Major League Baseball Provided Relief, Coolness Factor in Wild Opening Weekend
Oh, welcome back, baseball! We missed you!
For those of you who need a break from the everyday gloom and doom of the pandemic, Major League Baseball’s opening weekend certainly provided for you. Several cool story lines, and history, took center stage as baseball provides a semi-return to “normal”.
Let’s start with Opening Day. Baseball went back to a full 162-game schedule after a pandemic-shortened 60-game circus in 2020. Nostalgic fans got to witness the return of Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, who went back to where it all began as he donned a White Sox uniform for the first time since Biblical times — okay, since the 1980s, but who’s counting? The White Sox have a really good team, too, so it’s a bit surprising that they started off 1–3 so far.
Opening Day also saw the return of newly-minted Tigers manager A.J. Hinch and Boston’s Alex Cora, both of whom, well you know the story by now. The Tigers started off hot, beating the Cleveland Indians — who have been the Tigers’ worst nightmare for what seems like a lifetime — not once, but twice, as they’ve jumped out to an early division lead. While Boston hasn’t fared quite as well so far this season, seeing Cora get a chance at redemption is pretty cool, love him or hate him.
Opening Day also saw vintage Miguel Cabrera, as well. While Cabrera has battled injuries, age, and is no doubt declining, he was able to bring a smile to Tigers fans’ faces on Opening Day, belting a home run — in the snow. Yep, it wouldn’t be Opening Day in Detroit without it being a snowstorm a day after near 70-degree temperatures, but I digress. In vintage Miggy fashion, and since no one could really see where the ball went, Cabrera slid into second base, thinking it was a double, but instead, it was a snowme run — see what I did there? Come on, you liked it. Oh, and for the first time in forever (sorry Disney), the man affectionately known as “Cabby” returned to first base, after spending the past 3 seasons as a designated hitter.
Finally, Opening Day also saw a pretty cool storyline — perhaps the best one of all. Trey Mancini, the Baltimore Orioles first baseman/outfielder who was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, was not only in the Orioles Opening Day lineup, but powered the O’s to a three-game sweep of Boston. Mancini reached base twice in four plate appearances in his first regular-season game since September 2019.
In addition to that awesome Mancini news, opening weekend also saw three near no-hitters in three days. First, new Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer flirted with a no-no, then came Milwaukee pitcher Corbin Burnes the next day, and the day after that, a near combined no-hitter from the Minnesota Twins. Imagine what that would have been like if all 3 of those had actually happened.
The Tigers appeared in the opening weekend headlines again on Sunday, in game 3 of the Tigers’ opening series. Rule 5 pick Akil Baddoo homered on — get this — the first pitch he ever saw in his Major League career. While Rule 5 players can be returned to whatever team they came from at any point during the season, if Baddoo continues to make the most of his opportuinities like he did Sunday, Hinch will have a tough decision to make. Oh, and Baddoo homering in front of the home crowd and his family was pretty cool too.
While those storylines are cool and all, it was actually Angels Japanese phenom Shohei Ohtani who stole the sho — thank you very much, I’ll be here all week. Ohtani made Major League history in the Angels’ Sunday game against the White Sox, which also saw the battle between two American League MVPs — reigning MVP Jose Abreu for Chicago, and his predecessor, Mike Trout for the Angels. Ohtani became the first player since 1903 to pitch in a game and bat second in the lineup. Ohtani’s night had it all. First, he clocked a fastball at 101.1 MPH. Then, proceeded to smack a home run 451 feet, and clocked at 115.2 MPH, which may very well be the fastest home run in history, the way he’s going.
Ah, but that wasn’t enough. Ohtani’s night ended on a freak play at the plate in the 5th inning. Oh, and no big deal, but he also struck out seven batters over 4 and 2/3 innings, while clocking 100 MPH nine — count them — NINE — times. Ohtani became the first AL starting pitcher to homer against an AL team since Roric Harrison on the final day of the 1972 season — and the final regular-season day without a designated hitter in the junior circuit. Ohtani is just fine after his collision, by the way. To add insult to injury to Tony La Russa’s ego, the Angels ended up winning the game on a three-run walk-off home run by newly-extended Jared Walsh.
So, here we are. The next series begins for many teams, and for the Nationals, their opening series begins this week. The Nationals supposed-to-be opening series against the Mets got cancelled because, you know, that Covid thing. The Orioles are 3–0, the Astros are 4–0, the Tigers are in first place, we had the whole Ohtani thing, three almost no-hitters, and to cap it all off, we also saw Oakland A’s outfielder Ka’ai Tom pitch in the ninth inning and throw a scoreless inning — in front of his family. What a wild week(end) it was in baseball! Opening weekend provided a much-needed trip down Nostalgia Avenue, and definitely did not disappoint in storylines. I can’t wait to see what this next week has in store. One thing is certain, baseball is back!
