Alex Rodriguez Recalls Feeling 'Very Fortunate' After Game-Winning Walk-Off on His First Opening Day in 1996 (Exclusive)

Alex Rodriguez gets more excited each Opening Day.

While speaking with PEOPLE about his partnership with Lysol, the former MLB star looks back to Opening Day 1996 and what it was like to kick off his first full season in the major leagues.

"I was always very fortunate, as far as Opening Day. Maybe it's just because I was so happy that the season was getting started, but I always played really well," he tells PEOPLE

"I remember as a 20-year-old in 1996, I had an opening day game-winning hit walk-off at the Kingdome [in Seattle]," Rodriguez, who started his career with the Seattle Mariners, recalls. "That was a very, very special year because I ended up winning the batting title and second MVP that year. It was a great introduction to my career."

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The MLB analyst says that he's excited to see what's in store for the league in the season ahead.

"I think whether it's spring training and leading into Opening Day itself, you have 30 teams that are undefeated and are full of optimism, and that's always a good thing," Rodriguez says.

"There's a lot of energy behind baseball. Coming off of a record-breaking World Series, we had the best numbers you've had since the Cubs won in 2016. We had almost 20 million people watching, and that's a great sign," he continues.

"When the Yankees and the Dodgers, the number one and two markets in the country, participated in the World Series like they did last year, it's a really good thing. Baseball's made some tremendous adjustments from the time clock to bases."

"You have the historic, wonderful Shohei Ohtani and what he's done with baseball, not only domestically but around the world. We're excited to see if we can double down on the great year that baseball had last year, starting with Opening Day. It's always a celebration of America's pastime."

In celebrating all the things fans love about baseball, there's also the celebration of all the people who work hard to make the game happen behind the scenes. Rodriguez is teaming up with Lysol to champion the tireless work of sports officials and make one part of their job easier – tackling the stink of post-game laundry with Lysol Laundry Sanitizer. 

"I'm really excited about the partnership and I really like things that we do that have a double bottom line and where we're talking about all the great work that Lysol does, but we're also highlighting the men and women who are reps who dedicate their life to make the game better and fair."

Rodriguez appears in a fun commercial where he seeks to make amends with the umpires of his past. He shares his secret to beating the stink in post-game uniforms in a playful new video, "An Ode-r to Refs."

"It's really a collaborative effort," he says of the game.

"So many times we just focus on 26 players on each roster, but there are so many people from bat boys, the fans, base, the reps, the umpires, all the way up to management and ownership. A lot of folks contribute to the great game of baseball, and I think umpires and referees are some of the most important, especially to the integrity of the game."

Players, coaches, and parents can show their appreciation for officials by visiting LysolStrikeOutStink.com and nominating a referee to receive Lysol Laundry Sanitizer to beat the stink in post-game laundry.