I would like to welcome you to your new source for Major League Baseball news and opinion, MLBtoday.net. This modern site combines everyday news and notes, with a twist of insight from regular (or not so regular) fans. In addition, this interactive site will allow users to be more than just readers; it is a chance for each and every person to voice their opinion and potentially spark a healthy debate.

First off, I’d like to give you a background of my ‘baseball life.’ I grew up and still live within 30 miles of New York City, and I was, and still am, constantly covered by New York baseball fans. My girlfriend is a Yankee fan; my grandfather has been a Mets fan since their existence in 1962. I went to school at Rutgers University in New Jersey, still thrown into a mix of New York baseball fans. I, on the other hand, despise anything bearing blue pinstripes or an interlocked, orange N & Y. Within 2 years of me starting to follow baseball, the Yankees won a World Series and instantly the front-running craze grew out of control. Everyone you bumped into was wearing Yankees gear and talking trash, even though they could not name more than 2 players. And just think, none of this even includes their domination over the free agent market in the last 7+ seasons…

As for the other NY ball club, nearly all of my first 10 baseball games were at the now superseded Shea Stadium (may it RIP – aka Rot In Pieces), and the Mets either played against the Atlanta Braves or the St. Louis Cardinals. My sister was a big Braves/Tom Glavine fan in the era of Braves games regularly telecasted on TBS. These were back in the days of some pretty bad mid-90s Mets teams, so the Braves normally beat them up pretty badly. Nevertheless, the Mets fans still drove me crazy, and they always felt their team was better than yours (despite booing their own players at times). The Cardinals games were attended due to my father being a Cardinals fan. I had always rooted for the Cardinals (as far back as 1994; I was 8 years old, so the strike shortened season is a distant, blurry memory), and I even attended Opening Day in 1996 at Shea Stadium against the Cards (Cards were up 6-0, Mets won 7-6 for the biggest Opening Day comeback nearly a century).

I’ll have plenty to say about the Cardinals later, but my initial baseball love affair started with Ken Griffey Jr. and the Seattle Mariners. Now I know a lot my generation were huge Griffey fans, but I like to say I had the edge in the tri-state area (just kidding). He was my first baseball hero, and the first game I watched in entirety was the 1995 Divisional Playoff versus the then California Angels. The Mariners cruised to victory with Randy Johnson on the mound and they went on to win an exciting Game 5 over the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs. Unfortunately for me and all the other Griffey fans, the Mariners lost to the Indians in the AL Championship Series. They could’ve played my sister’s team (Atlanta) in the World Series, but that just didn’t happen. Over the next 4 years I dedicated my life to Griffey and the Mariners and then he was traded to a division rival of the Cardinals, the Cincinnati Reds. I can’t say I stopped rooting for him, but I certainly was lucky he wasn’t on any of the competitive teams in the NL Central. And it figures he had to hit his 500th homer against the Cardinals in 2004 (in the future, you’ll probably read a lot of my ironic/pessimistic realizations I have experienced and will continue to experience in baseball).

Following the Griffey trade, my focus was 100% onto the Cardinals (and rooting against the evil-empire of the midwest – Chicago Cubs!). And it’s only grown stronger year-by-year. I live and die with the team, and in 2006 I became fortunate enough to experience them winning a title (hopefully more to come!). I’ve become spoiled to follow a team that makes the playoffs often, and even has a chance to win it all.

Even though I have had my specific favorites, and not so favorites, in Major League Baseball, I can say that I am a true follower of the game. I can go to or turn on any game and have an interest in watching it at any point in the season. I truly believe that baseball is the greatest sport in the world and definitely America’s pastime (…football? oh, please!). The sport has become a big part of my life for 12 months a year (rather than just 7!), and that is what MLBtoday is based on.

-Chris