Summary The Cubs have added one of the best managers in baseball in Joe Maddon.
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The talent-packed Washington Nationals, hard-luck Cubs and Seattle s maturing Mariners are among the clubs tipped to contend as the clock starts ticking Sunday on the 2015 Major League Baseball season.
America s pastime, famed as a game ideally suited to the lazy days of summer, will feature new rules this year designed to boost the pace of play.
A game clock will time breaks between innings and pitching changes, and players could also face fines for time-wasting in the batter s box as MLB tries to speed up games that last year averaged more than three hours for the first time in history.
Games themselves may unfold a bit more briskly, but it s still a marathon and not a sprint to reach the World Series that starts in October and could trickle into a November finish.
As the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals showed last year in their unlikely runs to a thrilling seven-game World Series won by the Giants, almost anything can happen in the course of that lengthy season.
The Giants, fueled by an electrifying effort from left-handed pitcher Madison Bumgarner, captured their third World Series title in five seasons, denying the Royals in their first playoff run in 29 years.
Both teams eked into the post-season as wild-card teams, and neither is a lock to battle for the championship again.
Instead it s the Nationals making noise, after adding Max Scherzer to an already powerful pitching rotation that includes Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez and Doug Fister.
Can Washington finally live up to their billing after last year s post-season flop?
If not, look for perennial contenders St. Louis, the big-spending Los Angeles Dodgers, the youthful and talented Pittsburgh Pirates or even the longtime losing Chicago Cubs to contend in the National League.
The Cubs are hoping their revamped Wrigley Field will be the backdrop to their first title run since 1908.
The Cubs have added one of the best managers in baseball in Joe Maddon, and inked left-handed hurler Jon Lester as they try to return to the post-season.
They start their campaign on Sunday, when they host the Cardinals, with a full slate of 14 Opening Day games to follow on Monday.
A-Rod returns
In the American League, the Mariners are hoping a $57 million off-season investment in slugger Nelson Cruz -- who hit an AL-leading 40 home runs for Baltimore last year -- will pay off with a first playoff appearance since 2001 and perhaps a first World Series win.
But American League West division rivals the Los Angeles Angels and their AL Most Valuable Player Mike Trout will pose a formidable challenge.
Expect Detroit, long the class of the AL Central to be in the mix.
The Boston Red Sox, having lured sluggers Pablo Sandoval from the Giants and Hanley Ramirez from the Dodgers as free agents, boast one of the best lineups in baseball but may not have the pitching to match.
In New York, it will be a season of adjustment for Yankees fans, after the retirement of respected captain Derek Jeter and the return of drug-tainted third baseman Alex Rodriguez.
Rodriguez sat out Jeter s farewell season serving a doping ban.
After vehemently denying and finally admitting his transgressions, he could find himself playing first base, where manager Joe Girardi tried him in the pre-season.
He could also step into the designated hitter slot to resume his rise up baseball s all-time home run list.
With 654 homers, Rodriguez needs seven to move past Willie Mays into fourth on the chart.
