Baseball had its earliest opening day ever with the Mariners defeating the Athletics 9-7 in the Tokyo Dome. The vernal equinox occurs at 2:58 p.m. PDT today, but spring really starts when the games count. Well, that one counts, and they play another one before returning home and resuming the exhibition schedule (A's have three vs. Giants starting Sunday). Cory Gearrin and Hunter Strickland each threw a scoreless inning for Seattle.
The Giants see the Indians tonight and the Cubs tomorrow afternoon, with a split squad matchup against the Royals and Rockies Friday. Then it is the Diamondbacks on Saturday before the Oakland series.