With all the Major League rosters submitted for Opening Day, several of those 25-man squads are dotted with surprises — stories that weren’t being told before Spring Training began, players with unique storylines that will be introduced in the coming days and weeks on the game’s ultimate stage.

Royals right-hander Yordano Ventura, the Opening Day starter on Monday, is relieved and grateful, he said, to have signed a five-year contract with $23 million guaranteed.

On the eve of Opening Day for the Indians, the club announced that it had signed Corey Kluber to a five-year contract that includes team options for the 2020 and ’21 seasons. With a guaranteed base value of $38.5 million, the deal is the richest for a pre-arbitration pitcher in Major League history.

The Indians have locked up ace Corey Kluber for the next several seasons with a five-year contract extension. Cleveland is now putting the finishing touches on a long-term deal for fellow Tribe starter Carlos Carrasco.

Broadcaster Lon Simmons died peacefully at the age of 91 on Sunday morning.

Miguel Cabrera cleared questions about his readiness for Opening Day a long time ago, and the way he looked at the plate over the final week of Spring Training did nothing to temper expectations. If anything, it has done the opposite.

With Opening Night on Sunday, a significant portion of Phase One of the Cubs’ 1060 Project is near completion, with a 3,990-square-foot video board in left field that team officials on Friday said “looks phenomenal.”

Joe Maddon’s first lineup as Cubs manager featured starting pitcher Jon Lester — the team’s other big offseason acquisition — batting eighth against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field on Sunday night.

Giancarlo Stanton is one home run away from owning sole possession of the team mark, but he’s not thinking about stats entering 2015.

The Tigers placed reliever Bruce Rondon on the 15-day DL on Sunday, but they will wait to make such a move with starter Justin Verlander until they have a better sense of how he’s progressing with his rehab program this week.

Welcome to round one of MLB.com’s weekly Power Rankings, where we poll a handful of our writers and then open the floor to you. This week’s top 20 list is based on predictions, observations and overall health coming out of Spring Training. Actual games played? That’ll come soon enough.

Welcome to the best day of the year. Say goodbye to the offseason. So long to Spring Training. No more dress rehearsals. This is the real thing.

Rob Manfred, in his first network broadcast appearance since becoming Commissioner of Major League Baseball, will appear on “Meet the Press” today, before Opening Night of the 2015 season.

It’s one thing to talk about how “hope springs eternal” when everybody’s 0-0. It’s another thing to mean it.

The Dodgers on Saturday set their 25-man active roster for Opening Day, with Paco Rodriguez, Yimi Garcia and Pedro Baez beating out David Huff, Sergio Santos and David Aardsma for the last three bullpen spots.

The Arizona Diamondbacks announced several roster moves Saturday evening, most notably releasing outfielder Cody Ross and optioning Cuban prospect Yasmany Tomas to Triple-A Reno.

The Cardinals, clearly, are a team the Cubs are going to have to take down consistently if Chicago is going to add a National League Central championship flag to the Wrigley Field renovations list. So while Opening Night certainly won’t decide the Central, it could go down as an early tone-setter in a really deep division.