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Game I: White Sox v. Royals

We finally made it. Baseball is here.

By Ryan Heffernon
Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports



For the first time in 179 days, we will have regular season baseball in Kansas City.

That's the good news. Here comes the bad news.

Yesterday afternoon, we heard from Ned Yost that five-time All-Star catcher and the second greatest Royal of all-time Salvador Perez will spend the first 4-6 weeks of this season on the DL.

Perez has a Grade 2 tear of the MCL in his left knee, the same knee that he suffered a torn meniscus in back in 2012. He suffered the injury on Tuesday night while carrying his luggage up a flight of stairs at his home in Kansas City.

"I missed the third step and I lost my balance," Perez said. "I put my knee in the wrong position."

Yost said that surgery isn't currently on the table.

That was yesterday.

This morning, things got worse. The Royals revealed their 25-man roster this morning, which included the announcement that Nathan Karns would begin the season on the 10-day DL with elbow inflammation. He will be joined by Perez, Adalberto Mondesi, and Bubba Starling.

Karns looked good in Spring Training, leading the Royals with 18 strikeouts in his 13.2 innings. He put together a 1.98 ERA in his four starts. Royals fans, including some of us at Royals Review, were moderately excited about Karns. If that excitement wasn't curbed by the injury, then it was surely curbed by the announcement that he would open the season in the bullpen.

Karns' will be replaced by Eric Skoglund in the rotation.

And then, to put the cherry on top, the Royals announced that they had designated the oft-injured Kyle Zimmer for assignment. The embattled former first-round pick "simply ran out of time," according to general manager Dayton Moore.

But hey! It's Opening Day and real-life baseball is happening, so don't be sad.

Alcides Escobar will make his eighth Opening Day start for Kansas City at shortstop, tying Freddie Patek for the most in Royals history. Meanwhile, Alex Gordon will make his 8th consecutive Opening Day start for Kansas City but will be in center field rather than left. It will be his 11th Opening Day start overall.

Here are your lineups for today's action. Happy Baseball!

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