MLB Opening Day Highlights – What You Missed From All 15 Games

Judge Strikes First

Giants 0 @ Yankees 5

Aaron Judge signed a massive $360 million contract this offseason. So much pressure comes along with that kind of money. The eyes of the world were on Aaron Judge when he stepped into the box in the 1st inning.

 

Somebody call @FDNY 🔥 pic.twitter.com/5uPqKhFAQc

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 30, 2023

Judge kicked it off in style and then Gerrit Cole took over. Cole went 6 strong, allowing just 3 hits and fanning 11. Giants starter Logan Webb actually struck out 12 batters, but surrendered 4 earned runs over 6 innings of work.

Yankees reliever Ron Marinaccio pitched both the 8th and 9th innings to slam the door on the Giants. San Fran couldn’t get a hit off the guy while 3 of Marinaccio’s 6 outs were recorded via the K.

First of Many Losses for Washington

Braves 7 @ Nationals 2

The 2023 season outlook is not rosy for the Nationals, and their 7-2 Opening Day beatdown at the hands of Atlanta figures to be a microcosm of the season ahead.

Travis d’Arnaud led the offensive charge for the Braves – notching 4 hits with a couple of RBIs and 2 runs scored. Contrary to what the lopsided final score would indicate, this was a tight game throughout. Atlanta led just 4-2 entering the 9th inning.

Washington was able to stay in the game because Braves starter Max Fried was pulled in the 4th inning with a hamstring injury – forcing Atlanta into a bullpen game. The Nats biggest positive was World Baseball Classic star Joey Meneses having a 2-hit day with an RBI.

The Nationals may have been able to win this game if not for the play of young shortstop prospect CJ Abrams. Abrams proved horribly ill-prepared for Opening Day – going 0-4 from the plate with 3 errors in the field.

 

E6

The first error of the 2023 season goes to CJ Abrams pic.twitter.com/NK7tzaEpXt

— MLB Errors (@mlberrors) March 30, 2023

No Lead is Safe in Fenway

Orioles 10 @ Red Sox 9

This 19-run slugfest was tied with the Blue Jays-Cardinals game for the highest-scoring of Opening Day. The O’s led 8-2 in the 5th but watched helplessly as the Sox nearly clawed all the way back. Boston put up 3 in the 8th and 2 more in the 9th to pull within 1 run, ultimately dropping what turned out to be a nailbiter.

Neither pitcher fared well at all. Baltimore’s Kyle Gibson allowed 4 earned runs in 5 innings while Boston starter Corey Kluber allowed 5 runs in 3.1 innings. Kluber walked 4 batters – igniting a trend that couldn’t be reversed. Boston pitchers walked 9 batters in this one – the most for the Sox on Opening Day since 1966.

Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman was the star of the show – going a perfect 5-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Rutschman is the first catcher since Yasmani Grandal in 2016 to pick up at least 5 hits, 4 RBIs, and a homer.

If we’re talking solely about Opening Day games, Adley Rutschman just did something that hasn’t been done in the history of the American League. That is, a catcher recording 5 hits in their team’s opener.

Go Cubs Go!

Brewers 0 @ Cubs 4

1 of 5 Opening Day shutouts, the new-look Cubbies manhandled division rival Milwaukee 4-0 Thursday afternoon at the Friendly Confines.

It was really a two-man show on the Northside as starting pitcher Marcus Stroman and shortstop Dansby Swanson stood out for Chicago. The former pitched through some early trouble in the first inning but was otherwise untouchable – going 6 strong with just 3 hits allowed and 8 punchouts.

The latter – the newly-acquired Swanson – recorded 3 hits and drove in a run in his Chicago debut. This was a major relief for the Cubs organization who were fearful they had overpaid for Swanson following a .122 Cactus League batting average.

via GIPHY

All of the scoring in this game occurred in the bottom half of the 3rd inning when the Cubbies tagged Milwaukee starter Corbin Burnes for 4 runs. Burnes was a top-10 finisher in the NL’s Cy Young voting in 2022, but is now wearing an ugly ERA of 7.20 this season.

The Biggest Inning of 2023

Phillies 7 @ Rangers 11

Texas erased an early 5-0 deficit by plating 9 runs in the bottom of the 4th inning to build an insurmountable lead Thursday at Globe Life – winning 11-7 in a game that was certainly not lacking offense.

Few predicted an offensive explosion in this one. Even yours truly (who picked Texas to win in Wagerbop’s Daily Double) didn’t see it going down like this. The Rangers threw 2-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom while Philly countered with the equally-stellar Aaron Nola. Neither made it through the 4th.

deGrom’s line reads as 3.2 innings, 6 hits, 5 earned runs, but an impressive 7 strikeouts. Nola also allowed 5 runs in as many innings – surrendering 4 hits and 2 walks while fanning 4.

The hottest hitter on the planet – Trea Turner – picked up where he left off in the World Baseball Classic with a triple in this one. JT Realmuto and Alec Bohm both picked up 3 hits.

The Rangers’ offense was better, though – scoring 11 on 10 hits. The biggest knock of the game for Texas came courtesy of Robbie Grossman who slammed a game-tying 3-run shot to right-center field in his Rangers debut.

 

Twins Stymy Royals For Shutout Win

Twins 2 @ Royals 0

Minnesota pitching held KC to a grand total of 2 hits and 0 runs in Thursday’s opener – the most dominant pitching (or worst hitting) we saw today in the full slate.

The Twins new ace – Pablo Lopez – proved his worth immediately by throwing 5.1 shutout innings with only 2 base hits allowed and 8 strikeouts. Lopez had terrific defense behind him throughout his start, as evidenced by this pretty 3-2-4 double play here in the 5th in a scoreless tie.

Offensively, Minnesota got what they needed out of their 3 and 4 hitters – Byron Buxton and Trevor Larnach. Buxton was 2-5 in this one, including a triple in the 6th inning. Larnach also contributed 2 hits, one of which drove in Buxton to break the 0-0 tie in the 6th.

Always Good to Win the First One

Mets 5 @ Marlins 3

Few teams (if any) had a rougher month of March than the New York Mets. All-star closer Edwin Diaz went down in the Classic while several other key pieces were listed as either “questionable” or “out” on Opening Day. New York showed up on the road, however, battled hard, and won.

You’ll pretty much always have the upper hand when Max Scherzer has the ball. That was definitely the case today. New York’s 1-2-3 punch of Scherzer, Verlander, and Senga are what got them a spot in the top-5 of our MLB Power Rankings.

Mad Max was cruising along until allowing a 2-run homer to Garrett Cooper in the 6th inning. This tied up what was once a 3-0 game. Cooper was one of two players in the Marlins lineup who was able to get to Max. The other was the 2022 AL batting champ – Luis Arraez. Arraez also notched 2 hits in this one – driving in a run and scoring once.

The Mets picked up a couple of runs in the 7th inning to reclaim the lead. This set up a save situation, prompting the entire baseball world to peer anxiously at Mets manager Buck Showalter to see who he wanted to go with in the 9th on Opening Day.

He chose David Robertson – a man who comes with experience closing ball games in New York City. We’re not sure if Robertson will become the full-time closer or if Showalter plans to go closer by committee. Regardless, Robertson nailed it down with a perfect 9th and 2 strikeouts.

The Best Game Of Opening Day

Blue Jays 10 @ Cardinals 9

This one was an awesome game to watch and was a terrific boon for fantasy owners, unless you happened to grab either Manoah or Mikolas in your DFS lineups.

The Jays jumped out to an early 4-1 lead after 2 innings, but St Louis had pulled back ahead by the end of the 6th. The game finished with a flurry of lead changes as runs were scored in 6 of the last 7 half innings of the contest – culminating in a thrilling 10-9 road win for Toronto.

19 runs is tied with the Orioles-Red Sox for the most of the day, but 34 combined hits is easily tops in baseball so far this season. For the Jays, George Springer had 5 hits, Bo Bichette 4, and Matt Chapman 3. For St Louis, Brendan Donovan recorded 3 knocks while Goldschmidt, Arenado, Contreras, and Edman each had 2.

Blue Jays ace Alek Manoah lasted just 3.1 innings – giving up a whopping 9 hits and 5 earned runs. Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas was actually a tick worse – allowing 10 hits in the same amount of innings and the same 5 earned runs.

Leave it up to Jays closer Jordan Romano to slam the door on a day that no one can get anybody out. Romano came into a wild back-and-forth affair which saw 6 runs go up on the board in the previous inning and a half and calmly pitched a perfect bottom of the 9th for the clutch 1-run save.

Super Bowl Hangover In Full Effect

White Sox 3 @ Astros 2

We’ve discussed in our MLB Power Rankings how World Series winners traditionally struggle in March and April. We think it’s wise to fade Houston for the first few weeks of the season, and games like today’s are precisely why.

Sox starter Dylan Cease looked tremendous today – shutting the Astros out for 6 innings before faltering by allowing back-to-back baserunners in the bottom of the 7th and getting himself pulled. Cease wound up being credited with allowing the first run of the game when his runner scored on an Aaron Bummer wild pitch.

The Astros drew first blood, but were let down by the back end of their pen. The Sox scratched one across against Rafael Montero in the 8th and then took the lead with 2 off Ryan Pressly in the top of the 9th.

The tablesetters did an excellent job of setting up the meat of this Sox order Thursday. Leadoff man Tim Anderson and #2 hitter Luis Robert both had 2 hits on the day and scored a run apiece – both driven in by Andrew Vaughn (in the 3 hole).

Yordan Alvarez scored both runs for Houston – one of which was by his own hit when he homered in the bottom of the 9th off Reynaldo Lopez.

This Isn’t What They Had In Mind

Rockies 7 @ Padres 2

We are witnessing the priciest Padres payroll in the history of the franchise. With those types of paychecks come lofty (perhaps even unattainable) expectations. Recall that San Diego’s first opponent after the Juan Soto trade last year was the Rockies. The Padres rolled to a 9-1 victory.

Opening Day 2023 was again a milestone game for the franchise as it was their first with Xander Bogaerts and also the first Opening Day for Soto in SoCal. This time the Rockies played spoiler – jumping out to a 4-2 lead in the 5th and never taking their foot off the gas.

Colorado exploded for 17 hits in the game which was more than enough to make up for their 3 errors on defense. Padres starter Blake Snell got hit around quite a bit and couldn’t even make it through 5. Manager Bob Melvin pulled his ace with just 1 out in the 5th after Snell had allowed 6 hits and 3 earned runs. He did strike out 9 batters, though.

Rockies first baseman CJ Cron double donged in this one – a 3-run shot in the 5th and a solo homer in the 7th. Kris Bryant and Elehuris Montero also went yard. This game was played at Petco Park (not in Coors) so we can’t blame the altitude.

German Marquez made his 3rd-straight Opening Day start for the Rockies Thursday and looked great – allowing 2 runs and 5 hits across 6 innings while fanning 5.

Ohtani Awesome While Angels Lose Again

Angels 1 @ A’s 2

Cue the Tungsten Arm O’Doyle meme. Shohei Ohtani struck out 10 across 6 innings while allowing just 2 hits to Oakland on the mound and added a single from the plate while his Angels lost 2-1 to the A’s.

Los Angeles was unable to get anything going against the 5 pitchers Oakland ran out there. All 5 of the Angels hits in this one were singles. LA took a 1-0 lead in the 5th when catcher Logan O’Hoppe drove in Gio Urshela.

The A’s waited to strike late – getting their only 2 runs of the game in the bottom of the 8th inning via a 4-hit rally which began with an Esteury Ruiz single.

25-year-old A’s pitcher Kyle Muller was making just his 12th big league start in this one but looked remarkably calm and in control. Muller fanned Shohei Ohtani in the first inning (1 of 3 strikeouts) and allowed just 4 hits and 1 run in 5 innings of work.

Muller gave way to a bullpen that was perfect – completing the final 4 innings of the game while allowing just 1 hit to Angels hitters and 0 runs.

Pirates Win Battle Of Rebuilders

Pirates 5 @ Reds 4

This Pirates-Reds matchup may have been the most overlooked contest on the 15-game slate. Both teams are expected to stink in 2023, and the star power that could hold our attention for an entire baseball game is severely lacking on both of these rosters.

It’s too bad the masses ignored this one because it was a great game. Pittsburgh went up 4-1 in their half of the 4th, but the Reds answered with 1 in the bottom of the 4th and 2 in the 5th to tie the score at 4 apiece.

An Oneil Cruz sac fly in the 8th inning gave the Pirates a slim 5-4 cushion. 28-year-old David Bednar was called upon by Manager Derek Shelton to slam the door in the 9th, and that he did. Bednar stranded a 1-out double by punching out the Pirates final 2 hitters of the game to lock up the win and earn save #1 on the year.

Only One Bad Pitch in the Entire Game

Guardians 0 @ Mariners 3

Sure, the Twins and Royals played to a 2-0 final score, but this one featured awesome pitching as opposed to weak hitting and deserves to be called the best pitchers duel of Opening Day. Luis Castillo flummoxed Guardians hitters all night, going 6 strong, allowing just 1 hit, and striking out 6. Shane Bieber matched him pitch for pitch – also going 6 innings, scattering 6 hits (literally 1 per inning), and striking out 3.

The bullpens were just as good as the starting pitching, save for one poorly executed pitch by James Karinchak to Mariners first baseman Ty France. France got just enough of an elevated 1-1 fastball to poke it the other way over the right field fence for a 3-run homer that broke the game open in the bottom of the 8th.

Rays Beat AAA Team On Opening Day

Tigers 0 @ Rays 4

The Tampa Bay Rays were heavy favorites opening the 2023 season against the Tigers Thursday and they performed as expected – dominating Detroit 4-0.

Florida-native Shane McClanahan was brilliant on the mound – going 6 strong with 8 Ks and just 4 scattered hits. He gets the win. Tigers starter Eduardo Rodriguez looked decent but was tagged with the loss after surrendering 3 runs off 3 hits and 2 walks to Rays hitters in 5 innings.

The Rays weren’t fooling around in this one – emptying the clip with Poche, Adam, and Fairbanks on the back end. This is an absolute gauntlet of relief pitchers Tampa smacked Detroit with.

Honestly, Tampa didn’t need to bring quite so much force to handle the Tigers whose only good hitters right now appear to be Javier Baez, Riley Greene, and Austin Meadows. Miguel Cabrera was hidden down in the 7-spot in the lineup – his lowest positioning ever as a Tiger.

The only inning Detroit really got anything going offensively was the 7th. The Tigers had 2 on and 2 out when third baseman Ryan Kreidler sought extra bases with a slicing shot into the right field corner. Manuel Margot had it the whole way.

The Rays scored their 4 runs courtesy of RBIs from Wander Franco, Randy Arozarena, Jose Siri, and pinch hitter Luke Raley.

Urias Excellent, Smith Better Than Entire Arizona Lineup

D’Backs 2 @ Dodgers 8

Dodgers ace Julio Urias finished 3rd in the NL Cy Young voting in 2022 and wanted nothing more than to claim pole position in the race here in 2023. It took a few batters for Urias to get settled in – allowing runs in each of his first 2 innings – but he then took form and looked unhittable.

Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen, on the other hand, cruised through his first 2 innings before running into trouble in the 3rd and eventually getting yanked in the 5th. Urias gets the win in this one with a line of 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 6 K. Gallen’s line isn’t nearly as pretty and reads 4.2 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 7 K.

The lead ballooned once Gallen was pulled as the Dodgers tagged both Cole Sulser and Carlos Vargas for runs out of the D’Backs pen.

Offensively, catcher Will Smith drove in 4 runs himself, beating the entire D’Backs lineup single handedly. Smith tied the game 2-2 with a 2-run single in the 3rd. He then gave Los Angeles their first lead of the season with an RBI single in the 5th. He capped off his day with a smooth sac fly in the 8th to plate James Outman.