Perhaps it's only fitting that Josh Beckett is the one who takes the mound for the Red Sox when they play their first of 81 games at Fenway Park in Friday afternoon's home opener against the Tampa Bay Rays.

For 16 seasons, Dave McKay wore Cardinal red and was the first base coach for Tony La Russa. He has won two World Championships with St. Louis, but on Friday, McKay returns to the city wearing Cubs blue.

In Friday's White Sox home opener, Adam Dunn returns to U.S. Cellular Field, the scene of so much fan discontent directed at him last season. No matter what he hears, he'll bring his always-upbeat attitude that makes him a favorite of his teammates.

After all the questions about his defensive abilities, rookie catcher Jesus Montero had a solid showing in his first game behind the plate Wednesday for the Mariners in their come-from-behind 4-3 victory over the Rangers.

Quite quickly, Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie is trending toward that short list of guys you'd pay to watch even if the other eight guys on the field were beer league softball stand-ins.

A day after having minor elbow surgery to remove a bone chip from his right elbow, closer Drew Storen attended the Nationals' home opener against the Reds wearing a sling.

Giants catcher Buster Posey will make his much-anticipated 2012 home debut Friday, 35 years after Hall of Famer Willie McCovey returned to the franchise.

The Nationals received bad news Thursday, as they learned that outfielder Michael Morse is expected to be shut down for six weeks after aggravating his strained right lat (back) muscle on Monday while playing for Class A Hagerstown.

Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips remained unavailable for the third straight game on Thursday because of a sore left hamstring.

Pat Burrell has come full circle. He'll officially retire after inking a one-day deal with the Phillies on May 20.

The mound in the Bronx can be the friendliest place in the city or the loneliest, depending on what the scoreboard says, and starter Hiroki Kuroda admits feeling some nerves as he prepares to slip the pinstripes on for a regular-season game.

Ruben Tejada made his Major League debut with the Mets in 2010 and played in 96 games with the club in 2011, a season during which he was penciled in as the starting shortstop many times while Jose Reyes was injured. The only difference now is that the substitution is permanent.

From his late-career surge to his numerous rankings high atop the White Sox all-time leader boards, Paul Konerko has constructed a fascinating career.

Mike Trout, Yasmani Grandal, Alex Cobb and Matt Adams are among the young players back in the Minor Leagues partly because their big league team has depth at their positions.

Hurt and humbled, manager Ozzie Guillen addressed the Marlins for about 10 minutes on Wednesday afternoon before the team faced the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

With the Padres rotation in disarray less than a week into the season, Cory Luebke will look to be a stabilizing force when the team squares off against the D-backs at Petco Park on Wednesday.

D-backs outfielder Justin Upton was held out of Tuesday's lineup with a sore left thumb, which he jammed while sliding into second base to break up a double play on Sunday afternoon against the Giants.