Happy Opening Day to MLBTR readers! Here are three things worth keeping an eye on as the 2024 regular season kicks off:
1. It’s Opening Day!
While the Dodgers and Padres already squared off in a two-game set in South Korea last week, the 2024 regular season is set to kick off in earnest today. 26 of MLB’s 30 clubs will participate in games throughout the day, with the Angels kicking things off against the Orioles at Camden Yards at 2:05pm CT this afternoon. A trio of west coast games are set to round out today’s games just after 9pm CT: the Guardians will face the A’s in what could be their final Opening Day at the Coliseum; the Rockies will face the Diamondbacks in Arizona; and the Red Sox will face the Mariners in Seattle.
While most of the league will be engaging in Opening Day festivities, four clubs had their scheduled games postponed due to expected inclement weather today. The Brewers and Mets will begin their seasons at 1:40pm CT tomorrow in New York, while the Braves and Phillies will do the same at 3:05pm CT tomorrow in Philadelphia. In the meantime, one player worth keeping an eye on today is Red Sox outfielder Tyler O’Neill. As noted by MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, O’Neill has hit a home run in four consecutive Opening Day games dating back to 2019. That makes O’Neill one of just four hitters in MLB history to reach that milestone. Will he become the first to do so on five consecutive Opening Days?
2. Orioles presser this morning:
Yesterday, MLB’s owners unanimously approved the sale of the Orioles to a group led by billionaire David Rubenstein, installing him as the club’s control person. It’s the first change of ownership in Baltimore since the late Peter Angelos purchased the Orioles in 1993. The change of the guard comes at an exciting time for fans in Baltimore, as the club is coming off a 101-win campaign that saw the club win the AL East for the first time since 2014, and the future looks bright as the Orioles boast the best farm system in the majors in addition to their crop of young talent already at the big league level. The Orioles are expected to hold a press conference at 10am CT this morning to discuss the sale and the team’s long-term outlook.
3. Santos to undergo MRI:
While the Mariners welcome the Red Sox to T-Mobile Park for their first game of the regular season, right-hander Gregory Santos is scheduled to undergo an MRI today, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Santos, 24, was acquired by Seattle last month in a deal with the White Sox on the heels of a strong 2023 season. The right-hander posted a 3.39 ERA with an excellent 2.65 FIP last year while striking out 22.8% of batters faced. He also averaged nearly 99 mph on his fastball and figures to join other fireballers such as Andres Munoz, Matt Brash and Ryne Stanek in the mix for high-leverage innings at the back of the Mariners’ bullpen when healthy. Today’s MRI should help to determine how quickly that happens, as Divish notes that Santos will resume his throwing program in the coming days if the testing comes back clean.
The next 5.5 hours are going to be the longest of my life.
vader – This is what I listen to before every Red Sox season opener:
Okay, here we go, we got a real pressure cooker going here
Two down, nobody on, no score, bottom of the ninth
There’s the windup, and there it is
A line shot up the middle, look at him go
This boy can really fly
He’s rounding first and really turning it on now
He’s not letting up at all
He’s gonna try for second, the ball is bobbled out in center
And here comes the throw, and what a throw
He’s gonna slide in head first
Here he comes, he’s out
No, wait, safe-safe at second base
This kid really makes things happen out there
Batter steps up to the plate, here’s the pitch-he’s going
And what a jump he’s got, he’s trying for third
Here’s the throw, it’s in the dirt-safe at third
Holy cow, stolen base, he’s taking a pretty big lead out there
Almost daring him to try and pick him off
The pitcher glances over, winds up, and it’s bunted
Bunted down the third base line, the suicide squeeze is on
Here he comes, squeeze play, it’s gonna be close, here’s the throw, here’s the play at the
Holy cow, I think he’s gonna make it
Stop right there
Vader in: You must be very young.
Happy Opening Day, everyone!! Make Opening Day a national holiday.
Going on record and saying the Dodgers will not win the World Series.
Jim – I hope you’re right, because I had my interpreter place several bets on NL teams other than the Dodgers making the World Series.
Mine said he never bet on baseball, and I believed him. It was just a coincidence my payout came on Nov 1 last year.
My interpreter instead told me to bet on a certain player requiring TJ surgery by the end of April
I already speak English pretty goodly, but I cannot patch a hole in my wall. So I hired a carpenter to place my bets.
The downside is that English is not his first language (he does artisan-level work), so he had to hire a translator to place the bets for him.
The upside is that now I have two people to take the fall for my $500k transfers.
@JoeBrady Yeah but the key question is…were you notified by your financial team that these $500,000 transfers were instigated from your account??? (I will assume you sent them to a completely legal and above-board bookmaker though.)
I have San Francisco making the playoffs as the 6th seed, meaning they will follow the trend of knocking out the NL Central Champion in the Wild Card Round, knocking out their Division Rival in the Division Series, and knocking out a superior Wild Card Team in the Championship Series, and go to the World Series.
This exact scenario has happened the last 2 years, and if it happens again, that will mean the Dodgers will have their season ended by their 3rd different division rival in the NLDS for the 3rd straight year.
Agreed.
I miss the days when the Reds opened the season every year.
As for the rescheduled games, that’s what you get for scheduling games in open air stadiums in the north when it’s still March!!
I do find it strange that the Red Sox and Guardians open in Seattle and Oakland respectively, yet the Orioles and Angels series is in Baltimore instead of Anaheim. The Blue Jays and Brewers, each with retractable roofs are opening on the road when it would make more sense to utilize their ballparks in the early going
SkyDome (Rogers Centre) Renos are not yet completed!
*Rogers Centre*
Jays – I miss the golden days of SkyDome when Mo Vaughn would hit the Hard Rock window in right field and Manny Ramirez would hit the back row of the upper deck in left field. They used to mark those upper deck landings with a simple white stripe, then they took it away.
Rsox – I totally agree!
By my unofficial count, 16 of the 30 teams play either in retractable roof stadiums or in warm weather locations. Schedulemakers should make it a point to play the first 10-12 days of the season in those 16 ballparks.
Looks like the Cards are going to be rained out Saturday and Sunday in LA. When is the last time the Bums were rained out at home?
Didn’t we hear it never rains in Southern California somewhere?
Must be that Global Warming again.
Opening Day baby! Let’s do this!!
FM
Already did it
weirdo
Happy Opening Day! Best wishes to you and your team*!
* except Astros fans. didn’t you ever learn to share??
The Astros have a chance at tying the Braves record for 8 consecutive LCS appearances this year so thats kind of exciting
Last year, the two teams that played in the WS were the Rangers and Diamondbacks. The Rangers had a ST record of 13-15 while the D-Backs had a ST record of 16-14.
Based on that, no team had a similar record, but the Pirates had a record of 13-16 while the Mariners have a 15-13 record. Also, last year, the Rangers were 4.5 games back from top in the ST standings while the D-Backs were 2.5 back.
Mariners are 2.5 back and the Padres are 4.5 back.
So, I think it’s safe to say that the Mariners will be playing in the World Series this year with either the Padres or Pirates facing them.
Pirates please!
I find your logic sound 🙂
There it is Ignorant SOB (when he sees this), our match up is in the cards! Oh how I wish my Pads make it… but Pirates would be my 2nd choice. Reds 3rd. Go Padres!
Old York: Hopefully you’re not placing any bets based on ST.
Winter is officially over,play ball!!!!
Winter was officially over last week or do you have a different calendar than normal people?
Only 2 seasons, Winter and Baseball season
I happen to believe in football season too
That’s winter! Happy Baseball Season errybody!
Happy Opening Day everyone! Best day of the year. Agree with the national holiday suggestion.
Go Reds!
The funny thing that MLB will be silence on is the A’s will have more fans protesting in the parking lot than will buy tickets. They already told workers lay off are coming since nobody in Oakland is buying tickets for the game to protest Fisher. Just sad MLB doesn’t force Fisher to sell i get a real owner. Vegas now will get the cheapest owner ever.
The situation in Oakland is also the fault of MLB and the Commissioner
Manfred has allowed the ridiculous behavior of the A’s owner instead of forcing him to follow ethical practices
Baseball celebrates the outrageous payroll of teams like the Dodgers and ignores the shenanigans by the A’s
It’s sickening
Once again there will be more Possums in attendance than people…
The situation is entirely the fault of Oakland and Fisher. Manfred “allows” Fisher’s behavior because Fisher is one of his 30 employers.
DarkSide: If Manfred had any stones he would do what’s best for baseball no matter who pays him. Baseball is like a national trust, our national pastime, and owners should have respect for that. They should have a responsibility to field competitive teams. Owners like reinsdorf and Fisher should be forced to sell their teams to people who care about putting a good product on the field, love the game of baseball and respect the fans, not just local TV revenue.
Is Fisher also at fault for the Raiders and Warriors leaving Oakland?
Probably not, but it’s doubtful that the Raider owner fired the stadium’s janitors that allowed rodents to run rampant inside the facility
JoeBrady is seemingly a Red Sox fan living in Las Vegas who also somehow happens to root for the Raiders. You can tell he tries to have an agenda against Oakland.
raiders refused to pay rent on the stadium which caused them not to have money is why they had to sue the raiders for back rent.
Those are 100% different situations. Warriors left to build their own stadium to bring in music acts. They are now the richest team in the NBA because of vision. Raider left for the free $2 billion stadium Vegas residents are paying for. Who would not take $2 billion if it is given to you.
MLBTR had an LOL moment on the two early rainouts. Brewers play the Mets tomorrow at 1:40 ET (not CT); Braves and Phillies follow at 3:05 ET (not CT).
Hey, Chucky. Every time a game or TV show is on, it’s always ET. You might want to realize that there are other zones in the US, like four in the lower 48. I hope.mlbtr continues listing the games in CT. Stop being an eastern snob.
Okay Mr. Rubenstein, you have had about 24 hours to get yourself situated, so where the **** is the Adley extension?
He does have a press conference in 40 minutes haha
While it’s easy to say this is an East Coast bias, most national media lists EST as the time standard when addressing start times of games, shows, etc. I’d assume MLBTR despite having a heavy central writer’s core, would presumably not want to be known as a local thing. Listing CT as start times, especially in reference to games starting on the east coast is very odd and seems unprofessional to me. Food for thought.
“Unprofessional”? Definitely East Coast bias/selfcenteredness.
This specious “food for thought” was worth about 5 seconds of digestion, then thorough expectoration.
Hint: add one hour to CT, and you can begin to figure out ET.
(From an East Coaster.)
Hint if you go by how national media lists things, they do so by EST because it’s the first time zone in the States. Most big sporting events start on EST time for a reason. So yes going by anything else is always odd and stands out. Also “hint” I know how to add and subtract, that’s not point.
Not if you live in Arizona, S. Indiana, or México, like me!
TLDR: Entitled east coaster complains about having to do time zone math for the first time
ESPN indicates that there are 276 players on the Injured List to begin the season. That just does not seem possible. But as the late great Yogi Berra once said, “opening day is always exciting whether your at home or on the road”!
Happy opening day!…MLB auctions has an Angel’s game used Anthony Rendon jersey up for bid. I didn’t think those existed?
Dark horse MVP candidate
MIP (Most Injured Player) candidate.
Take me out to the ball game…
Good things await us all. That, and the Monday extrapolation “if he continues on this pace he will hit 122 home runs and drive in 356.”
Hello one and all!
Going to go home later, take a 4-hour nap, and tell my spouse to wake me at 10:10 for the RS game.
Joe – You mean she will wake you up at 9:10 PM CT.
He’s gonna miss OD intros! It should be 19:50 PST.
Scratch that. 18:50 PST! Hell… I’m not even going to risk taking a nap.
Tell your wife that John Fisher’s A’s play at 7:00 PM PST, too.
Feels good, man….
Watching burnsey get lit up should be fun. Not a big game pitcher
Baseball is back!
Missed it!!
Didn’t opening day used to be an all-day thing? We had games on all day long. This year they have almost all starting at the same time. Did they let Google AI make this schedule?
I got moderated and taken out for calling John Fisher an A sshole. I’ll live with myself