From slumps to homers and walk-offs to new bats, the start of the MLB season has been nothing short of entertaining. Because of the excitement of the start of the new season, the games this past weekend have been incredibly fun to watch.
The MLB season started on March 28th, and 26 of the 30 teams kicked off their season. The 4 teams (The Dodgers, Cubs, Rockies, and Rays) that did not start their season Thursday is because the Dodgers and Cubs already played each other in the Tokyo series which took place a little over a week before then the actual opening day and the Rockies vs Rays serries started late due to the rebranding of the Yankees spring training stadium due to it being the Rays home stadium this year.
On opening day, the Chicago White Sox beat the Angels to be over .500 for the first time since 2023 and then beat the Angels again that Sunday in a 9-0 blowout at home to tie the series. In other news on opening day, defending world series champions barely beat out the Tigers even with three home runs as they won 5-4 at home to advance their record to 3-0. They would eventually sweep the Tigers that series to make their record 5-0 going into their series vs the winless Braves. The Phillies also beat the Nationals 7-3 despite them going into extra innings. The star of that game was their ace, Zach Wheeler, who pitched six full innings and only let up two hits and one run.
The following day, the Athletics shut out the Mariners 7-0, but the series ended up being tied as the Mariners won game one and four of the stretch. In Arizona, the Diamondbacks gave the Chicago Cubs Jameson Taillon a rough time as they pounded six runs on the board and only one strikeout through Taillon’s 4.1 innings. The Cubs roster was seeing the ball like Rafael Devers as the team went 3 for 31 at the plate and two of those being doubles. The Diamondbacks ended up demolishing out with an 8-1 win in Arizona. In St. Petersburg, the Rockies fell to the Rays off a walk-off homer from left fielder Kameron Misner. The homer ended the game with the score of 3-2 Rays while it was their first game of the season. Personally, I cannot think of a better way to end your first game of the season with a 351-foot walk-off. The Rays ended up cutting the series close as they won the series 2-1. Baseball fan Colin Enright witnessed the homer on TV and described his thoughts while watching the homer as, “It was insane. To end your team’s first regular season game in a new stadium like that is just electric.”
The next day, the Yankees made history with their new torpedo bats. Their new bats put more of the barrel towards the logo of the bat, which is where most players on the team hit the ball. And it worked; the Yankees hit a franchise record of nine home runs in a game to give them the incredible score of a 20-9 win over the Brewers. The Red Sox also played the Rangers to continue their four-game series. This Saturday was their 3rd game of the series, and the whole league was looking to see if Rafeal Devers could snap out of his exceedingly early slump. Going into the game, Devers had not gotten a hit yet and was off to a terrible start to the season, considering he is now their designated hitter due to Alex Bregman being their new 3rd baseman. Unfortunately for Devers, he could not put bat to ball this game and the next two games, which made him have the statistical worst start to an MLB season, every offensive-wise. Red Sox’s fan Paddy Nugent described his dislike of the slump Devers was in by saying, “He could not hit a ball to save his life. He might just need a tennis racket.”
