Draft 2011 schedule has Opening Day on a Thursday - MLB

Gordon Edes at ESPN Boston has looked at a draft of the 2011 schedule that is floating around and notices something different:

One significant departure in the MLB schedule is that the season will
begin at the end of the week (most teams will play on Friday, with
presumably one game being played on Thursday night). MLB has
traditionally opened its season on a Monday, with ESPN televising one
game the Sunday night before.

Right-thinking people rarely consider that first Sunday night game as true “Opening Day” because there aren’t a dozen or more baseball games going on in the brilliant Spring sunlight while they drink beers and laugh at all the suckers who weren’t smart enough to skip work for the day.* Monday has always felt like the real Opening Day.

If the real Opening Day is now Friday, it’s actually an improvement, because people can do the same thing they used to do — blow off work and drink beers — but won’t have to wake up early the next day. Win-win.

*Ironically, becoming a Professional Baseball Writer made this past Opening Day the least enjoyable in living memory because I didn’t cut work in the name of baseball and I didn’t drink those beers. As far as NBC knows, anyway.

ST. LOUIS — Miles Mikolas is sticking with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The right-hander signed a three-year, $55.75 million contract on Friday that will carry through the 2025 season.

The new deal replaces a $68 million, four-year contract signed in February 2019 that covered the 2020-23 seasons and was set to pay $15.75 million this year.

Mikolas will receive a $5 million signing bonus payable July 1 and will make $18.75 million in 2023 and $16 million in each of the following two seasons. Mikolas can earn a $250,000 bonus for winning a Cy Young Award, $50,000 for All-Star election or selection or winning a Gold Glove, $100,000 for League Championship Series MVP and $150,000 for World Series MVP.

Mikolas is scheduled to make the second opening-day start of his big league career next Thursday when the Cardinals host Toronto. Mikolas went 12-13 with a 3.29 ERA last season while helping St. Louis to the NL Central title.

“Miles stands among the top pitchers in the game today, and has continued to provide a steady presence for us both in the rotation and inside the clubhouse,” St. Louis general manager John Mozeliak said in a statement.

Mikolas is 45-40 with a 3.79 in 143 games with San Diego, Texas and St. Louis. He recently pitched six shutout innings in two appearances for the U.S. in the World Baseball Classic.