Baseball’s opening day is accompanied by hope and optimism.

There’s the romantic notion that every team has a chance since they all have 162 games to play. It comes accompanied by pageantry, flyovers and memories of Vin Scully wishing us a pleasant good afternoon, wherever we may be.

Even the standings make it clear that everyone is even on opening day.

Locally, of course, that concept gets knocked out of the park by a big swing of reality.

The Dodgers, who open at home today at 5:30 p.m. against Arizona, have won back-to-back World Series and are the favorites to take home another title with baseball’s most expensive and, arguably, most talented roster.

The Angels, who open at Houston today at 1:10 p.m., haven’t won a playoff game since 2009 and haven’t even reached the postseason since 2014.

So, sure, at least until their first pitch of the season is thrown, the local teams are even and anything is possible. And, by the way, the Angels swept all six games they played against the Dodgers last season.

If you haven’t paid much attention to baseball since the Dodgers’ Game 7 victory in the World Series on Nov. 1, here are five things to look for in the upcoming season:

1. Best, getting better

The Dodgers were loaded in 2025 with MVP Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but games often were an adventure when their bullpen got involved.

So the best team in baseball addressed that weakness by signing closer Edwin Diaz, a three-time All-Star who has had dominant runs in his career and had 28 saves last season with the Mets. (His dazzling show begins when he enters a home game to the trumpets of the song “Narco.”)

They also added right fielder Kyle Tucker, a four-time All-Star and one of the top free agents on the market during the offseason, just in case their potent lineup needed a boost.

If the Dodgers avoid major injury problems, another long postseason seems likely.

2. Prove-it year

Angels general manager Perry Minasian has one year remaining on his contract. His new manager, longtime catcher Kurt Suzuki, was hired on a one-year deal.

“I’ve been playing on one-year deals my whole career,” Suzuki said at his introductory news conference in October.

If the Angels come up short again this season, it could be time – again – for change.

Minasian’s approach in the offseason included targeting some players who had some big moments in their careers but weren’t quite at that level recently, either due to a decline in performance or injury. If he hits on some of those, the Angels could be in a position to contend.

Of course, that strategy is off to a rough start: Starter Grayson Rodriguez, who most recently pitched in 2024 with Baltimore due to an elbow injury, begins the season on the injured list after experiencing a sore arm in spring training.

3. What’s left to do?

Ohtani already has four MVP awards, baseball’s only season with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases and what is widely considered the greatest postseason game performance in baseball history (three home runs hitting, 10 strikeouts in six shutout innings pitching in an NLCS-clinching game).

What more can he accomplish?

He’s at 280 career home runs, so the 300 milestone could be in his rear-view mirror by the All-Star break. If he combined another huge year at the plate with the kind of pitching dominance he showed in 2022 with the Angels – 219 strikeouts – it could end any argument about the best season in history.

4. What does he have left?

Mike Trout was the best player in baseball for much of the early part of his career. He was the American League MVP three times and in the top five in voting nine consecutive seasons.

But he hasn’t played more than 140 games since 2016 and has appeared in only 396 total games in the past five seasons (49%). Last season was a recent high with 130 games, but, at 34 years old, it’s now an annual question of whether – or maybe when – his body will betray him.

Trout passed the 400-home run milestone late last season, so the labored chase for that is out of the way. He has returned to center field in a move he has said will be better for his body than playing in right.

Now it’s a matter of how much he has left and whether he can help lead the Angels to the playoffs for the first time since his initial MVP season.

5. Get it right

The human factor always has been a part of baseball, but it’s going to be challenged a bit more this season.

Welcome to the game, Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System. Let’s get familiar and call it ABS because we’re going to get to know this technology quickly.

Put simply, a batter, catcher or pitcher can tap his head immediately after a ball or strike is called to challenge the call. Only they can do it; not even managers can. Each team gets two challenges a game, but they retain them if they’re correct. And the automated strike zone is based on each individual batter’s strike zone.

There are more details about extra innings, making any motion before challenging, etc., that we’ll all figure out through the season.

The anticipated beauty of ABS is that questionable calls at integral moments can be overturned or verified. And the result of the challenge will be shown immediately on stadium scoreboards and to viewers at home.