Major League Baseball fully opened up its 2024 season on Thursday, just over a week after the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres kicked off the schedule with a two-game set in Seoul, South Korea. CBS Sports provided running analysis throughout the day's 13 games (Mets-Brewers and Phillies-Braves were rained out). You can revisit all of that coverage below.
In addition to that, we here at CBS Sports have also marked the day by highlighting several "winners" and "losers" from Opening Day. Let's get to those now, shall we?
The Orioles were the first team to take the field on Thursday. They were the first team to record a win, too, dominating the Angels by an 11-3 final.
New ace Corbin Burnes surrendered one run on one hit over six innings of work, all the while striking out 11 batters and walking none. Every starting position player except one recorded a hit, and catcher Adley Rutschman combined with outfielders Anthony Santander and Cedric Mullins to plate nine runs over the course of the afternoon.
The Orioles, a trendy preseason pick to win the AL pennant, also ushered in the David Rubenstein ownership era in grand fashion.
Trout is no stranger to having his individual excellence obscured by a rough Angels team result. It's only fitting then that the first game post-Ohtani featured that exact formula: Trout homered in his first at-bat of the season, against new Orioles ace Corbin Burnes, only to see the Angels lose to the Orioles by an 11-3 final.
We wish we could muster some optimism that better times wait ahead for Trout and these Angels. We cannot. It's going to be a long year.
As fathers across the country have made a point of saying: you only get one chance at a first impression. Soto took advantage of his virgin voyage with the Yankees on Thursday, showing off in a win against the Astros.
Soto recorded only one hit, an RBI single in the fifth to get the Yankees on the board, but he walked twice and even made a key defensive play in the ninth. That's when he threw out Mauricio Dubón as he attempted to score the game-tying run. Take a look:
The Yankees and Astros will continue their four-game series, a potential ALCS preview, on Friday.
The Astros saw the winds of change rearrange their bullpen over the winter. Phil Maton, Ryne Stanek, and Hector Neris left through free agency while Josh Hader arrived using the same method, pushing Ryan Pressly down the pecking order. Factor in Bryan Abreu's suspension for hitting Adolis García with a pitch during the playoffs, and new manager Joe Espada couldn't just roll out the same old familiar sequence as his predecessor Dusty Baker had in the past.
It may not have worked anyway on Thursday.
Espada went to the bullpen during the fifth inning, calling upon Seth Martinez to finish the frame after Framber Valdez let three runs score. He did that. Espada then turned to Rafael Montero and Pressly over the next two innings. They combined to allow two runs on three hits and a walk, allowing the tying and go-ahead runs in the process.
Espada eventually received clean sheets from Tayler Scott and Hader. By then, the Astros trailed by 5-4, or the eventual final score.
We already got our first couple of looks at the Dodgers' MVP Three -- that is, Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, and Freddie Freeman -- last week, during their season-opening two-game set against the Padres in Seoul, South Korea. Still, the collective made its debut in front of the home Dodgers crowd on Thursday, and did not disappoint.
Rather, the trio combined to record six hits and four RBI in a win against the Cardinals. That included an Ohtani double and home runs from Betts and Freeman.
The Dodgers also received a better start from offseason addition Tyler Glasnow than the one he put forth last week. He yielded one run in six innings, striking out five batters and allowing two hits and a walk.
Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas raised eyebrows earlier this spring when he compared and contrasted St. Louis' roster-building strategies to that of the Dodgers.
"We're not exactly a low payroll team, but you got the Dodgers playing checkbook baseball," he told reporters, including MLB.com's John Denton. "We're going to be the hardest working group of Midwestern farmers we can be. … It would be great to stick it to the Dodgers."
It was one game and all, but Thursday marked a poor day for Mikolas and his band of Midwestern farmers. He surrendered five runs on seven hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings. The Cardinals lineup, for their part, scored one run on three hits.
"Money talks, right?" Mikolas said after the game, according to the Belleville News-Democrat's Jeff Jones. "I ended up on the losing side of that one. But, you know, talk a little smack here and there, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Poking fun at a little bit of this, little bit of that and I ended up on the wrong side of it this time. Maybe next time I end up on the right side of it. If I can get that 51/49, I'll take it."
Part of the beauty of baseball is that you never know who is going to fill the role of hero on any given day. Oftentimes, it's the stars; sometimes, it's the fringe players.
Nick Martini, a 33-year-old journeyman with his sixth organization, made the Reds Opening Day roster following injuries to TJ Friedl and Matt McLain and suspension to Noelvi Marte. He'd previously homered eight times in 141 big-league games. It would be fair to write that he was one of the players least likely to notch MLB's first multi-homer game of the year. That's why they play the games.
Indeed, Martini launched a pair of home runs and drove in five runners while serving as Cincinnati's DH and No. 8 hole hitter in a victory against the Nationals.
Opening Day was not free, alas, of unfortunate injuries. Twins third baseman Royce Lewis injured his quad while running the basepaths, requiring him to exit a game that he had already homered in. Later on, Cubs ace Justin Steele left with an apparent hamstring injury after fielding a bunt in the fifth inning of his start against the Rangers. At least Steele and Lewis made it into their respective games. Nationals third baseman Nick Senzel had to be scratched from the lineup just before first pitch after fracturing his thumb on a ground ball during pregame warmups.
Here's hoping all three make quick recoveries.
The AL Central isn't the most stacked division, but they sent three young intriguing left-handed starters to the mound on Thursday: Detroit's Tarik Skubal, Kansas City's Cole Ragans, and Chicago's Garrett Crochet. Each delivered a quality start.
Skubal threw six shutout innings against the White Sox, surrendering three hits and no walks while punching out six batters. He coerced 20 swinging strikes on the afternoon, including 10 on his four-seam fastball. On a related note, Skubal's heater got up to 98.9 mph.
Crochet, Skubal's counterpart, did his part to keep the White Sox in the game. He held the Tigers to one run on five hits and no walks. He struck out eight batters and induced 11 whiffs. He also showed the arm strength that once made him a top draft pick, with his heater maxing out at 99.8 mph. This marked Crochet's first professional start.
Then there was Ragans, one of the breakout players of the second half last season. He struck out nine batters in six innings against the Twins, though he did give up two runs on five hits and three walks.
Say this for the AL Central: they could have some very fun young lefties worth tracking throughout the season.
Maybe this is a reach, but we like to make full use of our creative license when we can.
Anyway, Opening Day was probably less enjoyable if you were a fan of the Braves, Phillies, or Mets -- the top three teams in the NL East. That's because their contests were postponed on Wednesday because of expected inclement weather. Those teams will instead get their seasons underway on Friday.
The other NL East teams, the Nationals and Marlins, both opened their years as scheduled on Thursday. They both lost, with the Nationals going down in nine innings to the Reds and the Marlins requiring 12 innings to lose to the Pirates.
Think the reigning NL champions were ready to start the season? They exploded in the third inning against the Rockies, plating 14 runs, which qualified as the fourth most for a team in a single frame since 1900, according to MLB.com's Sarah Langs. It's also the most in an inning during an Opening Day contest.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drove in five runs on his own, but Gabriel Moreno (three), Christian Walker (2), and Eugenio Suárez (2) will each enter the season's second day with multiple RBI.
O'Neill made history, albeit of the obscure kind. In his first game with the Red Sox organization, he homered on his fifth Opening Day in a row. He had previously been in a four-way tie for the longest such streak of all time. You can read more about O'Neill's accomplishment here.
You can't write much other than "ouch" to describe the Rockies' Opening Day. The Rockies were down 2-1 entering the bottom of the third inning. They then surrendered 14 runs as part of a meltdown half-inning that lasted a half hour. There are 161 more games to go, but you can't hold it against any Rockies fan who felt their excitement for the new year drain with every run scored on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, in Oakland, the Athletics were one of two teams shut out on Opening Day (the White Sox being the other). To add insult to injury, the A's posted their goose egg in front of a sparse crowd of fewer than 14,000 people -- the result of a boycott aimed at owner John Fisher, who is in the midst of attempting to relocate the franchise to Las Vegas, Nevada. This is, by all indications, going to be a long and difficult year for the A's and their fan base. Thursday, then, set the right tone.
Every Opening Day game was available streaming on Fubo (Try for free. Regional Restrictions may apply).
You can relive CBS Sports' live blog coverage below.
Tyler O'Neill just hit a home run against the Mariners, giving him a long ball on five consecutive Opening Days. That establishes a new MLB record. Here's a look at the home run in question:
O'Neill had previously been in a four-way tie for the longest Opening Day homer streak of all time.
Thinking about how Hawk Harrelson might've reacted to that last inning in the Diamondbacks-Rockies game. Probably not many words. Probably a lot of grumbling.
Gurriel has driven in five. It's the third inning. The Rockies are down 12-1.
To give the Red Sox a 2-0 early lead over Luis Castillo and the Mariners:
Great action. Great game. The Rangers are 1-0 in defending their title.
The Cubs loaded the bases in the top half and Christopher Morel's foul ball was about 10 feet from being a grand slam. Of course, the Cubs took a 3-2 lead on a "passed ball" that was actually a foul tip that the umpiring crew missed. Travis Jankowski tied the game in the bottom of the ninth with a home run. And then in the 10th, the Rangers loaded the bases and there were two out when Heim came through with his liner to the right-center gap.
Both starters, Rangers righty Nathan Eovaldi and lefty Justin Steele for the Cubs, threw the ball relatively well. The Rangers got big home runs from Adolis García and Jankowski.
In the end, the Rangers are 1-0 and the Cubs are 0-1 with 161 to go.
So far, so good on Bieber's offseason efforts to rebuild his fastball velocity:
Christopher Morel hit a ball that was about 5-10 feet foul from being a grand slam. Instead, he pops out to leave the bases loaded and now the Rangers will get Corey Seager to bat with a runner on second. Feels like a Rangers walkoff is coming.
With one out and a tie game, Evan Carter on first base and Corey Seager on deck, Marcus Semien sent a rocket to right field. It was right at Seiya Suzuki, but Carter took off with a terrible read. He was doubled off after the lineout. We're headed to extras.
Down 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a controversial call in the top half (see just below for details), the Rangers turned to pinch-hitter Travis Jankowski to lead off the frame. Cubs closer Adbert Alzolay presented him with a full-count slider, and Jankowski clutched up for this one:
That left the bat at 99 mph and traveled 396 feet. Notably, that was just the 11th home run Jankowski has hit in what's now 578 career games. Suffice it to say, it was a big one for the reigning champs. Tie game in Arlington.
Baseball don't lie
With runners on first and second and two outs, Miles Mastrobuoni clearly fouled back a pitch that got away from Rangers catcher Jonah Heim. Michael Busch came home to score while the Rangers were arguing to make it 3-2 Cubs.
Again, the ball was clearly fouled off, but the umpires missed it. For those curious, foul tip calls are NOT reviewable. The umpiring crew got together to discuss the call, but it's incredibly difficult to figure those things out in real time from the guys on the bases. The home-plate umpire needs to hear the bat knicking the ball, but that didn't happen here.
The Rangers head to the ninth down 3-2.
This game could swing on anything. Michael Busch was on first with two outs and Nick Madrigal doubled down the right-field line. It surely would've scored Busch, but it bounced over the wall for an automatic double. And then Rangers setup man Josh Sborz struck Yan Gomes out to strand two runners.
2-2 headed to the seventh inning stretch. I'd say a slight advantage to the Rangers now after avoiding that scare.
We're about 30 minutes away from the final three games of the night:
Stick with us, we'll continue to provide running commentary.
It's a battle of the bullpens!
One thing about Wyatt Langford that folks new to him will come to appreciate is that he has sneaky speed. He showed it off a little to leg out an infield single for his first MLB hit. Take a look:
Earlier, Langford recorded his first RBI by hitting a sac fly to center field. Not bad for someone who was playing for the Florida Gators this time last year.
We've seen this one before. Adolis García continues to cement his well-earned reputation as a clutch hitter with a game-tying bomb in the bottom of the sixth with a 3-2 count.
García was the ALCS MVP last season. In 15 playoff games, he had eight homers and 22 RBI. In the regular season, he had 39 homers and 107 RBI.
It's been a fun game so far, other than the Justin Steele injury. It was 1-0 Cubs, 1-1, 2-1 Cubs and now 2-2 with three innings to play. Nathan Eovaldi figures to be removed very soon, so it'll come down to the bullpens and that means Bruce Bochy and Craig Counsell matching wits.
A little two-out rally with back-to-back doubles from Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger gives the Cubs a 2-1 lead.
Steele was pretty well dealing before the injury (the one run was a tough one as Nick Madrigal booted a 106-mph grounder that led to the sac fly that tied the game for the Rangers) and now we'll see how Craig Counsell deals with his Cubs bullpen. He was long a maestro with bullpen decisions for the Brewers.
On "best defensive middle infield in baseball," and Nico Hoerner is half of that:
He fielded a grounder down the first base line and appeared to injure his hamstring as he was grabbing the ball and tossing it to first.
He's leaving the game. A hamstring pull would probably cost him six weeks or so? Maybe?
Steele was an All-Star and finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting last season. He was 16-5 with a 3.06 ERA in 173 1/3 innings last season. Needless to say, losing him for any amount of time is a huge blow to the Cubs.
If Steele were to land on the injured list, the Cubs' rotation for a few weeks would likely be:
Keep in mind, Jameson Taillon is already on the injured list.
Ezequiel Duran's eye-black seems dangerously close to compromising his vision.
His first career RBI comes on a sac fly to center.
Josh Jung doubles off the right-field wall, breaking up Justin Steele's no-hitter in the fourth inning. There are some pedantic folks out there that think it's too early to call it a no-hit bid, but I don't really care. Settle down, people.
Worth noting Jung claimed to be a better Fortnite player than his younger brother, Detroit Tigers prospect Jace Jung.
The author will confess he is not a fan of in-game interviews, but all due credit to Josh Jung for providing this quality color-television footage:
I enjoy the gold trim on champions' uniforms.
Future Hall of Famer:
The Cubs' DH who is still working on learning 3B is the DH today. He'll score on Swanson's sac fly. 1-0 Cubs. They've scorched the ball off Eovaldi so far.
Gotta say, I would've been watching this game anyway, but it's annoying to be in primetime hours and have only one baseball game going on Opening Day. This isn't due to rainouts, either.
