Can you smell that! That’s the smell of a return of regular season baseball after months of the MLB front office teasing the players and fans that they would be back soon but now everything in baseball is back to normal except for fan capacity. Enough introductions let’s get to the games.
Giants at Dodgers: This series was a tale of 2 games. In the first 2 games the Giants pitching staff had no answers for the Dodger lineup especially Max Muncy. But in the next two games the LA bullpen couldn’t hold a lead at the end of those games against a San Francisco team without Buster Posey. I think the Dodgers needed a wake up call in this series so they can stop hyping themselves and just play the games.
Diamondbacks at Padres: The Padres look like the team that everyone in the San Diego area thought they could be at the beginning of summer camp. In the 4 game series this past weekend against a wild card favorite in the Diamondbacks they showed why. Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis, and Wil Myers had huge games on Friday, Saturday, and Monday afternoon. Also Chris Paddack looks like the first Padres pitcher since Jake Peavy to be in Cy Young contention. Also when did Eric Hosmer return to 2015 form.
Twins at White Sox: The Minnesota Bamba Squad has clearly made their case of being a true World Series contender this season by beating up on their division rivals on the South Side despite the starting rotation getting destroyed in the series. How did the Twins beat the White Sox you ask? Simple Home Runs and lots of them! Max Kepler looks like he can be the power hitting leadoff man that they thought Byron Buxton could be a few years ago. Plus the ChiSox couldn’t get Nelson Cruz out either. This is what I call a “Display of Power”.
Blue Jays at Rays: The first game of this series was the Blue Jays beating up Charlie Morton in almost every single inning to the point where Rays fans were like “Oh No, Here we go again!” Instead Tampa pulled out tight wins in Games 2 and 3. Game 3 featured Ji Man Choi hitting his first Home Run batting from the right side. Turns out the Rays might have their first switch hit beast since Ben Zobrist a few years ago. The Rays won that game on an extra inning triple by Kevin Kiermaier. That’s exactly what the doctor ordered for this small market success story.
Marlins at Phillies: Well even with a new manager in Joe Girardi, the back end of the Phillies rotation will continue to give up Home Runs left and right. In games 1 and 3 that was the case. The Marlins were right so far on the fact the Don Mattingly thinks they are going to be better than people think they are. But it is a long season even if it is only 60 games, with Jonathan Villar, Jesus Aguilar, and Corey Dickerson along with Brian Anderson who knows what they can do. That is until it was confirmed that half of their team had COVID and the MLB postponed their games and the Phillies until next Monday and for Philadelphia till Friday night. The Phillies would have played the Yankees and the Marlins would have played host to the Orioles. They just don’t want to shut down baseball again. I need to make another document on this story don’t I.
Yankees at Nationals: Speaking of the Yankees how are they doing!?
John Sterling: “Ballgame over, Yankees win! THAAAAAAAA YANKEES WIN!”
That’s exactly what I expected to happen opening weekend. If it weren’t for mother nature in Game 1 Gerrit Cole would have gone the distance in his Yankee debut, and despite a Game 2 defeat the Bronx Bombers won a close 1 run game on Sunday to win their first series of the year. Giancarlo Stanton looks like he is back to his old 2017 form, and Gleybor Torres is once again proving why he is one of the best 5 tool players in the game. #ClassicYankees!
Orioles at Red Sox: What a difference one game makes! In the first game the Orioles pitching staff was getting crushed all over Fenway Park and it looked like the O’s would be in for a long series. Instead the Birds roughed up Boston in Games 2 and 3 thanks to strong bats and the pitching staff limiting the damage unlike that Friday night game. Looks like Jose Igelsias is back to his old form in Detroit, Anthony Santander is playing up to his potential, they still have 2 of the top prospects that have yet to make their major league debuts, and what is going on with Chris Davis, he has only struck out once and has been robbed of hits again and again. I will say everything so far has gone their way, that is until one of their superfans Mo Gaba died this past week of cancer, on the same day he was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame. I will say though to be blind since he was 9 months old and to survive almost 13 years of this was a miracle. At least OJ Brigance is still alive right.
Brewers vs. Cubs: Other than Game 2, the Brewers were dominated by the Cubs all weekend and couldn’t solve Anthony Rizzo or Ian Happ, this was exactly why I thought that David Ross would turn the Cubs pitching staff back to 2015 and 2016 form. Kyle Hendricks pitched a 3 hit shutout in Game 1, as well as Tyler Chatwood limiting Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, the rest of the Milwaukee offense to 3 hits as well. I told you that Cubs would be good again!
Tigers at Reds: Daybreak, Cincinnati: The entire city, and its diehard Reds fans have taken the Cubs arrogance from a few years ago, offseason champions, a rotation of star power, a great hitting lineup, a top tier bullpen. They look like a World Series contender they all said! Game 1 showed us why. Paused. That is until you realize that the Tigers played comeback on Saturday and Sunday. Miguel Cabrera and CJ Cron crushed the Reds hyped pitching staff all weekend and despite the Reds offense like Joey Votto and Mike Moustakas playing long ball, they lost their opening series to what many people thought would be the worst team in baseball. It doesn’t help when you have to play the Cubs after this series.
Pirates at Cardinals: Excluding a narrow Pittsburgh win in Game 3, this series was dominated by the Cardinals ability to go deep. They played long ball in the first game, and brought back “Whitey Ball” in the second game with singles, hit and runs, and stolen bases. Once again we have another year where the St. Louis Cardinals are loaded. As a fan of a division rival this scares me.
Braves at Mets: Jacob Degrom has once again shut down everything in sight and the return of Yoenis Cespedes gives the orange and blue, but in the next 2 games the Mets happened! They weren’t able to stop Marcell Ozuna and the rest of a Braves team without Freddie Freeman. Turns out losing Noah Syndergaard again is a death blow to the rotation. I think Thor is using steroids.
Rockies at Rangers: An exciting event is taking place in Dallas. The Rangers are opening their new ballpark but too bad no one can go in the stadium yet. As for the games themselves it was a back and forth series that one team had to lose. In this case it was the Rangers. Not being able to stop the Rockies lineup as they torched the rotation on Saturday and Sunday. Different Ballpark, SAME OLD RANGERS!
Angels at Athletics: This season was very dramatic especially when the opening game ends on a Walk Off Grand Slam. From there the A’s took advantage of the opportunity and crushed the hype machine known as the Angels. The guy that hit the slam had a big series as well. Matt Olson did exactly that and the rest of the team followed his lead. The good news for Mike Trout and the Angels is that they can come home and beat up a trash team after this series.
Mariners at Astros: Early in the first game we all thought the Astros would be whiffing at everything since they could steal signs but then: BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG you get my point. Other than the series finale the Stros roughed up the M’s convincingly and told baseball that “we can win fair and square”. Prove it Houston in the playoffs!
Royals at Indians: Lets see here the Tribe think they can still compete for an AL Central title without their ace and rumors about trading Francisco Lindor, or a name change or whatever, Cleveland began it’s road to a return to the playoffs by beating up on a tanking division rival in the Royals. Looks like Lindor or Jose Ramirez don’t have to do all the work now because they have a new force at second base in Cesar Hernandez who is so far living up to the potential they had on him since he left Philadelphia. Insane!
Bragging Rights Sports 
This is awesome buddy!
LikeLike