Opening Weekend— Now the Season is ON!
With opening weekend gone and past, we celebrate the return of baseball. I know we are only two series into the season, but how you start the season is what sets the mood as a fan. If your team starts hot, you’re pumped for summer baseball. If not, you want to trade the whole roster. Every game counts, but do you need to panic after the opening weekend? Probably not. But, here are my genuine reactions and my totally unhinged (but entertaining nonetheless) overreactions to the opening week.
Reactions
The Yankees Look Good, but Can They Pitch Their Way to an AL East Title without Cole?
The Bronx Bombers got their season off to a bang with an emphatic four game sweep of their hated playoff rivals, the Houston Astros. They came from behind in three of those four games, and the bullpen bent but never broke as they were able to get off to their best start since 1992. Yankees newcomer Juan Soto was particularly clutch; going 9 for 17- a HR and 4 RBIs, with a rocket of an outfield assist to preserve a one-run lead in the second game of the year. What’s important moving forward is the health of their stars, most notably Gerrit Cole, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton. The bullpen is good enough, but if the Yankees can keep they stars relatively healthy, they can compete with Baltimore for the division.
The Arizona Diamondbacks Will Challenge the Dodgers for the Division
Arizona has set a franchise and opening day record by becoming the 5th team to score 14 runs in one frame. They did that without hitting a single homerun, which I think this a perfect example of how the Diamondbacks are built to single and double teams to death. They have a ton of speed and versatility in a lineup that makes a ton of contact and really doesn’t strikeout much. Their pitching additions will come into play later, with Eduardo Rodriguez being on the IL and Jordan Montgomery getting a late start to his spring, but I truly think that the Diamondbacks playoff run last year wasn’t a fluke and they’ll put a bit of pressure on the star studded Dodgers.
The NL Central Will Have Two Playoff Teams
I think, in a lot of people’s minds, (mine included) the NL Central is winnable with 85 wins. With how the division has started as a whole thus far, you might need 90+. Every team in the Central has gotten off to a .500 or better record thus far. The Pirates, who are off to their best start since 1983, have a good young core with rising stars Ke’Bryan Hayes and ONeil Cruz- who is one of my picks to have a breakout season. Combine that with a lockdown back end of the pen combo of Aroldis Chapman and David Bednar, and the Pirates are set up for sustained success this year. Milwaukee has a pitching factory and a much improved offense supplemented by the additions of Rhys Hoskins and top prospect Jackson Chourio. It will be interesting how they approach the trade deadline with a couple of key players such as Willy Adames set for free agency at the end of the year. The Cubs look about as good as they did last year, and then some. Shota Imanaga’s MLB debut was electric and he will be key for the Cubs early while Justin Steele recovers from a hamstring injury sustained on opening day. The Reds are also young, probably younger than the Pirates, but just as flush with talent. They have a plethora of good young players such as Elly de la Cruz, Will Benson, and Cristian Encarnacion-Strand. The Cardinals I will talk about in a second, but I think the second best out of these teams will earn a wild card spot.
Overreactions
The Cardinals Will Finish Last in the NL Central
So about those Cardinals….. I think the offseason approach has put them in the same boat as last year. The Cards have a bunch of veteran arms, but none outside of Sonny Gray is a 1 or 2 starter. That, combined with a pretty average bullpen, is going to cost them games. Their offense is on the back of two guys (Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt) who are starting to get up there in age. They have young guys with high ceilings such as Jordan Walker and Nonlan Gorman, but they need to show more consistency for me to believe in this team. I put them squarely behind every other central team at the moment and I think in the first week they showed they are no better than last year, and that will probably have them finish last.
The Astros Won’t Make the Playoffs
Houston we have a problem…. The Astros got swept at home, again. This time, to open the season at home they lost three very winnable games. Their rotation is banged up and that has stressed the bullpen. Also, they just seem to have lost that confidence and swagger we have seen over the last decade or so. We saw it in the playoffs last year when they were feuding with the Rangers rather than dominating like the have for the last 8 or so years. Most telling was thot they stranded too many runners in scoring position. As they have moved on from established players in favor of home grown talent, they seem to have become less successful with runners on base. Add that to the injuries in the rotation, this team will struggle in the competitive AL West.
The Angels Will Be in Contention for a Wild Card Spot
Hear me out. The Angels, despite losing Ohtani, will be in the hunt come October. I like the starting rotation they put together and they played solid to finish their series in Baltimore before going down to Miami to sweep the Marlins. Trout looks healthy, as does Taylor Ward. They have a lot of young pieces and an experienced manager in Ron Washington. I think they’ll be able to really make some noise in the AL with some of the injury concerns other teams have and the lessening of expectations. 2024 is the year Mike Trout is going to remind baseball why he is an all-time great.
By Jackson Westfall