The Dodgers' depth was on full display as they hit the ground running and picked up a nice win to kick off the season. The Cubs Corey Patterson also had seven RBIs on Opening Day in 2003, going yard twice against the Mets. Eligibility restrictions apply. It's a start. Los Angeles Dodgers. The Braves sent up veteran pinch hitter Pablo Sandoval, and the Panda turned on an inside fastball and blistered it at 111.7 mph, per Statcast, sending it into the right-field seats for a tying homer. Hayes added a walk later, but his two-run home run in the first inning was the difference in the Pirates' win over the Cubs. Pascual finished that season with a career-high 8.5 K/9 rate over 151 2/3 innings, then led the AL in strikeouts in each of the next three years. Two hits came in the form of solo homers from Kyle Seager and Kyle Lewis. "Not being able to find a home, being turned away from Toronto, Pittsburgh and Baltimore. The rookie acquitted himself nicely, though, getting out of the situation while giving up just one run and showcasing some seriously nasty stuff in the process. Here are the only-in-baseball moments, must-see plays and overarching themes that caught our eye on the first day of the 2021 season. Martinez and Bradley Jr. both doubled twice on the daya day that featured eight total doubles for the teamcombining for five RBI over a four-run third and six-run fourth. Scherzer was feast-or-famine on the mound for the Nationals. If you feel like youre losing control over your gambling in Angels at Athletics (10:10 p.m., ESPN): Mike Trout begins his 10th season in Major League Baseball, and that means hes about to officially become eligible for the Hall of Fame. MLB Opening Day: Home runs fly out at historic rate The Angels struck out 10 times, but only four times over the final six innings. A ninth-inning comeback. Eric Hosmer is making sure Madison Bumgarner doesn't enjoy his first start for Arizona.pic.twitter.com/DXGYLqyIz0. With the first pitch of the Yankees-Blue Jays game in the Bronx, the 2021 MLB season is officially underway. He single-handedly outproduced the Giants lineup and was nearly flawless at the plate. The team did not push across a run until the fifth inning, when two runs scored. -- Dave Schoenfield. That home run -- the longest of his career -- was possibility personified. 9:23 p.m.: Mariners rookie Kyle Lewis just took Justin Verlander deep. And just like that, Nola's heretofore dominant day was done. We noticed you're from na where legal online sports betting is not currently available. The Reds' grand experiment of deploying third basemen at shortstop and second base got off to a rocky start when the Cardinals scored two runs on a Eugenio Suarez error. NFL Player Prop Bets: One of the Best Ways to Wager Explained, How to Find the Best Daily Boosts and Sports Betting Offers, See All the Daily Odds Boosts Offered at Each Sportsbook, Where Is Sports Betting Legal? Nathan Eovaldi notched his first career opening day start, giving up just one run and five hits over six innings. Whether or not Sanchez can remain the starting catcher for the Yankees will be one of the team's most prominent storylines in the early part of the season. The eight doubles for the @RedSox are the most in an #OpeningDay game since the 1936 Pirates. The Braves will counter with 22-year-old Mike Soroka, who will be the franchises youngest Opening Day starter since 1878. As for Bregman, like several other Astros hitters, he struggled in 2020 in the wake of the cheating scandal. The Angels' offense manufactured runs in an old-school fashion against Lucas Giolito and an electric White Sox bullpen, most notably with two-out walks by Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon in the fourth and an 11-pitch plate appearance that led to a critical walk by Justin Upton in the eighth. (OK, he was still booed as he rounded the bases.) They got some encouraging production from Upton and Max Stassi -- not to mention a 107 mph line drive from Shohei Ohtani -- but they also worked counts, moved runners over, didn't let the game slip away early and locked it down late. responsible online gambling page. Most Opening Day home runs: 3 (tie)Matt Davidson (2018), Dmitri Young (2005), Tuffy Rhodes (1994) and George Bell (1988)Opening Day 2018 was memorable for a lot of reasons, and one of them was Davidson's three-homer game for the White Sox, which tied the Opening Day record (and started a season-long crushing of the Royals by Davidson). Enos Slaughter and Lenny Dykstra are the only two National League players to ever score four runs during a World Series game.. It was the quintessential Buxton showing: the bat, the legs, the glove, the arm. They scored six runs on just three hits in the eighth as Giants relievers walked three batters and hit another. Then the baseball world turned its eyes out west, where Mookie Betts first Dodgers hit and daring baserunning play helped lead the seven-time defending National League West champs past the rival Giants. The Rockies, whose organizational foibles have become the standard by which other teams judge their screw-ups. (via @MLB) Like whatever the grittiest grit score is for a sheet of sandpaper, the Phillies' bullpen grit score was rougher than that. Happy Opening Day! Fielding Runs is based on actual time at the position. -- Alden Gonzalez. OPENING DAY 2021: MLB opens season with full, 15-game slate NEW SEASON: 21 dates to circle on the 2021 MLB schedule STADIUMS OPEN: How MLB teams will address COVID-19 protocols with fans -- Doolittle. He was, of course, terrific in those openers -- Seaver went 7-2 with a 3.13 ERA and 81 strikeouts, second-most all-time. Also, Sale allowed three homers in a start for the first . There have been more than 100 multi-steal games on Opening Day, but just nine players have gone for the trifecta. Pittsburgh is led by breakout slugger Josh Bell, whose 37 home runs last season were a record for a Bucs first baseman and the most by any Pirate since Brian Giles in 2002. In years past, Tyler Glasnow faced competition from Blake Snell and Charlie Morton for the best pitcher in the Rays' rotation. Houston blew it open in the late innings in Oakland, getting back-to-back home runs from Michael Brantley and Alex Bregman in the eighth, eventually winning 8-1. Stolen Bases Attempted per Game. Ouch. Most Opening Day home runs: 8 (tie)Adam Dunn, Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank RobinsonRobinson spread his homers out across four teams, homering in season openers for the Reds, Orioles, Angels and Indians. In the 10th, Jose Alvarez came on for San Francisco and walked all three batters he faced. Landing at a Triple-A field, I think our team is playing with a little bit of a chip on a shoulder.". 3 overall pick in the '98 Draft by the Cubs, matched him in 2003 for Chicago at Shea Stadium. A group of MLB.com reporters gathered for a roundtable discussion on the good, the bad, the weird and the wacky -- and there was plenty to dissect. The threat of his arm prompted runners to hold at bases. In his first at-bat of 2021, Posey hit a solo home run off Mariners lefty Marco Gonzales, his first homer since Sept. 24, 2019. Turner scored. Two innings later, Mondesi slugged a two-out, walk-off homer off John Frascatore, adding another 0.43 points to his WPA total. All rights reserved. Sacrifice Flys per Game. Opening Day 2020 guide - MLB Hayes looks like the real deal. Walk-off win for Milwaukee. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. Pascual's gem came on the heels of Don Drysdales 14-strikeout performance in the Dodgers opener six days earlier. Yankees fans maintain a mercurial relationship with Sanchez, but the catcher started off the 2021 season strong by blasting a two-run, 407-foot home run to left field off Blue Jays ace Hyun-Jin Ryu in his first at-bat of the year. Six years later, Rhodes hit three homers in the Cubs' 1994 opener against the Mets. Valenzuela was also the last rookie to take the mound in Game #1 for the Dodgers https://t.co/m7g3Kdidxj https://t.co/t4Uqtk8yb2. Boston will play its first Opening Day without Mookie Betts since 2015, but the Red Sox have no shortage of firepower in a lineup that features Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers and J.D. Batting Average. Johnson went 9-5 with a 1.31 ERA in his 14 career Opening Day starts. We also had eight one-run games -- two more than any other first day in MLB history. 2021 Major League Baseball Team Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com Sporting News will be tracking the latest scores here, and highlights below: Having Matt Olson destroy a walk-off grand slam seems like a nice strategy for the A's.pic.twitter.com/MJUFhMSKAu. Now, the game won't be played and despite a scheduled day off Friday, the earliest the teams will play is on Saturday. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Charlie Hustle notched 31 base knocks in season openers, including three-hit games in 1974, '76 and '81, as well as eight other multihit games. For his career, he averages one home run every 21.5 plate appearances. The action got going on Thursday night, with Gerrit Cole and the Yankees playing spoiler for the first, rain-shortened game of the Nationals World Series title defense. His OPS dropped from 1.015 to .801 (although he particularly struggled after a return from an IL stint). Two other pitchers have since tallied 14 Ks in an Opening Day game, with Hall of Famer Randy Johnson doing it for the Mariners in 1993 and 96, and Cleveland righty Shane Bieber fanning 14 batters in 2020. 8:56 p.m.: Kepler just hit another home run. Some of the most closely guarded secrets this spring had to do with several teams' preferences at the back of the bullpen. State by State Legal Tracker, MLB Opening Day Home Run Facts, Figures and Odds, Maria Sakkari vs Irina-Camelia Begu Odds & Prediction WTA Madrid Open Quarterfinals. Rodriguez saved season openers for four teams (the Angels, Mets, Brewers and Tigers) and Fingers for three (the A's, Padres and Brewers). -- Bradford Doolittle. Another run on the board thanks to @Giancarlo818 https://t.co/9AjrFNxXX3. For further guidelines please visit our MLB Opening Day 2020 Scores: Schedule, Odds And Predictions - Forbes There's a simple explanation for this . FINAL: Phillies 10, Braves 4 2nd Inning Runs per Game. Costly errors. Giancarlo Stanton quickly hit the first home run of the season, driving in Aaron Judge and giving New York an early lead they would never relinquish in the shortened game. The highest WPA total for a pitcher in an Opening Day performance of no more than nine innings was recorded by the Phillies Les Sweetland (0.903) in a 1-0 win over the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1930. All Opening Day Home Runs! (Start off the MLB season with - YouTube In this era when velocity is everything, Greinke continues to be one of the most enjoyable pitchers in the game, as he hit just about every radar gun reading from 69 to 91. Benintendi made a fine play on a foul pop shortly after that and ended up reaching base a couple of times and scoring two runs. The Padres young stars lead the way into the 2020 season, as 24-year-old Chris Paddack gets his first career Opening Day start -- he had a 1.08 ERA against the D-backs as a rookie -- and 21-year-old Fernando Tatis Jr. headlines San Diegos lineup. The micro example of this arrived in the third inning, when Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger launched a ball to left field that caromed off Raimel Tapia's glove and over the fence at Coors Field. Doesn't matter for Mookie. After opening the scoring with an RBI single off Randy Johnson in the bottom of the first inning, Mondesi tied the game with a two-out, three-run homer off Gregg Olson in the bottom of the ninth -- a play that had a WPA of 0.49. for details. Deposit bonus requires 25x play-thru. Bellinger was called out. Four players have notched four extra-base hits on Opening Day. Rogers worked a scoreless seventh against the Milwaukee Brewers, but Colome yielded two hits and three unearned runs in the ninth in an eventual 6-5 loss in 10 innings. St. Louis scored six runs in the first inning against Reds ace Luis Castillo, capped off by rookie Dylan Carlson's three-run homer. For him to match his entire-season total in one game was a pleasant surprise, though it's one that registers second on his list of achievements for the day. After a successful 2019 campaign with the Rayswhere he notched a 3.05 ERAMorton struggled to find a rhythm to start his second year with the team. 3 prospect), to go along with first-time Opening Day starter Lucas Giolito, who went from the worst ERA among qualified starters in 2018 to fifth-best in the AL last season. The game was a classic pitcher's duel between the Rays' Tyler Glasnow and the Marlins' Sandy Alcantara. Rutschman went 5-for-5 with a homer, four RBIs and a walk in a 10-9 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park, becoming the first backstop with a five-hit game on Opening Day since at least 1901. Pittsburgh third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes, among the favorites to win the NL Rookie of the Year award, hit a two-run homer in the first inning off Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks. Another good sign for Houston: Yordan Alvarez, back after missing all but two games in 2020 due to surgery on both knees, hit a two-run, opposite-field double off the wall. Twelve of those starts were complete games, and seven of them were shutouts. "First of all, this whole year has been crazy, but it's been especially crazy for our team," Cavan Biggio said, according to the Associated Press' Fred Goodall (h/tThe Washington Post). Get ready for plenty of pro baseball today as the 2020 MLB season continues with a loaded Opening Day schedule. experience, call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, PA, WV), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), SportsBettingDime.com does not target any individuals The Dodgers finally broke the game open in the seventh inning after a defensive duel through the first six innings. Last year, he hit 13 home runs in 39 games and walked twice. "Yeah, I thought it was really good," manager Ron Roenicke said after the game, according to NESN's Lauren Campbell. Closing out the night is a must-watch matchup between the scrappy Athletics and a sneaky-underrated Angels squad, featuring the planet's greatest player, Mike Trout. Hell take on a Giants club that will try again to land new manager Gabe Kapler his first win. Down 13-9 in the eighth inning, Cleveland scored 12 runs in the frame, with Hall of Famer Tris Speaker hitting the go-ahead homer. Opening Day first impressions for every MLB team Terms and conditions affecting the bonus offers available to you vary by location. New closer Raisel Iglesias finished off the 4-3 win for the Angels, handingmanager Tony La Russa a loss in thefirst game of his second tour of duty in Chicago. Los Angeles set an Opening Day record and tied the MLB record for most home runs by a team in a game. Glasnow struck out six and allowed only a first-inning single to Jesus Aguilar before retiring the final 16 batters he faced. David Adler, Matt Kelly, Sarah Langs and Andrew Simon. Copyright 2023 Sporting News Holdings Limited. In a fitting turn of events, the season's first game of the shortened season was called early as the Yankees scored the win after the game was called in the top of the sixth due to a rain delay. Please visit sportsbook operators It also kicks off a wholly unique 60-game schedule that is completely regional: Teams will play two-thirds of their games against division foes, and then the remaining one-third against clubs in geographically corresponding divisions in the opposite league (East vs. East, Central vs. Central, West vs. West). After Judge got on with a single to left field, Stanton scored the first home run of the season in style with an absolute shot. Left On Base per Game. Opening Day cycle: Gee Walker (April 20, 1937)Walker is the only player to hit for the cycle on Opening Day, doing so for the Tigers in 1937 against the Indians. Yu Darvish was given the Opening Day start for his Padres debut and couldn't get through five innings even though he entered the inning with a 6-1 lead. The 2021 version of Girardi made the same choice, and while it was probably the right one, even on a day when Nola was the only starter during the day contests to record an out in the seventh inning or later, it didn't work out. Jim Greengrass chipped in with four doubles against the Milwaukee Braves in the Reds' 1954 opener, and Don Baylor went 4-for-4 with a homer, a triple and two doubles for the Orioles against the Brewers on Opening Day in '73. Because of course they did. And the bottom of the 10th. Walter Johnson was responsible for the highest WPA in a season opener on the pitching side: His 15-inning shutout for the Senators in a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia As to open the 1926 campaign gave him a WPA of 1.552. There are the Dodgers, who expect to win 100, and there are the Rockies, trying not to lose 100, and the latter beat the former in the first game of the season. 15/1. Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ/WV/PA/MI), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-888-532-3500 (VA) or call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN). But this time will be a bit different, as he will be making his Reds debut. Relive the first day of the 2021 MLB season, as it happened: Seattle overcame a 6-1 deficit in the eighth inning, but the Giants' Alex Dickerson tied it right back up with a home run in the top of the ninth. Fans looking to take in some national baseball can tune in to these nationally televised games over the weekend: Joe Rivera is a senior content producer at The Sporting News and teaches Multimedia Sports Reporting at his alma mater, Rutgers University. At least for one game, Gary Sanchez managed to keep his critics at bay. career opening . W. Clayton Kershaw (3-1) L. Tylor Megill (3-1) We've added a page to show the statistical impact of MLB's rule changes for the 2023 season. do not take any wagers. Hope springs anew for players, coaches and fans alike on Opening Day, with stats getting reset and each team starting from square one. Hyun Jin's first #BlueJays strikeout! Score; Braves vs. Mets: 4:10 p.m. Giants at Dodgers (9:40 p.m.): At one point this offseason, it looked like Ross Stripling would no longer be a member of the Dodgers. Patterson, the No. On the West Coast, the Dodgers and Giants kicked off the season with National League West action in a game where both teams had to go deep in the bullpen to complete the game. Blue Jays slugger George Bell was the first to accomplish the feat, doing so in Torontos 1988 season opener against Kansas City -- Bells first game after winning the 87 American League MVP Award with a 47-homer season. Flyler Wade coming through. Gerrit Cole made his Yankees debut while Max Scherzer reprised his role as the Nationals' ace in a hit-or-miss performance. Giancarlo smacks a 459-ft bomb for the 1st HR of the MLB season Instead, as he tried to make a quick transfer from glove to throwing hand, Suarez lost his grip on the ball, which fluttered out to left field as two runs scored. . It was a night that offered a first taste of what baseball will be like without fans in the stands and the long-awaited return of the sport after a delayed start. In just 24 games during the shortened 2020 season, Hayes gave us a taste of what he could be: a dynamic offensive and defensive player, and nothing seen so far has changed that perception. after he went 1-4 with a 6.48 ERA in 2020. Most team wins on Opening Day: Cubs, 78Since MLB began as we know it with the founding of the NL in 1876, the Cubs have more wins on Opening Day than any other franchise, including one over the Rangers last year. Former closer Wade Davis picked up the save by getting the final two outs of a wild 14-11 win. He covers everything you can bet on, but specializes in football, basketball, politics, baseball, and hockey. -- Lee. Theyre led by third baseman extraordinaire Matt Chapman, the ALs back-to-back reigning Platinum Glove winner. He stole a base. He held the Braves to no runs on just four hits without walking a batter. The Rockies, who not only traded their best player this winter, but included $51 million to offset his salary as a parting gift. Didn't get enough baseball on Thursday? Here is a selection of notable single-game Opening Day records (dating back to 1901, with a hat tip to Stathead). No team scored more runs against a single opponent in 2020 than the Yanks' 77 vs. the Blue Jays.