Vin Scully misses the Dodgers’ home opener for the first time in 35 years when doctors order the 84 year-old Hall of Fame broadcaster to rest as he recovers from a bad cold. The last time the team’s play-by-play announcer was absent from the season’s first home game he was calling the first round of the Masters in 1977.

The Braves win their first game this season, 6 – 4, over the Houston Astros, as Chipper Jones homers in his first game of the year. The win snaps a nine-game losing streak dating back to the Braves’ collapse at the end of the 2011 season, which cost them a playoff spot. Rookie SS Tyler Pastornicky hits his first major league homer for Atlanta as Houston wears the uniforms of the Houston Colt .45s in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first game in team history.

The Miami Marlins announce that they are suspending manager Ozzie Guillen for five games for making remarks supportive of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in a recent Time magazine interview. The Marlins decide to act even though Guillen has apologized in order to stem the groundswell of protest from Miami’s large Cuban community.