Which brings us to the oldest NL roster - yep, it's the Phillies, who average 30 years and 361 days (not counting Charlie Manuel). Could be a silver-streaked World Series.
More digits
The Yankees open with the highest payroll ($200 million), ahead of the Phillies at $174 million.
No surprise that the Yanks also have the highest-paid player (A-Rod, for the 12th straight year, at $30 million).
The Oakland Athletics will get another chance to play some moneyball, with the majors' lowest payroll: $53 million. The Pittsburgh Pirates raised their payroll to $63 million after their MLB-record 19th straight losing season (coming soon to PNC Park: 20 Years of Losing!). There is some good news for the Bucs: They're getting $11.5 million of that back from the Yankees as part of the A.J. Burnett trade.
We know, it's opening day, and time to be optimistic.
Pirates outfielder Nate McLouth is. "The payroll thing is kind of an excuse, honestly," he said. "You don't play dollar against dollar. You have to go out on the field and do it."
If only.
Get used to it, Larry
Chipper Jones was booed throughout the introductions before the New York Mets-Braves game by a sellout Citi Field crowd of 42,080 (the largest in the park's history), even as announcer Howie Rose was saying that the Atlanta great was starting his final major-league season. Given the way the slugger has tormented most NL teams, this could be a regular thing. (The Braves don't get to the world-class boobirds in Philadelphia until July 6 - the decibels then may set a record.)
Contact Michael Harrington at mharrington@phillynews.com.
This article contains information from the Associated Press.
