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The Jex Dex: Opening Day is upon us

It is upon us, what many people call the biggest day of the year.

No, I am not talking about taxes being due or even the Final Four. I am referring to Opening Day.

The Major League Baseball season officially started on Monday — unless you are fan of the Dodgers or Diamondbacks, who played two games down under last week in Australia. The Boston Red Sox bandwagon is still highly populated, but may thin out as the season goes on.

Opening Day just brings a tear to my eye — not for the fact that I am just so happy that baseball is back. The tear is from the fact that it is a start of a new season for the Chicago Cubs, the lovable losers. It seems that I tend to get my hopes up in the offseason as other teams are wheeling and dealing to improve their teams.

But for the Cubs, they stayed pretty quiet this winter, but were rumored to move a few pieces before the first pitch. With that being said, the lack of moves and the emergence of our farm programs gives me the impression that it will be another long year. But there is always hope, right? Maybe the rest of the division will take a vacation this year and give the Cubs some courtesy wins.

Something that has really blown my mind in the past week or so is the amount of money being given to some of the players. I am by no way saying that they don’t deserve to be paid for their talents, but it’s getting pretty crazy. Even one of the best players in the NBA is getting a little jealous of the payouts.

Miguel Cabrera cashed in before the season as he signed a massive 10-year, $248 million extension that could end up paying him $292 million when all is said and done. Now that I think about it, I don’t know if “massive” is a big enough word for the amount of money he will be getting paid.

According to Darren Rovell, Cabrera will earn $49,423 per at-bat over the next decade, while the median annual income of a household in Michigan is $48,471. To add on to that, even the great LeBron James feels a little jealous with the amount of money that is getting forked out to the Triple Crown winner. You know you are in big company when James gets jealous; just ask Kevin Durrant.

While we are on the topic of big paychecks, Mike Trout finally got what many thought was coming for months. Even though his six-year, $144.5 million deal looks like child’s play compared to what Cabrera got, the Angels are hoping that this investment leads them to some sort of success, as Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols have both struggled since getting the big bucks. Trout has had two really great seasons with the Angels, seasons that many players would give to have his stats.

Let us enjoy the opening games of the season, because, by mid-July, we may be sick of the seemingly endless season. But let us enjoy the new great star that may be born or the underdog team that keeps winning in the face of countless doubters. Play ball!

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