Boston was the latest conference powerhouse to drag the Bulls to the woodshed, hammering them at the United Center 117-94.

Not only the third-consecutive loss for the Bulls (45-35), but a loss that moved them to a combined 1-20 on the year against contending teams in Milwaukee, Miami, Philadelphia, Boston, Memphis, Phoenix and Golden State.

The only win over that group came against the Celtics, but that was way back on Nov. 1. As a matter of fact, the last time the Bulls beat a team that was currently sitting with a .600 winning percentage or better came on Nov.10, when they beat Dallas.

Against the top four teams from both conferences the Bulls dropped to 2-21 combined.

And while the Bulls clinched a playoff spot on Tuesday, heading back to the postseason for the first time since 2017, DeRozan’s attitude was there was still work to be done.

“There’s nothing like having a rhythm while playing,” DeRozan said. “I’m going to continue to play this thing out, and hopefully we’re going in the right direction come next week. It’s going to come. It sucks right now over the last couple of weeks, but I have the utmost confidence in the guys.”

He might be in the minority these days.

Even Zach LaVine sounded concerned after the Boston game.

“We got to find some fight in the next few games before it becomes real time,” LaVine said.

It’s not just the quality of teams the Bulls have been losing to lately, but also the way they’re losing. They haven’t been competitive against a quality team since a six-point March 4 loss to the Bucks. Since then Philadelphia beat them by 15, the Suns by 27, the Heat by 18 on Saturday, Milwaukee by 21 Tuesday, and now the latest nightmare

Of the top nine teams in the East, the Bulls are the only one with a negative point differential, which rarely translates well into any sort of playoff run.

That doesn’t mean DeRozan wasn’t proud of the turnaround from last season.

“As long as the opportunity is there, it’s a chance,” DeRozan said. “It would be different if we weren’t making it and we were talking about next year. For us to still have a chance and have an opportunity to pick it up and use these next couple games to be going in the right direction at the right time, that’s what it’s all about. Anything can happen. You always kind of look at it from the positive point of view.”

Hard to do after the Celtics throttling.

DeRozan finished with 16, Nikola Vucevic added 13, and LaVine chipped in with seven. All three sat most of the fourth.

“The road this time of year for any team is never easy,” Donovan said after the latest loss. “We need to understand exactly what we could be walking into [for the playoffs].

“Some of our guys it’s new. There is a growth period where you have to become tougher, nastier … these moments where you’re playing against quality teams, you get to a point where you say, ‘Enough.’ We’ve got to get that.”

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MESA, Ariz. – Building a roster is never simple. But this offseason was more complicated than most.

“I think a lot of the things we set out to accomplish, we did,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “We want to field a competitive team. We also very much have one eye on the future, as we’ve shown. Trying to thread that needle is something that we’re aware of, and I think we did that. I think it’s going to be hard to evaluate anything for a while.”

With the Cubs’ season opening against the Brewers on Thursday, however, this past offseason is going to determine the kind of start the team gets to the season. As was clear last year, the first few months of the season can determine the direction of the club for the rest of the year.

It may still be unclear which relievers will emerge as difference-makers, how the rotation will shake out, and how much infield depth the Cubs actually have. But in a chaotic transaction window that overlapped with spring training, the Cubs at least revealed their priorities.

Let’s start with what they accomplished.

Before the lockout, the Cubs filled a couple of their most glaring holes left over from last season. Marcus Stroman and Wade Miley’s additions gave the rotation a veteran boost – although Miley’s influence won’t be apparent until after he comes back from left elbow inflammation. Yan Gomes’ signing gave them a reliable backup catcher after going through eight different backup catchers last season.

After the lockout, the Cubs won the Seiya Suzuki sweepstakes, signing the Japanese star to a five-year, $85 million deal. In an offseason when Hoyer preached “spending intelligently,” Suzuki’s contract and posting fee of about $14.6 million were the Cubs’ largest financial commitment. And the long-term deal made it clear that the Cubs want the power-hitting outfielder around for their next championship window.

The Cubs tried to add middle infield depth, but shortstop Andrelton Simmons (shoulder soreness) will likely start the season on the injured list. He said he’d felt a little discomfort in the offseason that subsided, but in camp his shoulder tightness returned.

Jonathan Villar, who the Cubs also signed this spring, has experience playing third base, second and shortstop. But until Simmons returns, the Cubs don’t have anyone with the same range at shortstop as Nico Hoerner to help monitor the young infielder’s workload.

Cubs fans seemed to latch onto the idea that Carlos Correa could end up in Chicago in free agency. And while the reports that the Cubs were in contact with Correa’s representation before the lockout were true, the rumor mill frenzy was stronger than the progression of the talks.

Correa landed with the Twins on a $105.3 million, three-year deal, according to multiple reports. With opt-outs after the first and second seasons, the contract essentially amounts to a one-year deal with a safety net. For the Cubs, that would have been a large commitment for a contract that didn’t align with their timeline.

The lockout put the Cubs in the biggest bind on the pitching front. It’s common for the club to sign a bunch of hurlers to one-year deals. But this year, restocking the pitching staff during the already condense spring training came with extra injury concern.

Lefty starter Steven Brault had to join the team on a minor-league deal because a triceps injury cropped up right before his physical with the Cubs. He likely won’t be available for the first couple months of the season.

Right-handed reliever Mychal Givens, who got a late start to camp when the Cubs signed him two weeks ago, has been dealing with soreness, according to Cubs manager David Ross. As of Tuesday morning, Ross wouldn’t say if Givens would start the season on the IL.

Lefty Drew Smyly, who is scheduled to start the fourth game of the Cubs’ opening series, adds another veteran to the mix, but he’ll also have to keep building up to normal starter’s innings in the first couple weeks of the season.

“I still feel like the early part of the season is going to feel a little bit like spring training,” Hoyer said, “as guys get up to 100 pitches, as guys do back-to-backs, as guys get their timing.”

The Cubs also have yet to pick up extension talks with catcher Willson Contreras, supplying deja vu from last year’s trade deadline selloff. The sides didn’t even agree on a salary figure for this year, Contreras’ last year of arbitration and club control, and are headed for an arbitration hearing.

Overall, the Cubs enter the season with a roster that is still evolving and battling injuries. The club didn’t go all-in this offseason like the Rangers, who committed half a billion dollars to two of this year’s top free agents, Cory Seager and Marcus Semien. The Cubs also didn’t continue to tear down like the A’s, whose meager 2022 payroll dipped below $33 million when they traded Sean Manaea this week.

The Cubs’ offseason, and spending, fell somewhere in between. And in all likelihood, so will their season.

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NEW YORK — About 1 in 4 fans of Major League Baseball feel at least some anger toward the sport after its first work stoppage in a generation, according to a new poll, but the vast majority are still excited about the new season.

Only 27% of Americans say they are currently a fan of MLB, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The poll also finds 32% of Americans 45 and older say they currently are fans, but only 22% of younger adults say they are, a trend MLB management says it is working to reverse.

Even among fans, few were very attuned to the 99-day lockout that delayed the start of the season from March 31 until Thursday or say that it had a major impact on their views of MLB.

Jason Timmons grew up watching the Cubs and was following closely when they won the World Series in 2016, but he said he didn’t know they would be starting their season Thursday because “the whole labor thing kind of turned me off.”

“I think it’s petty,” said Timmons, a 43-year-old from St. Marys, West Virginia. “I just don’t think it’s right — billionaires fighting with billionaires over just little stuff.”

The poll shows three-quarters of fans say they’re at least somewhat excited about the upcoming season, and even more say they’re at least somewhat interested. Still, 28% of fans are at least somewhat angry and 39% are at least somewhat frustrated following the dispute, in which management and players vented their criticism of each other during weeks when the start of spring training was delayed.

“They’re always bickering about their labor,” Timmons said. “And it’s like, you’re just playing baseball. I mean, there’s other things going on in the world that’s more important than bickering about what they’re bickering about.”

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred apologized to fans when the labor agreement was reached on March 10. Union head Tony Clark said several times during the dispute that management chose to institute the work stoppage as a strategy.

For some, the lockout was only further evidence of what they were already feeling. The poll shows 22% of Americans say they used to be MLB fans but are not anymore. Donald Joy is among them.

“I used to play baseball, I used to be a fan of it, but I’ve gotten away from it because of all of the nonsense,” said Joy, a 70-year-old from Bailey, Colorado.

Joy lamented the growing costs for fans, from the price of a ticket to go to a game to the cost of a hot dog at the stadium.

“You get to a point where it’s not about the fans anymore,” Joy said. “It’s become a rich man’s sport. It is not for the masses.”

But some fans were sympathetic to the players, especially those competing at levels below the major league level.

While Timmons was frustrated by what he saw as bickering amongst billionaires, he also focused in on the owners’ role in the months-long negotiations.

“I didn’t like them locking them out for no reason at the end of last year and doing what they did,” he said. “I thought the owners were being petty, and then you know they don’t want to negotiate with the players. I mean, it’s just ridiculous.”

“I don’t begrudge the players more money at all,” said Mary O’Connell, a 67-year-old Yankees fan from Las Cruces, New Mexico. “The owners have got tons. I have no concerns about management’s poor sob story now.”

Major league players were angry that big league payrolls fell from $4.2 billion to $4.05 billion during the five-year labor deal that expired after the 2021 season. The new agreement lifted the major league minimum from $570,500 to $700,000 and devotes a new $50 million bonus pool each year to younger players at the lower range of salaries.

The contract also raised salaries for players on 40-man rosters assigned to the minor leagues, from $46,600 to $57,200 for a first-time contract, but other minor league players aren’t represented by the union.

Only 13% of current baseball fans say they followed lockout news “extremely” or “very” closely. Thirty percent said they followed somewhat closely, but 57% said they did not closely follow lockout developments.

Only 8% of baseball fans said the lockout had a major impact of their views of the sport, though another 39% said it had a minor impact. Baseball fans who followed news about the lockout were especially likely to say it had an impact on them, compared with those who didn’t, 64% to 34%.

Despite some frustration, the vast majority of baseball fans say they feel at least somewhat excited about and interested in the upcoming season. Fans that followed the lockout closely are especially excited.

“I enjoy just watching the game and don’t really focus on the political side of it, management, all that,” said Ronald Ellis, a 60-year-old Houston fan from Lake Charles, Louisiana. “I’m excited to see how the Astros will do this year.”

The AP-NORC poll of 1,082 adults was conducted March 17-21 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.

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