Suggested Soundtrack: “Forward People,” Trey Anastasio
Opening Day is upon us again.
Technically, we had an ominous Opening Night game followed by an Opening Day of sorts last season. But it came in late July on the heels of a surreal pandemic-induced work stoppage and, well, the whole thing was kind of bizarre.
No, this is an Opening Day as it was truly meant to be: a signal of early spring as the sport kicks off its season in full with a long 162-game road unfurling in front of each team over the next 6 months.
It all kicks off in just 24 hours and I, reader, cannot wait.
We’re still in the midst of the pandemic which will surely make itself felt, still, this season with players sidelined due to COVID-19 and varying — and potentially fluctuating — standards about fans in stadiums. But I remain hopeful that as the season moves along, COVID-19 will become less of a storyline both in baseball and in our day-to-day lives.
So I’m very excited to be able to dive right into the season — and even more excited to be fully vaccinated with a ticket to the Home Opener here in Cleveland on April 5. Can. Not. Wait.
Some notes on MLB’s Opening Day (and Weekend) schedule this year:
No Opening Night game this year which I have 0 feelings about. It’s always fun to get a big-time match-up to lift the curtain on the season but I also don’t feel we’re missing out on anything by not having one.
The Day 2 Drop-off is a bummer. After all 30 teams open the season on April 1, over half the league gets April 2 off with only 6 games. I reckon MLB has their reasons (extra rest to start the year?) but it’s still a bit of a bummer. Hashtag shrug emoji.
The lack of primetime games on Opening Day is also a disappointment. I get it: ESPN runs the day’s marquee matchup — Mets vs Nationals — to a national audience with no competition. But given how heavily loaded the early schedule is, I’d love to see one or two other games slide into that window simply for variety’s sake.
The MLB’s TV blackout rules are still outdated and still suck.
Okay, enough with the airing of grievances. Whatever the case is, baseball is back in a big way and that’s what matters. I’ve put together a bit of a viewers guide, dividing the games into 3 windows — Early Afternoon, Late Afternoon and Late Night (East Coast bias!) — with Prime Time standing on its own because, again, only one game.
There are 49 games from Thursday afternoon through Sunday night, but this is all about the 15 games opening the season tomorrow in a 12-hour marathon of hardball.
Enjoy them all and welcome back, baseball.
Early Afternoon
Must-watch: Blue Jays at Yankees, 1:05 pm
The Jays are going all in this season after paying out big bucks for George Springer and Marcus Semien to supplement a promising young team (Bichette, Vlad Jr., Pearson). But there’s the buzzsaw that is the Yankees and their dynamite lineup waiting for them and on Opening Day, no less. Depending on what the Rays do, this is probably the battle for the AL East this season.
Flip around: Cleveland at Tigers, 1:10 pm; Twins at Brewers, 2:10 pm; Pirates at Cubs, 2:20 pm
The Twins-Brewers game feels like the best of these three games with the Twins ready to make another run in a shifting AL Central and the Brewers, if healthy, poised to compete in the NL Central once again. Maeda versus Woodruff is gonna be a fun pitching match-up to watch, too.
Cleveland spent the offseason announcing a team name change (yay!) and trading away the extraordinarily talented and popular face of the franchise, Francisco Lindor (boo!). There’s still a lot to watch here, though, including a rotation led by Cy Young stud Shane Bieber. Meanwhile, the Tigers are rebuilding but have a lot of young talent that could make a little bit of noise in the division this season and maybe return some luster to this divisional rivalry. Just don’t expect much offense with Bieber on the mound and temps barely above freezing.
Finally, there’s the Pirates-Cubs NL Central match-up which, I don’t know, sure. Ke’Bryan Hayes is reason enough for excitement if you’re a Buccos fan. As for the Cubs, well, if you’re a fan, you head into this season with a gloomy feeling even though PECOTA projects them in the thick of the playoff race. Tune in for the Kris Bryant Farewell Tour, if nothing else.
Fans-only: Orioles at Red Sox, 2:10 pm
The Red Sox would feel like a team much better poised to bounce back a bit if it weren’t for the loaded division in front of them. Meanwhile, the Orioles are young and kinda frisky, managing to squeak past the Sox last year and out of the AL East basement.
Late Afternoon
Must-watch: Atlanta at Phillies, 3:05 pm; Diamondbacks at Padres, 4:10 pm
The Atlanta-Philly game is the undercard of two must-watch matchups in the NL East on Opening Day and it’s very much well worth your time. Atlanta is going to be very, very good again with two of the best players in the Majors (Acuna, Freeman) and Philly absolutely has the talent to compete for a wild card spot, if not be outright pesky to Atlanta and the Mets in a race to the top of the division, which is going to be one of the more wide-open, fun divisions for the season ahead.
The Diamondbacks are fine, sure, but the main attraction here is a Padres team that has only ADDED to their loaded team from 2020 by acquiring two pitchers who were top aces on their respective staffs (Darvish from the Cubs and Snell from the Rays). The NL West is going to resemble the Yankees-Red Sox arms race of the early 2000s but without the Yankees and Red Sox. Glorious. Tatis alone is worth the watch.
Flip around: Dodgers at Rockies, 4:10 pm; Cardinals at Reds, 4:10 pm; Rays at Marlins, 4:10 pm
Speaking of! The Dodgers are the defending champs, the best team on paper, and a pure juggernaut after adding Trevor Bauer. The Rockies, meanwhile, had a nuclear meltdown of an offseason which included getting burned in a trade for their best player. This could get ugly so it is absolutely a fun watch.
The NL Central is, like most years, a pretty wide-open race. Any team except Pittsburgh could walk away with the title and no one would be shocked. The Reds and Cardinals are definitely two of those teams! St. Louis was the beneficiary of the aforementioned Rockies fleecing of Nolan Arenado and they’ve also got Devil Magick on their side while the Reds have several young stars, an ace in Luis Castillo, and they added Sean Doolittle who we’re a fan of.
As for the Battle of Florida, Tampa seems to win no matter what players they switch in. Yes, they lost ace Blake Snell after manager Kevin Cash’s Game 7 Decision That Will Be Forever Second-Guessed. But they also have Tyler Glasnow and Wander Franco, the top prospect in baseball. There’s also 2020 postseason hero Randy Arozarena, but the young star has the dark cloud of domestic abuse allegations hovering over him. As for the Marlins, their starting second basemen in 2021 is named Jazz, he’s good and he’s on my fantasy baseball team. But the Fish also have a relatively healthy lineup and another prospect waiting to breakthrough in Sixto Sanchez.
Fans-only: Rangers at Royals, 4:10 pm
The Rangers are still punks for getting mad about Tatis’ grand slam that one game last year and play in a giant Costco of a park. That’s all I really got.
Prime Time
Must-watch: Mets at Nationals, 7:09 pm
For all of my whining in the introduction, this is absolutely the best game of Opening Day and deserves its marquee treatment. A game featuring two of the best pitchers in the league, Jacob deGrom versus Max Scherzer, would be enough. But you’ve also got a loaded, refreshed Mets lineup led by Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso and featuring Dominic Smith, Jeff McNeil and Michael Conforto. Plus, there’s the fanbase’s legendary Metsenfreude to follow all season while new owner Steve Cohen is a wild card. Meanwhile, the Nats added Kyle Schwarber (*wipes away a tear*) and Josh Bell and already have Juan Soto, one of the exciting young stars of the game with major crossover appeal, alongside Tatis and Acuna.
Late Night
Must-watch: White Sox at Angels, 10:05 pm, Astros at A’s, 10:07 pm
The White Sox are a very buzzy team this season and with good reason. Even without the services of Eloy Jimenez for 6 months, this is a very good lineup (Abreu! Moncada! LUIS ROBERT!!! TIM ANDERSON!!!!!) a great front end of the rotation (Giolito, Keuchel, Lynn) and a top-tier closer (Hendriks). The whole thing makes the Tony LaRussa hire just… odd. And THEN you have the Angels. It’s enough to have Mike Trout, right? He could retire right this moment and go down in history as one of the top 10 players of all time. But then there’s Anthony Rendon and Shohei Ohtani, who had an other-worldly Spring Training. They’re in a tough spot in their division, stuck behind Houston and Oakland, but there is absolutely no reason they shouldn’t contend. This game is going to be a lot of fun, a great nightcap to a full day of baseball.
The alternative isn’t bad, either. Two good teams, division rivals and enough bad blood to make things spicy.
The Astros and A’s are still the two front-runners in the AL West. I feel like the A’s have an edge in their rotation but the Houston offense is still stout, garbage cans or no. If Sox-Angels winds up being a dud, this is definitely worth watching.
Fans-only: Giants at Mariners, 10:10 pm
This match-up is… fine? If it’s a Wednesday night in late July and this is the only late-night game on, sure I’ll have it on in the background or listen to the radio call as I take the dog out for a walk before bed. As it is, I don’t know a whole lot about either of these teams and there are two other really good games to flip between.
All typos are purely intentional.