2014 Rockies Spring Training Game No. 1 preview: Baseball is back!

I thought this day would never come, but it's finally here.

The Rockies get back to playing some semblance of real baseball later today when they take on the Diamondbacks at 1:10 p.m. MT in their Cactus League opener at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. The D-Backs have already played three games, going 2-1 against the Dodgers and Cubs over the past couple of days. The Rockies, who reported to spring training later than every other team in the game, held an intrasquad game yesterday but did not give any of their projected starters reps in the scrimmage. That won't be the case today, as all of the big names -- with the exception of Drew Stubbs, who is dealing with a minor esophageal ailment, according to the Denver Post's Patrick Saunders -- are penned into the lineup.

Franklin Morales will be on the hill for the Rockies, who plan to once again see what he has as a starter. Morales was used as a starter in only 10 of his 93 appearances with the Red Sox over the last three seasons after making 15 starts in 102 games with the Rockies from 2007 through 2011.

Patrick Corbin gets the ball for the D-Backs. It'll be his first start of a spring in which he hopes to build on a spectacular sophomore season. Corbin went 14-8 with a 3.41 ERA while posting 7.7 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 in 208⅓ innings. He earned an All-Star selection for his efforts, though he did fade in the second half because of some BABIP regression.

We'll have a separate thread for game discussion posting roughly a half-hour before first pitch.