Opening Week March 30-April1

After much anticipation the MLB season is underway and it was an exciting opening weekend!

The action aside, a few teams made some financial commitments to protect the core of their lineups. The Cleveland Guardians committed to 2B Andres Gimenez with a 7 year $106.5 million extension after a his breakout 2022 season. The Guardians are notoriously stingy with their money and locking up the 24 year old to bolster their already young core of players is a smart money move for a team always in contention. On the other hand, the San Diego Padres seem to have an open check book and an endless amount of money as they extended Jake Cronenworth to a 7 year $80 Million contract. This is just the most recent financial move the Friars have made in an effort to keep its core guys (including a handful of superstars) together in a commitment to bring San Diego its first ever World Series. Cronenworth, an underrated piece of this Padres team, has been a mainstay at 1B in San Diego and brings a consistent left handed bat and extreme versatility as he can play virtually every position. San Diego's newfound wealth could also bring an extension to Juan Soto in the near future and, dare I say, Shohei Ohtani could be wearing the brown pinstripes soon. The Padres are spending at an unheard of rate and it's tough to even consider this a small market team anymore.

MLB's new rules were on full display on opening weekend. Aside from the Rangers vs. Phillies series where Texas scored a total of 29 runs matching up against the Phillies two aces and Bailey Falter, pace of play was more on par with what MLB wanted to happen. On opening day, a day where every team played for the first time since 1968, baserunners went 21 of 23 on stolen base attempts. Last year, there was only one day with more stolen base attempts (24) and this happened one day into the season. Opening day showed 14 pitch clock violations spread largely amongst pitchers, although Rafael Devers was victimized by a called strike three due his own clock violation. There is a learning curve for everyone and it will take some time to get used to these changes for good. The fans in Seattle had a bit of fun with Guardians pitcher James Karinchak after a violation when they counted down the pitch clock to ensure his success in enemy territory. Karinchak needed a bit more help than the verbal count-down as Seattle's offense knocked him around a bit.

Importantly, and as the intent behind these rule changes, game times were reduced by an average of 26 minutes compared to last years opening day. In just a small sample size for the regular season, the MLB must be happy with the immediate result.

Baseball fans could revel in the action after another long offseason and should not be disappointed with the overall performance. Of note, reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge picked up right where he left off taking a pitch over the center field wall in his first at-bat of the season marking the first home run in all of baseball for 2023. He added another HR on Sunday as he chases his 62 HR performance from a season ago. Adley Rutschmann and George Springer were near impossible to get out as they each finished with 5 hits on opening day and are making an early run at a batting title. Trayce Thompson is giving Aaron Judge a run for his money having a 3 HR , 8 RBI night on Saturday against the D-Backs. Wrapping up the offensive highlights, the first walk off HR of the season belongs to Adam Duvall and the Red Sox when an outfield blunder led to Duvall knocking his second home run of the game and putting the Red Sox in the win column for the first time.

Opening day means aces take the hill, but on a pitch count! Making an early push for the Cy Young award on opening weekend are largely recognizable names. Gerrit Cole (6 Innings, 11 K's), Shohei Ohtani (6 innings, 10 K's), Luis Castillo (6 innings, 1 Hit, 6 K's), Spencer Strider (6 innings, 9 K's, 1 impressive mustache), and Jeffery Springs (6 innings allowing only one baserunner via the walk, and striking out 12) dominated for their respective teams. Remember Jeffery Springs' name, this Rays rotation is as strong as ever and Springs could be a huge part throughout the year.

The highly anticipated debuts of two Japanese pitchers resulted in two very different outcomes. Oakland's Shintaro Fujinami was dominating the Angels for the first 2 innings on Saturday striking out 4 batters including Mike Trout. Unfortunately for Fujinami, Oakland let him go back out in the 3rd inning where he walked 3 batters, gave up 5 hits, and allowed 8 runs while only recording 1 out in the inning before he was pulled. His fellow rookie countryman in New York, Kodai Senga, looked brilliant in his first outing against the Marlins on Sunday. After a rough start allowing back to back hits, a wild pitch, and 2 walks, Senga settled in after allowing a lone run. Senga went 5.1 innings giving up 1 earned run and recording 8 K's.

The weekend brought with it a lot of good baseball and hopefully satisfied a void for all you baseball fans who miss the game over the winter. I spent the weekend consuming as much baseball as possible and we were not disappointed. It's early and the first series means very little in this 162 game season. If your team is at the bottom of the standings, just remember, Houston was a .500 team until May 2022 when they went on to win 106 games and a World Series.

--Cyrus Beermann

--Max Beermann