Despite this swing, last year's Opening Day featured much offense.

Opening Day 2005 around the corner
April 18, 2005 | By Justin Hastings

Every year we hear people ramble on about the anticipation and excitement of Opening Day.

Maybe because these people are right.

Yet another spring has arrived with yet another Opening Day. This year's first regular season game will be much different, as the 2005 season boasts many new rules and field adjustments.

The day's games will feature last year's co-champions, Craig Hastings and Fred Rogers, as well as Tom Horan. In addition, the opening game will showcase the talents of the two runners-up in the 2005 HMWL Championship, Will Kenney and Justin Hastings, as well as TJ Collins.

Rule changes
The game of HMWL wiffleball has drastically changed for the 2005 season.

For the first time, the league's stars will play with two new boards on the left side of the infield. One will serve as a third-base force play, a la Joe Greene. The other is a revolutionary new feature at Hastings Park. There will be a 5' wide by 2' high board guarding SingleVille. If a ball is "knocked down" by this board, the lead runner is out on a force play.

Additionally, the home run line in right field will be moved permanently to the end of the new porch and diagonally cutting across to the end of the cabana.

More to play for
Perhaps the greatest flaw of the HMWL's past seasons is the concentration on individual success for postseason consideration.

This year, that will all change.

A new points system (which is vastly different than that of the awful system used for most of 2001) will be in place, concentrating on five hitting and five pitching categories. The details have been described in the 2005 HMWL Preview.

Here's the catch: the player with the best overall record received an automatic bid into the finals of the 2005 Postseason (this year, there are six players and two games in the postseason). With these changes, the HMWL has firmly stated that they want to concentrate on winning over individual success.

The bottom line
So here comes Opening Day 2005. There are plenty of storylines to follow this summer: the new field adjustments and the new points system just to name a few.

But as always, the most important story is the quest for the 2005 HMWL Championship. There are plenty of players hungry for this year's title, all for different reasons. This may be the most sought after title in HMWL history...and the chase begins this Saturday at Opening Day 2005.