THIS IS THE FIRST DAY OF PLAY FOR MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

  

From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

        DAY  USA  WORLD   Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9    1093     4732        1185        246       82

July    22     1205     7128        1293      1120      572

Aug    12     1504     6556        1242       835      130

Sept     9     1208      6222       1136      1168       82

Oct     21     1225      6849         571       703       85

Nov    25     2304    12025        620        518      118

Dec    30     3880    14748      1224        299      465

Jan     14      4142     15512        1151         189      712              

Feb      3      4005    14265       1209       107      398

          25       2414    10578        1582       119      144

Mar     2       1989     9490        1726        110      194

          17        1289      9736        2736       171       74

          24         936   10206        3158       277       55

          25        1405   10470        2244       249     121

          26        1165   10331        2639        257     163 

          30          873  10854        3668       355      78

          31         1115   12301         3950       458      58

Summary:  This pandemic is not exactly going away.  New cases yesterday:

• #1  Brazil  89.200
• #2  USA  68,756
• #3  India  72,182
• #4  France  41,907
• #5  Turkey  39,302
• World  647,680
• China  11
• Australia  11
• New York  8,628
• Michigan  7,107
• Florida  5,294
• Hawaii 100
• Wyoming  74

President Joe Biden has had good success in his first 70 days of office.  What more can we expect by the end of the month when he reaches his 100th day:

• His $2 trillion infrastructure plan will probably become law, but not in April.  Probably July 4, Independence Day.  Donald Trump gave corporations a real break, dropping their tax rate from 35% to 21%.  Biden wants to pay for roads, renewable energy, etc. by raising it to 28%.
• The war in Afghanistan began on 9/11/2001.  President Donald Trump said all American troops, around 3500, would be home by May, or next month.  Odds are high that Biden will still have a few remaining back so that our Afghanistan War will continue into the 21st year.

Have you been embarrassed by an April Fool's joke yet?  For 90+% of my readership, there is almost no interest in Major League Baseball.  A relatively low priority topic for me, too, even though I will have four fantasy teams with ESPN, and I'll be watching games all day today.  Here is what you need to know about the 2021 season:

• Usually the first game in the past was in Cincinnati, because this is where professional baseball started.
• Then there was experimentation with a few foreign site openings.  
• In 2018 all teams were supposed to together open the season.  There were two rainouts.

• 
  Every team was supposed to play today for the first time since 1968.  Except it looks again like two will be postponed, one, Nats at Mets, because of COVID-19.  

• 
  The All-Star Game will be held in Atlanta on July 13.
• Last regular season play on October 3 after a 162-game season.  
• Post-season details are still being negotiated.
• Spectator attendance will depend on location and when, usually around 20% of capacity, but as low as 4,500 and as high as 42.6% for the Rockies.

• 
  The Los Angeles Dodgers got stronger with the acquisition of National League Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer.
• The San Diego Padres stocked up on pitchers:  Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove.

• 
  As Major League Baseball was criticized for buying up a large number of COVID-19 tests last year, vaccinations are accordingly being taken cautiously and will not be an issue.  
• Especially as there now seems to be adequate supplies available for everyone by the end of April.  They don't need to skip the line this time.  The line is going away.  
• Apparently, also if you have Body Mass Index exceeding 25, you can qualify in certain locales for being overweight, and therefore can get inoculated earlier.  Most of the players meet this standard.
• They still expect some COVID-19-related postponements, so will keep doubleheaders at seven innings for both games and start with a runner on second base from the 8th inning in these games.
• Professional baseball in Japan threw out the first pitch this past Friday with no spectators.  If a game is tied at the end of 9 innings, it will be counted as a tie.
• The baseball itself in the U.S. will be sewn differently, reducing the length of fly balls by a few feet on balls hit over 375 feet.

Otherwise, the Final Four in NCAA basketball will be held on Friday for women (odds to win the championship):

• Stanford +200 vs South Carolina +900
• Arizona +2000 vs Connecticut  -900

That implied probability of -900 means the oddsmakers give Connecticut a 50% chance of being the champ.  Go to the right column and scroll down to ODDS CALCULATOR.  Or, Arizona's +2000 means a 4.76% probability of winning the championship.

Men on Saturday:

• Houston 6/1 vs Baylor 15/4
• UCLA 25/1 vs Gonzaga 5/9

Thus, Gonzaga has a 64.29% chance of winning the championship.  UCLA= 3.85%

The Pac-12 is doing awesome this year.  The UCLA men's team was once great (they have won 11 national championships, the most in college basketball), and the Stanford women's team has been good for some time now, seeking a third championship this time, and all their 11 teams did respectably at the Big Dance.

On the men's side, they have not won a national championship since 1997.  Not one team even made the top 20 in the AP poll.  But can they now win?  Well, UCLA is given a 4% chance.

Next week Thursday is the first day of the Masters Golf Tournament:

• Favored is Dustin Johnson at 8:1.
• Rory McIlroy is trying to complete a Grand Slam, and is at 14:1.  That's him among the azaleas.

• 
  Now the longest prominent hitter (averaging 320 yards/drive this season), Bryson DeChambeau is 9:1.
• He is changing the game of golf.
• Supposedly is a math wizard.
• Is the only pro to play with clubs of the same length (a little more complicated than this).
• Wears a Ben Hogan cap.
• Gained 50 pounds of muscle over the past year or so to become purposefully powerful.

• 
  Sandy Lyle and Larry Mize are at 2000:1.
• Bernhard Langer, 500:1.
• Past champions have a lifetime option to compete.

At no cost to you, go to CBS Sports Golf Props.  If you get all the questions correct, you win $250,000.  Someone will at least win $10,000, for no one is expected to reach 100%.

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