Opening Day Game Thread - Royals vs. Tigers

Congratulations to all of us for making it through another long winter without baseball. The Royals first game of the season has arrived, so it's time to take a three hour lunch break and head to your closest sports bar.

Kansas City begins the season on the road against the Detroit Tigers, with James Shields facing off against Justin Verlander. Shields turned in an excellent campaign for the Royals in 2013, posting a 3.15 ERA and 3.47 FIP over 228 2/3 innings. Verlander also had a strong 2013, although he wasn't as dominant last year as the previous two; he still managed to post a 3.46 ERA with a 3.28 FIP in his "down year."

The Royals Opening Day lineup has no surprises; Ned Yost has made it pretty clear who he plans to hit in each spot. Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star brings us the good guys' batting order:

Beautiful Day Lineup: Aoki 9, Infante 4, Hosmer 3, Butler DH, Gordon 7, Perez 2, Moustakas 5, Cain 8, Escobar 6, Shields 1. #royals

— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) March 31, 2014

Not an ideal lineup, but I'm saving my outrage for when Yost hits Alcides Escobar second.

The Tigers batting order looks a little different from last year, but should still score plenty of runs. The Tigers official PR account tweeted out a picture of the lineup:

Tigers Opening Day lineup. #tigers pic.twitter.com/JtD7asqk4O

— Tigers PR (@DetroitTigersPR) March 31, 2014

FSKC is carrying today's game locally, and can be heard on 610 AM as well. Please don't type out direct links to not-so-legal streams if you choose to watch that way.

Time to enjoy the first game of what will undoubtedly be the greatest season in Royals history, until next year. Go team.

Song of the Day: The Beatles - Kansas City/ Hey Hey Hey Hey

Should be self explanatory. A great cover of a song originally written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.