Happy Baseball Eve baseball fans! The Los Angeles Dodgers (re)start their march towards another World Series championship, beginning with their home opener against the St Louis Cardinals.

Unfortunately the weather does not seem as excited to start the season as the rest of us. Rain is forecast in Southern California for this weekend, which may lead to the ultra-rare rainout at Chavez Ravine.

Pitching matchups for the series with see Local Boy Tyler Glasnow make an Opening Day start for his childhood team. His counterpart will be Miles Mikolas. Friday will see Bobby Miller and Zack Thompson; Saturday Yoshinobu Yamamoto and old friend Lance Lynn; and the Sunday’s game which will be on ESPN at 4:30, will be Gavin Stone and Steven Matz.

The best news of the week – the Dodgers signed the two time NL sac fly leader Will Smith to a $140 extension. All jokes aside, this pretty much guarantees that Smith will be a Dodger for life.

Affectionately known as BCIB (Best Catcher In Baseball) on Twitter, Smith was drafted in the first round by the Dodgers in 2016, making his debut in 2019. Since his debut he has become a World Series champion, and made his first All-Star game last season.

Since 2021, Smith ranks first among all catchers in home runs, RBI, OBP, slugging, OPS, walks, runs, and of course, sacrifice flies. He’s also second in hits, total bases, and extra base hits.

He batted .261/.359/.438/.797 with 19 home runs and 76 RBI in 2023, despite playing much of the season with a rib injury suffered when he was hit by a pitch on April 30.

Smith’s extension is for 10 years and includes a $30M signing bonus that will be paid out over the next two seasons. It also does not include any opt-out clauses, and is the longest contract for a catcher ever.

The Dodgers now have Smith, Glasnow, Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman for the next four seasons. An embarrassment of riches that better get a championship or three.

In other news, Ohtani finally broke his silence and commented on his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. In short, he said that he was completely unaware of what Ippei was doing, and is confident that the investigation will confirm that.

On Wednesday, manager Dave Roberts said there is good coming from this mess. “There’s no longer a buffer,” Roberts said. “I’ve already seen it. The last couple days, I think Shohei’s been even more engaging with his teammates, and I think there’s only upside with that.”

Ohtani’s new interpreter will be none other than Will Ireton, who has been with the Dodgers organization for awhile. He was the translator for Kenta Maeda, and most recently was the club’s manager for performance operations.

More good news for Dodger fans as far as Ohtani is concerned- he started his throwing program on Monday, playing toss from 45 feet. The Dodgers have said that he will not pitch this season as he recovers from his elbow surgery last September, but there is a chance he could play some in the outfield towards the end of the season.

Dave Roberts also provided insight into Walker Buehler’s return, after his bullpen session on Monday. “He threw four innings, right around 60 pitches. I thought he threw the ball well. I think the main thing from that is just to get him built up, to keep facing hitters. The next step for Walker will be a bullpen in two days, but I thought today was positive for Walker.”

Buehler hasn’t pitched for the Dodgers since 2022, and the Dodgers have time to play it slow with his return. All that matters is having the best rotation come October.