If I were a petty person, I would start this blog with the fact that my co-founder tweeted twice during Opening Day at 8 a.m. and then never acknowledged the holiday again. For someone who uses “we” and “my” when referring to the Yankees, you would think he would have said something about their remarkable comeback and the new pieces they acquired playing amazing. But saying that would be below me so I won’t do it.
Instead, I am going to give some quick highlights from the day. First, it was fantastic to see baseball Twitter alive again. Everyone was tweeting about their teams, and many of the players who had been silent lately also hopped on.
What I Loved
The Boston Red Sox
Obviously, this is a very biased number one, but the fact that I stayed up until almost 1 a.m. and wasn’t heartbroken was equivalent to ten wins in my mind. Bello looked solid, Devers went oppo, Story played good defense, and O’Neil homered, making it five straight opening days that he has done so. Rafaela looked great in the field but not so great on the base paths. Look, I by no means think this team is going to make a deep playoff run, but I will enjoy every second that they aren’t getting killed.
Diamondbacks and Orioles
It is fun to see these two young teams, who were so great last year, come out of the gate strong. The Orioles were the only game on for a while, so I watched the majority of it, and that team can sure rake. Their lineup is deep, and that is with an MLB team in AAA.
I did not get to watch as much of this game as the Red Sox came on, but I followed the 14-run inning on Twitter and was impressed. Sadly for Brett, his boy Carroll was the only starter without a hit. It will be fun to watch this team, especially when they get Eduardo Rodriguez and Jordan Montgomery going.
MLB TV Quad Box/ MLB Network Back On Hulu Live TV
I forget what they are calling it, but essentially, it’s NFL Red Zone. I watched most of the late-afternoon games this way and absolutely loved it. It makes doing what I do much easier. Whenever the Red Sox are not playing, this will be the way I consume the games.
The second part was a pleasant surprise. For years, we have not had MLB Network after switching to Hulu Live TV. Yesterday, out of nowhere, it returned. It's just another way for me to consume more baseball content!
Things I Didn’t Love
Justin Steele Injury
With all of the great MLB pitchers on the IL to start the season, it was tough to see the Cubs ace go down early. They are saying it is a hamstring strain that will most likely require an IL stint. The league will eventually need to start addressing all these pitchers getting hurt.
Home Plate Umpires.
The call in the Rangers vs. Cubs game was horrendous. It was a clear foul ball, and the ump called it a passed ball on Jonah Heim. The Cubs took the lead, but the ball doesn’t lie. Rangers came back, and Heim ended up walking it off.
The home plate ump in the Red Sox v Mariners game was also terrible, and they missed some pretty egregious calls at the start. I am not pro robo ump yet, but I am starting to want it more and more.
Brett Not Tweeting Opening Day
This is a hypothetical, of course. I would never stoop so low as to call him out in my blog, but if Brett were not to tweet on the biggest baseball day, it would have to make this list.
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