April 1, 2021

Opening Day (Without The Red Sox)

Did NESN ESPN miss the first pitch of the season?


Snow Dong. With A Slide.

Factoids from Doug Kern (linescores inserted by me):
Royals: Never scored 5+ runs in their first inning of a season (1969-2020).
Rangers/Senators: Never scored 5+ runs in their first inning of a season (1961-2020).
Cardinals: Never scored 6+ runs in their first inning of a season (modern era, 1900-2020).
Then today happened

Luis Castillo: First Reds pitcher to surrender 10 runs and strike out 0 opponents (any # IP) since Dan Serafini at STL, Sep 6 2003 (L 6-13).

Jonathan India: First player to make his MLB debut with the Reds on Opening Day and have a multi-hit game since Tony Gonzalez, Apr 12 1960.
Texas     - 512 001 001 - 10 15  3
Royals - 502 300 31x - 14 15  0
Cardinals - 610 400 000 - 11 10  0
Reds - 102 120 000 - 6 10  2
Last time Cubs scored 3+ runs on ≤ 2 hits without benefit of a homer: May 8 1966 at Shea. Two bunts, a stolen base, and an error come into play.

Ke'Bryan Hayes: First player in Pirates history (1882) to hit a 2-run homer as the team's second batter of a season.
Pirates - 210 010 100 - 5  9  2
Cubs - 101 000 010 - 3  2  0
Max Kepler: First player (any team) to go single-double-triple in a season opener on the road since BOS Jose Offerman at KC, Apr 5 1999.

Rays: First 1-0 win in a season opener in team history.

Matt Boyd: Second Opening Day starter in Tigers history to strike out ≤ 2, walk 4+, and still get a win. Joe Coleman, also at CLE, Apr 10 1976. Second Tigers pitcher to throw multiple wild pitches in a season opener. Other was George Mullin... in 1910.

Matt Boyd & Shane Bieber: First opposing Opening Day starters in modern era to each throw multiple wild pitches in the same game.

12+ K in season opener, [Cleveland] history:
Shane Bieber 2021
Shane Bieber 2020
Gary Bell 1960

12+ K and 2+ WPs in same game, [Cleveland] history:
Shane Bieber, Thu vs DET (L 2-3)
Herb Score, May 2 1959 vs NYY (W 5-2)
Herb Score, May 1 1957 vs WSH (ND 7-6)

Yankees' last extra-inning loss in a season opener: Apr 11 1982 vs CHW, Bill Almon tripled to lead off the 12th.

Alex Colomé: First pitcher in Brewers history to hit a batter, commit an error, allow 0 earned runs, yet still blow a save.

Diamondbacks: First team in MLB history to hit four home runs in the same inning of a season opener [Ketel Marte, Asdrubal Cabrera, Tim Locastro, Stephen Vogt]. First time in their own history hitting 4 HR in an inning in ANY game and losing it.

Yu Darvish: First pitcher ever to allow 8+ hits and 2+ homers in his first appearance with the Padres and NOT take a loss. Last of seven to do it AND take a loss was Brett Kennedy in 2018.
Diamondbacks - 100 060 000 - 7 12  0
Padres - 023 101 10x - 8 10  1
Walkoff win in season opener, Phillies since 1901:
Thu vs ATL (Jean Segura 1B in 10th)
Apr 1 2011 vs HOU (John Mayberry 1B in 9th)
Apr 6 1974 vs NYM (Mike Schmidt HR in 9th)
Apr 12 1916 vs NYG (Sailor Stroud WP in 9th)

Fourth time in Marlins history they've been shut out in a season opener.
Apr 1 2021 vs TB (L 0-1, 3 hits)
Apr 1 2013 at WSH (L 0-2, 3 hits)
Apr 3 2006 at HOU (L 0-1, 5 hits)
Apr 1 1996 vs PIT (L 0-4, 3 hits)

Ryan M. Spaeder @theaceofspaeder tweets:
Pitchers with at least 2,000 strikeouts and 20 home runs at-bat:
Bob Gibson*
Don Drysdale*
Warren Spahn*
Walter Johnson*
*Hall of Famer
#Dbacks Madison Bumgarner hit his 20th career homer earlier, and he is now just 170 strikeouts shy of joining this short list of legends.

Jayson Stark reports that PECOTA projects the Dodgers to score 944 runs this season. In case you are wondering, 944 is a fuckton of runs (for a team playing without a DH, as god intended).

In 2018 and 2019, the Dodgers won 102 and 107 games and scored 804 and 886 runs (with a DH in 10 interleague games each season). In 2020, Los Angeles had a full-time DH and, in playing at a 116-win pace, scored 349 times, which works out to 942.3 over a full season.

Here is the list of (completely DH free) National League teams that have scored 944+ runs in the last 90 years:
1953 Dodgers  -  955
1996 Rockies  -  961
2000 Rockies  -  968

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