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Baseball is officially back; everyone rejoice! The big leaguers are set to light the diamond ablaze after an electric off-season that delivered us every dose of noise possible.
The new campaign has MAJOR heat on the stove as the 182-lap race is ready to launch it's green flag. We saw $1.2B get spent in free agency, blockbuster trades, massive acquisitions, a coveted manager flip sides in a rivalry, aces in new places, and a care package of new crop international stars ready to join the MLB mix. So much noise and anticipation to build the roots of what should be a fast and furious action filled campaign. The free agency and total off-season experience was quite literally like having roster control on for all teams in The Show's franchise mode. Just a massive shuffle of talent to new places. Several of the top stars in baseball switched up their threads for 2024-25.
It's not just the shuffle of talent that has flames on the stove; we have major headlines across both leagues. Personal headlines. Rivalry headlines. Talent headlines. Prospect headlines. You name the headline; and it's on the stove cookin'. Lets cover the top headlines going into Thursday's official Opening Day on the diamond.
In a fun shocker, the Cubs gave the Brewers a stronger vendetta after luring manager Craig Counsell away from their division-rival while firing David Ross in the process. Chicago opened their vault to snatch Counsell away from extending his services in Milwaukee (or going elsewhere). Cubs inked Counsell to the highest-paid manager contract in the Majors with a massive five-year deal worth north of $40M. Pricey is an understatement, plus the whole "Hey Ross, kick rocks" thing, but the Cubs get one of the games sharpest managers... in terms of regular season winning and team progression.
Counsell led the budget-safe Brewers to five playoff appearances in the past six seasons, including three NL Central titles, and finished with a 707-625 overall record in nine seasons under the realm in 'Waukee. He only led two seasons with less than 85 wins (not including 2020 season); those being his first two seasons as a big league manager. He leaves as the Brewers' all-time winningest manager. Counsell and his team(s) did nothing but improve throughout his tenure with the Brewers- that's why he was a coveted free agent. Huge get for a young Cubs roster looking to reach the next step.
It's a huge change and challenge for Counsell. A change that was hard for him to accept. Not only did Counsell grow up a Brewers fan in a Milwaukee suburb, he played 711 games for the Brew-Crew, just to go and manage the 'chise for close to a decade. Counsell spent 15-years of service in Milwaukee. Of course it would be hard to say goodbye. Leaving for one of their division rivals made the change even more difficult to accept. My "traitor" headline was just a fun poking of the bear. Counsell takin' the Cubs' position is in no way, shape, or form a dig at the Brewers. It's life. I'd hope the Brewers faithful accept that and have a fun, respected rivalry against him moving forward. I can understand their feeling of betrayal as well. Here is what Craig had to say regarding the change:
We all know the only real red flag coming with Counsell: he can't win in the playoffs (he does have two rings as a player). Brewers have lost nine of their last ten postseason games. Councell had a 7-12 postseason record in Milwaukee... but the Cubs aren't worried about that right now. They are worried on just making the playoffs. Councell excels in that. Chicago has missed the playoffs for three consecutive seasons and have missed out in four of the last five seasons. The late-season fumble last season was rough. They look for Councell to change things around as the team is cropped with young cats with high potential and solidified vets.
Cubs open up the season out in Arlington in the defending champions' back-yard. A great first series for Counsell and the Cubs to start with as they have a national telly spot (ESPN) on Opening Day against the World Series winner. Watching a team receive their rings gives the visiting team an image to work towards. Cubs got a good one with Counsell; lets see what he and the Cubs are about as their April schedj is against some of the best of the best.
Mookie the everyday shortstop. Has a ring to it. Dodgers six-time Gold-Glove outfielder is permanently moving to shortstop to help complete the Dodgers' fielding depth and to prove to the masses why he is one of the most gifted baseball talents of modern history. Mookie Betts is the definition of true value.
Betts looks to be just the second big leaguer in MLB history to play 100+ games at shortstop a year after winning a Gold-Glove as an outfielder. Betts would join Tom Tresh, who accomplished the feat for the '68 Yankees. Betts can also become just the fifth player in the expansion era (since 1961) to primarily play shortstop in a season for the first time in his career after turning 30 years old. The move comes with Gavin Lux struggling at short after returning from an ACL tear. Moving Lux to second base is a much better option. The move also means we should be seeing some of Shohei Ohtani in the outfield this season as he heals from his Tommy John. Mookie now has shown he can play any position of the outfield, shortstop, and second base at a high level in the big leagues. While being one of the more valuable all-around players in the world. So impressive. True value.
The pitching out West has been bolstered amongst the power-four of the Dodgers, Giants, Padres, and Diamondbacks. Bolstered in a big way. All four teams have either a strong duo of arms, or an arsenal of arms. Arizona adds Eduardo Rodriguez to join Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly. Dodgers add Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow to join forces with young riser Bobby Miller. Padres form a duo of Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish. Giants won the Blake Snell sweepstakes. So many acquisitions to now fill out a DEEP division of starting pitchers.
The division looks a whole lot different compared to last season. Mostly in terms of pitching. Six pitchers with at least one season of 10+ wins join the division. If you account for Ohtani, there is four new pitchers joining the division who have finished a season in final voting for a Cy Young: Rodriguez, Cease, Snell, and Ohtani. Arms runnin' wild! Watching the Dodgers form a lineup with Ohtani, Freeman, and Betts was sure a driving force in getting teams to bolster their rotations. If those cats aren't enough, as I write this, lefty Jordan Montgomery has FINALLY signed with a team! Montgomery joins Eduardo Rodriguez in the Desert on a 1/YR, $25M deal to complete the Snakes' rotation.
Many of the acquisitions cost some coin to reel in. Creating some risk, but seeing the teams add starting pitching was a good sight to see. Dodgers may seem like the juggernaut, but we all witnessed the Diamondbacks weak lineup march to the World Series behind stellar pitching and game management. Arizona, San Francisco, and San Diego have a chance to make that happen again thanks to their motives throughout the off-season. I don't think the Dodgers will just run away with the division. We should get another electric season of comp' out West- similar to last season.
Opening Day is just one more sleep away, but the season has already started. If you ask the next person you see, they would have had no idea that we already have two games recorded on the new campaign. I for one, hate the scheduling with the "Seoul Series". I understand wanting to build the game over in Korea and across Asia, I love the international focus, I am all for that, but the special series shouldn't have taken place prior to Opening Day. Sure as hell shouldn't have been a week before.
You have the Padres and Dodgers play two regular-season games, while the other 28 are in Spring Training. Then you have the two teams play Spring Training games after recording a regular-season game? What the hell is that. The timing of the game is the worst part. For those in the States, the game was a 6 o'clock a.m. slot on a weekday. That is not fan-friendly. Again, I wouldn't make this a big deal if the timing was right. Putting it in the middle of the season would have been much better. Especially in MLB, when you have a 182 game schedule. Doing it for the first game of the season is silly and pointless. If it wasn't for the whole interpreter debacle (I'll get to that), the games would have received zero to no coverage after the fact. I mean, people still aren't talking much about the play. Opening Day is a prestigious thing. This season feels different. Different in a negative way.
The first game was solid, and was like a nice sunny late-morning game of a double-header that ends in a dark downpour. Dodgers started slow, but sailed the ship to a 5-2 dub with Ohtani and Mookie Betts each scoring RBIs. All three facets of the Dodgers' pitching was solid with Tyler Glasnow earning a dub in his LA debut. The win celebration didn't last long as a dark storm struck havoc across the Dodgers clubhouse. It all started with a probe that led to a wild discovery to force the Dodgers to fire Shohei Ohtani's interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. I won't go deep into this whole debacle right here on this piece. Everything as of now, is mostly assumptions and he says; she says. Once there is more to come from the federal investigation (into Mizuhara), I will have the material to build an opinion.
I am glad that the MLB is investigating Ohtani. Too many red flags have rose to the surface. Despite him being the best player in the league and face, they must apply equal behavior to all players. Anything pointing to possible gambling is taken under extreme advisement. This should be no different. I hope Ohtani has somehow no involvement in this. If he does, with what they have done to Pete Rose, then it could be as severe as a lifetime ban. No joke. We don't need to think that just yet, but the Dodgers sure are feeling worried. Not just with the Ohtani/Mizuhara situation, but also with their Game-2 starter... their prized import.
Welcome to the big leagues, Yoshi! The imported Japanese ace got ROCKED in his official MLB debut. The cat didn't even survive the first frame against the Padres. Yamamoto got smacked around giving up five earned runs, four hits, a wild-pitch, and a walk (hit-batter) before finally retiring the side. He didn't return to the game. A bit of a shocker, but those freakin' out screaming "bust" need to stop. It's way too early to freak out. Besides, we have seen this time and time again with international players, especially pitchers, needing time to adjust to the big leagues.
Folks, not every international star is Ichiro. It takes time to adjust. Some of the best pitching talents to come from Japan struggled in their debuts and early on before reaching a comfortable level. Ohtani was solid, but Yu Darvish gave up 5 earned runs in his debut (he did win the start). Daisuke had a stellar debut start, but a rocky debut season. Hideo Nomo gave up seven walks in his debut with 3 earned runs. It happens; give some time before jumping off the Yamamoto ship.
With that, the start was quite brutal. To go out like that in Seoul had to make things feel worse for the cat. His loved ones, his homies, his fans- they all saw him get rocked. Tough pill. Waking up the next day and seeing your current ERA of 45.00 doesn't make things any better. Then there is the whole interpreter debacle and behind the scenes drama. It's safe to say this is NOT how Yamamoto thought the start of his big league career would go.
All Yamamoto can do now is move forward and put that first start in the rearview mirror. He is likely to get a start in the 4-game set against the Cardinals over the weekend. In what will be his first official start inside Dodger Stadium. Making it out of the first inning is his first task on the to-do list. Getting a dub is the highest goal. Yamamoto doesn't want to start the campaign 0-2 on the hill. He needs to work on his cutter and plate tendencies. The cutter got crushed and so did all his pitches in the lower half of the zone. I am intrigued to see how he responds in his second start. That will tell me more than what transpired in the first start. All about adjusting. All about having the right response to failure.
Opening Day is upon us! Which means sunshine, good vibes, and great weather is ready to take over the wonderland, with the figures of America's Pastime ready to take over the center stage. We have two opening series between playoff hunters from last season. A furthered blood-war prepped to spark the early season flame with the Braves and Phillies duking things out in Philly. Oh, and of course we have some star-studded pitching duels. You can just smell the fresh air coming in the distance. Get the brooms, rakes, and drags out! It's time to prep the diamond for it's opening sequence. Baseball is back!
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