Boxscore

It’s a tie!

The Cincinnati Reds started the 2012 baseball season in an inauspicious way, tying the Cleveland Indians 6-6 in a regulation 9-inning game Saturday.

Mike Leake started for the Reds, and allowed 2 runs–1 earned–in his two innings of work. Ron Mahay took over for the 3rd inning and allowed 2 more, putting the Reds down 4-0 early. But after that, what is most certainly a very improved bullpen from 2011, held the Indians scoreless and gave the offense time to come back.

The Reds tied it in the 4th, scoring 4 runs. Joey Votto lead things off with a double. Jay Bruce drove him in with a double. A few hits later, Drew Stubbs tied the game with another double. Upcoming first-baseman Neftali Soto (Yonder Alonso who?) gave the team the lead with a solo shot in the 5th.

Cincinnati was leading until the excellent bullpen work failed in the 9th. Someone who won’t be on the major league roster with the name of Kanekoa Texeira blew it. But thanks to Todd Frazier’s solo shot in the bottom of the 9th, the game ended in a very Spring Training like tie.

The Reds play the Indians again Sunday at 3:05pm.

The long-talked about wild card expansion has finally been announced. Both the National League and the American League will both be getting a second wild card team. This expansion is the first since 1994 and brings the total number of playoff teams to 10, which is the largest number in major league history.

The playoff series are changing in a way that actually puts the wild card team on a lesser status than division winners, which is something long overdue. I’m tired of seeing the lowest-seeded wild card team not playing the highest-seeded team simply because they’re in the same division. That will no longer be the case.

The three division winners in each league will await the survivor of a one-game playoff between the Wild Card teams in each league. Both games are slated for Friday, Oct. 5, two days after the end of the regular season. Barring weather disruptions, the Division Series field of four teams in each league will begin the following Saturday and Sunday.

With the two wild card teams facing off in a one-game playoff, neither team is likely to have their best pitcher available for the division series, which puts them at a distinct disadvantage. And I’m very okay with that.

Of course, this does increase the Cincinnati Reds–and every team’s–chances of making the playoffs this year. There’s one more spot available! Hopefully, the Reds will win their division this year, but the playoffs are still the playoffs. And so far, I like the expansion.

I bet you thought that I was going to make some sort of jab about how Molina ought to be locked up, seeing as he’s a fight-starting, Brandon-Phillips-hating thug. But I’m not, and shame on you for assuming.

The St. Louis Cardinals, pocket nearly burned through with all the money they didn’t have to give to Albert Pujols, signed Yadier Molina to a 5-year, $75 meeeeeellion deal, the club announced today. From StLCardinals.com:

The Cardinals announced the contract extension during a press conference Thursday at the team’s Spring Training facility. A new five-year deal, which will begin with the 2013 season, will pay Molina $15 million per year. The contract also includes a mutual $15 million option that would extend the length a year further.

This new contract does not buy out the final year of Molina’s current five-year deal, meaning that the catcher will still earn $7 million in 2012. Molina would have become a free agent next winter had an extension not been reached.

Now, Yadi Molina is good. Like, maybe the best active catcher in the game. Like the kind of catcher that makes the manufactured Ryan Hanigan v Devin Mesoraco debate seems even more pointless than it already seemed. But $15 million a year for a catcher who will be 36 at the end of the deal? There’s no way that’s not overpaying at some point before 2018 is over.

But I guess they’ve got to spend their money somewhere, and someone needs to be the team’s identity now that Pujols is soaking up the California sun and Carpenter will be applying for Social Security. Might as well be Molina. Might just want to hold on to a little of it for fines, is all.