“Baseball’s Opening Day is full of time-honored traditions: the President throws out the first ball, the Cubs’ starting pitcher walks away with a 54.00 ERA, the Royals get mathematically eliminated from the pennant race.” ~ Rob Sheffield, an American music journalist and author.
Opening Day is magical, always has been, always will be. Right after the World Series ends, well maybe five minutes after anyway, I go into a depression, a “blue funk” if you well. I long for games and begin to look forward to those beautiful four words, “pitchers and catchers report”. From there, it’s only a few short weeks until this day each season, Opening Day. It really should be a National Holiday (The White Sox Home Opener always was and still is in my family.) I have fond memories of going to openers with my grandfather and uncle, and then of course taking my three kids over the years. Bonding at its best.
All the teams start with a clean slate. The possibilities are endless when the current standings are “0-0” across the board. Of course, this year, The Dodgers and Padres played a two-game series in South Korea which they split, so their records are 1-1 (still think it’s a ridiculous idea as they played two games that count for the regular season, but played spring training games when they came back). We look forward to our team leading from the first game through the end of the season. We know in our hearts that our favourite player will have yet another fabulous season. We may be cold, but we know that just around the bend there will be beautiful sunny afternoons in the stands and pleasant nights as well. We know there will be no-hitters (hate the “combined no-hitters” scenario – let the pitchers pitch), amazing plays, unbelievable catches, game winning hits and an endless stream of games to enjoy. Everything is possible. Can you imagine anything better? I know I can’t.
So, what did occur on Opening Day, March 28, 2024? Here’s the outcomes and some highlights. Because of my work schedule and having tickets to see a “One Night of Queen” at the Rialto Square Theater in Joliet, Illinois I only watched the Detroit Tigers / White Sox and saw a little bit of the Cubs / Rangers game prior to the performance so my recap will be superficial and of course it’s coming out late. My apologies.
Milwaukee Brewers / New York Mets at 1:10p E.T. – Postponed due to rain. It will be made up today.
Los Angeles Angels / Baltimore Orioles at 3:05p E.T. – Orioles won 11-3. Mike Trout of the Angles had the first hit of the season as well as the first run, RBI and HR.
Atlanta Braves / Philadelphia Phillies at 3:05p E.T. - Postponed due to rain. It will be made up today.
Washington Nationals / Cincinnati Reds at 4:10p E.T. – Reds won 8-2.
San Francisco Giants / San Diego Padres at 4:10p E.T. – Padres won 6-4.
St. Louis Cardinals / Los Angeles Dodgers at 4:10p E.T. – Dodgers won 7-1.
Toronto Blue Jays / Tampa Bay Rays at 4:10p E.T. – Blue Jays won 8-2.
Pittsburgh Pirates / Florida Marlins at 4:10p E.T. – Pirates won 6-5 in 12 innings.
Minnesota Twins / Kansas City Royals at 4:10p E.T. – Twins won 4-1.
New York Yankees / Houston Astros at 4:10p E.T. – Yankees won 5-4.
Detroit Tigers / Chicago White Sox at 4:10p E.T. – Detroit won 1-0. While my hometown team lost, there were a few positives. Garrett Crochet in his first MLB start which is obviously his first opening day start as well pitched a solid six innings with just 87 pitches. He struck out eight using a high 90s fastball and an effective slider. The Sox offense didn’t provide much excitement, but they played hard. Andrew Vaughn was called on out strikes on that damn pitch clock rule, just hate that an out is recorded on a non-baseball “play”. Play the game and do away with this “speedup” nonsense.
Chicago Cubs / Texas Rangers at 7:35p E.T. – Randers won 3-2 in 10 innings.
Cleveland Guardians / Oakland Athletics at 10:07p E.T. – Guardians won 8-0. The A’s fans were boycotting the opener in protest of their plan to move the team in Las Vegas in 2028. The paid attendance was 13,522, but a good portion of them never went inside, having tailgating in the parking lot instead. As I wrote in an earlier post (CLICK HERE to read), it’s a shame that this franchise is relocating again. The fans deserve better than owner John Fisher and they deserve the support of MLB, but Commissioner Manfred wants a franchise in Las Vegas, and this is his opportunity to do it without expansion, which is still a few seasons off. Sad situation. The A’s have been in Oakland since 1968.
Colorado Rockies / Arizona Diamondbacks at 10:10p E.T. – Diamondbacks won 16-1.
Boston Red Sox / Seattle Mariners at 10:10p E.T. – Red Sox won 6-4.
So, we had wins, losses, extra innings (still not a fan of the runner on second to start the additional innings by the way), and rain. We had baseball and another 161 (for the most part) yet to come. It doesn’t get much better than that, at least in my book.
Thanks for reading. If you have any Opening Day memories you’d like to share, please leave them in the comments below, I truly encourage your interaction. Again, my apologies for my tardiness with his post, I just didn’t have the energy to write it last night.
~ Coach Mike
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Love your enthusiasm for every game and mostly love your loyalty to our White Sox🤗 I know I just learned about the 2nd base runner starting extra innings🥹 Can you explain the reasoning behind that rule🤷🏻♀️
Good post and I appreciate your opinion and insight. I’m accepting of the new rules that shorten a game because I believe it will help viewership. Batters and pitchers dicking around before pitching or stepping in the box is unnecessary. Also pitchers throwing to one or two batters is also nonsense.