Did anyone doubt that MLB would serve up a great Opening Day?

Fans in Cleveland who sat at Progressive Field for 5hrs 15 minutes only to see their team lose in 16 innings to the Blue Jays may be the exception, but for the rest of us it went by in a flash as the seven games produced plenty of great performances and moments.

I listened to the Detroit-Boston game via BBC 5 Live Sports Extra’s coverage while on a train, fully appreciating how good it is for us to have the BBC supporting the sport once again this year. TV coverage – even on the red button – would be perfect, but radio coverage is an excellent second choice.

The game was a true heavyweight contest to start the season, with the late drama of a Red Sox fight-back followed by a walk-off single by Austin Jackson to give the home fans a winning opener to celebrate.

It gave us an early reminder that pitching wins always need to be taken with a pinch of salt and looked at in the context within which they were obtained. The Tigers’ Jose Valverde was credited with the ‘W’ thanks to blowing the save and spoiling Justin Verlander’s outstanding start of eight shut-out innings. The Tigers’ ace hasn’t had much luck in taking a win away from the season opener in recent years, but at least in this case his team got the win at the end of it, which ultimately is all that matters.

Prince Fielder didn’t hit a homer as I had predicted; however he got his first hit and first RBI wearing the old English ‘D’. Miguel Cabrera has moved up from batting fourth to batting third in the Tigers’ lineup with the arrival of Fielder and the Detroit commentators were quick to note the difference there will be in seeing Cabrera coming up to the plate every first inning.

In yesterday’s game, having Fielder behind Cabrera didn’t stop him from being walked three times by Boston and it will be interesting to see how opposing teams deal with that twin-threat in the heart of the Tigers’ lineup as the season progresses.

Undoubtedly it will put the onus on the players batting in the one, two and five spots. In the opener, Delmon Young went 0-for-4 in the fifth spot, while Brennan Boesch saw only six pitches in his four at-bats hitting second, but lead-off hitter Austin Jackson went 3-for-5 with a run scored and the game-winning single. If Jackson’s slightly altered batting technique does help him to cut down on his strikeouts, as the Tigers hope, he will be an integral part of their run-scoring efforts.

The pitchers were on top in most of the other games.

Justin Masterson lived up to my prediction by starting out with ten strike-outs over eight innings for the Indians, although the Blue Jays’ Ricky Romero displayed some early-season rust by battling through five innings.

Roy Halladay was the same old Doc for the Phillies and his opposing starter, Erik Bedard, made a positive debut for the Pirates pitching seven decent innings in a losing cause. The Cubs’ Ryan Dempster matched Masterson by picking up ten K’s in a defeat to the Nationals, with Stephen Strasburg being taken out of the game despite throwing only 82 pitches to get through seven innings.

Johan Santana combined with four Mets relievers to shut-out the Braves at Citi Field. There’s been plenty of reason for doom and gloom around the Mets this offseason, yet one of the beauties of baseball is that on any given day a team can put everything else aside and put a smile back on their fans’ faces. That’s what David Wright and the Mets did yesterday.

Marlins fans may have smiled at their dazzling new ballpark, but after losing their opener they went down to the Reds yesterday for an 0-2 start to the year. That’s no reason whatsoever to panic, of course, although if it’s followed by a collection of losses over the first week or so I suspect it will be turned into a big story.

The one slight negative came in San Diego where the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw only lasted three innings. Thankfully for the Dodgers, he pitched well over those frames and only came out of the contest due to illness rather than an injury.

And the Padres-Dodgers game produced my favourite moment of Opening Day.

There are many great sights in baseball, but none better than seeing a shortstop make a play like that. It’s the sort of incredible display of athleticism that excites any sports fan, even if they don’t know anything about baseball.

If you know any baseball sceptics – and if you’re in the U.K. that’s pretty much a given – try sending them a link to Dee Gordon’s magic act to see if you can get them to put their doubts to one side and to give this great sport a try.