Opening Day is always eventful and this was seemed particularly eventful and awesome. It started right from the first pitch with Ian Happ homering in Marlins Park and continued throughout the day, with three games going to extra innings and three home teams winning in walk-off fashion.
Another thing Opening Day -- and the first few weeks, really -- brings is overreactions. We baseball die-hards know damn well how dumb it is to make sweeping judgments based upon 1/162 of the season. It's a marathon and one game doesn't come close of scratching the surface to what the season will bring.
Still, we like to judge things, right? Let's run through possible overreactions that could be heard around baseball fandom and be all 2018 with it, labeling each either as a "real" overreaction or a "fake news" overreaction.
Giancarlo Stanton coming for the HR record
Verdict: Fake News.
Stanton didn't waste much time putting his stamp on the Yankees. He homered in his first-ever at-bat for the Bronx Bombers and later added another monster shot. He'll play half his games in a more hitter-friendly ballpark than Marlins Park this year, too, so coming off a 59-homer season in a more star-studded lineup, we're bound to see people start going crazy over him.
Rightfully so, too. He's the best power hitter in baseball and will continue to be. It's just ... man. The home run record is 73. Stanton did hit 59 last year, but his previous career high was 37. He only hit 27 each in 2015 and 2016. Now, one might point out those were injury-shortened seasons and I know this. Herein lies the rub. From 2012-2016, here are Stanton's games played: 123, 116, 145, 74, 119.
Stanton very well could play in 159 games this season as he did last year. If so, it's entirely possible he works up into the 60s in homers. I'm not seeing either, though. His history suggests there will be an injury impact, in which case mark me down for mid-40s in home runs (which is still awesome and he's still so much fun to watch).
LOL SCHWARBER. Wait, OMG SCHWARBER
Verdict: Fake News.
Polarizing players are gonna polarize. We got it all in one game with Cubs slugger Kyle Schwarber. No beating around the bush, he made a fool of himself in left field early in the game, helping the Marlins come back from a three-run deficit to the tie the game.
You know how some players have a penchant to get all their big hits when everyone is watching (somewhat like Schwarber, really)? He seems to have his biggest debacles when more people are watching. Whether the NLCS against the Mets in 2015, his awful misplay against the Nats in the NLDS last year or Opening Day Thursday when the Cubs-Marlins game was the only one on, the people who think Schwarber is a total clown in the outfield keep getting their material spoon fed to them. The reality is that he's not good in left field and never will be. He's bad, in fact. He's just not as horrifyingly HOLY LOL that many seem to believe and everyone who sees him regularly knows he's just run-of-the-mill not good.
Of course, later in the game, Schwarber clubbed a no-doubt home run. So then we get the opposite end of the spectrum people coming out of the woodwork to talk about how much of a monster season he's going to have.
Let's meet in the middle. Schwarber is going to have a very good season with the bat, likely hitting mid-to-high 30s in home runs. He's not going to be hitting .300 with a .400 OBP, though. He's bad on defense, but not to the point that he should never play outfield in order to get his bat in the lineup.
It's all in the middle. Settle down.
Red Sox bullpen will be a problem
Verdict: Fake News.
Joe Kelly had a complete meltdown and Carson Smith didn't help matters, as the two combined to allow six earned runs on three hits and four walks in the eighth inning to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on Thursday.
I wouldn't be too worried about this as an anomaly right now, though.
Matt Barnes had a fine outing pre-meltdown and lock-down closer Craig Kimbrel was on deck to end the game. In between, Kelly just had a terrible outing and Smith was put in a very tough position. It happens. Plus, Smith only worked in eight games last season after returning from Tommy John surgery. Kelly is generally fickle, but ended up with a 2.79 ERA, 3.49 FIP and 1.19 WHIP last season.
This isn't the Yankees bullpen or anything, but other than the loss being a punch to the gut, there isn't much more to make of things.
Trout might not be as great this year
Verdict: Fake News.
No reason to discuss much here. Trout went 0-6. It happens even to the best, because he is and will continue to be the best.
The Astros, Cubs and Yankees are awesome
Verdict: Real
They won't go 162-0 or make it look easy everyday, but these are three of the elite teams in baseball and looked the part on Opening Day.
Noah Syndergaard is a beast
Verdict: Real
OK, so we actually have to point out off the top that Syndergaard gave up four runs in six innings, which is a 6.00 ERA. That might actually be acceptable, though, because he didn't do anything unsustainably ridiculous.
This time around, Thor did strike out 10 without walking anyone. As he continues to work back into the swing of things -- this was his first start in the majors at full-go since April 30 (he made two starts in the last two weeks last season, but only went one inning in the first and two in the second) -- he'll shake off the rust and get more dominant.
Syndergaard had a 1.73 ERA with 30 strikeouts against zero walks in 26 innings in his first four starts last season. He's every bit that damn good. It's just a question of keeping him off the disabled list.
Carlos Martinez had a worrisome outing
Verdict: Fake News.
Cardinals ace and two-time All-Star Carlos Martinez was opposite Syndergaard on Opening Day and had a rough outing. His command eluded him and he allowed four runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings, with six walks to boot.
This isn't big-picture-worrisome. It's what Martinez is and will continue to be. He's a very good pitcher who at times just completely loses his command and/or control. He had an eight-walk game last April 15. He walked five in five innings last August 1. He'll bounce back. After that Aug. 1 start last year, he went eight scoreless innings with zero walks and seven strikeouts. His first start last season was 7 1/3 scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts and zero walks.
He'll settle in as a very good starting pitcher again. He's just not likely to take that next step into top-five Cy Young discussions.
Watch out for the upstart A's!
Verdict: Real!
A few people, including myself, have been touting the A's as a sneaky sleeper in the AL to make a possible run at a wild card. They fell behind to the Angels on Thursday, trailing 4-0 heading to the bottom of the fifth. They would get a three-run shot from Khris Davis and then Matt Olson immediately followed with a game-tying blast. The Angels would grab a 5-4 lead in the sixth, only to see the A's tie it in the seventh and then get the walk-off win with a Marcus Semien single in the 11th.
They were feisty. Plucky! Gritty and grindy!
The bullpen worked six scoreless innings, too.
Great win for the A's. We shouldn't overreact, obviously, but what you saw here were some of the elements we liked heading into the season. The A's have the type of power that can quickly turn a game on its head and there's decent upside in the pitching staff to be had.
I still wouldn't change my second AL wild card pick from the Angels to the A's (after one game I'd be a moron to do so), but I do think the A's stick around and bug the crap out of the contenders this year.
White Sox have crazy power
Verdict: Fake News (kind of!).
This reminds me of when Kramer says his truck driver is the best and the truck driver isn't comfortable with that and says, "let's just say: 'Good.'"
There's some legitimate talent here and some more that's on the way. We could well see Jose Abreu again work up into the 30s in home runs with the likes of Avisail Garcia, Matt Davidson and Tim Anderson ranging from the mid-teens up into maybe the high-20s in homers. Perhaps Yoan Moncada joins them while Eloy Jimenez comes up at some point and is the real deal.
There's good potential here in the White Sox's offense for sure. They just need so much to break right to be a legitimate upper-tier offensive ballclub this season.
They will be fun, though, and we're bound to see a few more explosions like we saw on Opening Day.
The Royals are bad
Verdict: Real.
Yes, especially without Salvador Perez for about a month. Doesn't mean they can't win this series against the White Sox, but the Royals are likely in for a long season.
Dodgers offense is in trouble without Turner
Verdict: Fake News.
Being shut out on Opening Day when trying to erase the stain of a World Series loss last fall had to hurt. It's even worse when you consider it came against Ty Blach and a Giants bullpen missing closer Mark Melancon. The Dodgers managed six hits and really only threatened once.
It's one game, though, and even with Justin Turner injured, the Dodgers have plenty of capable hitters. Chris Taylor, Corey Seager, Yasiel Puig, Enrique Hernandez and Cody Bellinger hit 1-5 in this one, and they combined to go 0 for 17 with eight strikeouts. That's a terrible night. Just brutal. The talent in there is too good to continue to have nights like those. As I've said several times through this post, it happens. This is baseball. It's a marathon. Teams recover from bad starts. These Dodgers will.
King Felix is back!
Verdict: Fake News.
But ...
King Felix is good again
Verdict: Real.
Prime Felix Hernandez, who won a Cy Young and could have justifiably won three, is never coming back. He's already logged over 2,500 innings and there's just so much tread on those tires to expect to ever see something like his 2010 or 2014 seasons again. That's why saying he's "back" would be overdoing it.
What we saw on Thursday night against a good Indians lineup is something we can work with, though. The Mariners icon allowed only two hits, both singles, in 5 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out four and walking two.
The 83 pitches against only 48 strikes was a bit concerning, but he induced weak contact all night from a team with plenty of guys who can square the ball up -- this with a shortened spring training due to missing time after being hit by a line drive. After his injury-riddled 4.36 ERA (98 ERA+) last season, it was nice to see.
Overall, it had to be a very encouraging outing for the Mariners, and I'm buying Hernandez working himself into a quality 2018 season.
Again, we can't say he's "back," but what he can be this year is still a very good starting pitcher.
