The weirdest Opening Day games in history 

Opening Day is a day when something is feasible. With each staff tied within the standings, it could possibly be the beginning of your staff’s Cinderella-esque run to postseason glory. Records might fall, no-hitters could possibly be thrown and cycles could possibly be hit! And, in fact, issues can get bizarre. Really bizarre.

So, as we put together for each baseball fan’s favourite day — once we all binge on 12 straight hours of baseball to begin the season — let’s look again at 12 of the oddest, strangest and most weird Opening Day video games in historical past.

Watch intently and also you’ll discover that the majority pitchers on Opening Day throw a fastball, untouched, down the center of the plate for his or her first pitch. Pitchers need to set tone for the season, and batters don’t need to be overly keen.

But batters have gone deep two instances in recorded historical past on the very first pitch of the season.

Dwight Evans pulled it off first for the Red Sox in 1986 by hitting a house run towards Jack Morris. It would then take 32 years for it to occur once more when Ian Happ began the season the identical means, hitting a solo shot off José Ureña to start 2018.

These days we bear in mind Nolan Ryan for his blazing fastball, seven no-hitters, capability to corral a charging Robin Ventura and, I assume, his beef. But what we neglect is that Ryan — particularly early in his profession — had little concept the place the ball was going.

From 1966-72, Ryan averaged 5.7 walks per 9 innings. While he obtained that below management in ’73, hanging out a document 383 batters, Angels followers couldn’t have been thrilled after Opening Day in ’74.

Ryan’s numbers towards the White Sox look fairly good: eight innings, 4 hits, two runs, (solely) 5 strikeouts. The massive downside: He additionally walked 10 batters. That’s probably the most walks in a regulation sport on Opening Day (Herb Score walked 11 in 11 innings on Opening Day in ’57).

While the walks have been lots, it’s much more surprising that the White Sox scored solely two runs and solely hit into one double play. That would not even appear potential.

On April 25, 1901, the Detroit Tigers took on the Milwaukee Brewers within the debut of the AL as a Major League. Early on, the Tigers did not look massive league prepared.

The Brewers took an early 7-0 lead after a sequence of Detroit errors. They constructed that right into a 13-4 benefit heading into the ninth inning. Detroit was going to see the primary sport of its massive league existence finish with a devastating loss.

Instead, behind a flurry of hits, the Tigers got here again. Detroit scored 5 runs and compelled a pitching change earlier than recording its first out.

With the group going wild — “Hats were being thrown in the air, coats were flying and everyone was yelling themselves hoarse” was how the Detroit Free Press described it — the Tigers loaded the bases with two outs however have been nonetheless down, 13-9. Kid Gleason then hit a grounder to Jimmy Burke that ought to have ended the sport. Instead, Burke dropped the ball, permitting two runs to attain and preserving the Tigers’ hopes alive. Ducky Holmes then beat out a gradual grounder to chop the result in 13-12.

It all then got here all the way down to this: With two out, Frank Dillon stepped to the plate. He had already hit three balls into the assembled crowd watching from the outfield, which counted as ground-rule doubles. On a 2-2 rely, he did it once more. Dillon lashed a ball down the left-field line and into the group, scoring two runs and giving the Tigers probably the most unlikely Opening Day victory.

Things went very badly for White Sox catcher Ron Karkovice on Opening Day in 1996. In the 12-inning, 3-2 White Sox loss to the Mariners, the goggled catcher went 0-for-5 with 5 strikeouts, together with to finish the highest of the twelfth. It’s the one five-strikeout sport in Opening Day historical past.

Of course, he should not really feel an excessive amount of disgrace. After all, three of his Ok’s got here whereas going through Randy Johnson, who struck out 14 on the day.

While it was a tough sport, Karkovice did have one spotlight he might grasp his hat on. In the ninth inning, Roberto Hernandez threw the ball to the backstop, and Joey Cora raced for residence to attain the successful run. But the ball ricocheted again to Karkovice, who was capable of make the diving tag to ship the sport into extras.

Since this one is so wild and full of so many massive names, we’ll bullet level it:

• The defending champion Cardinals took a 5-0 lead within the first because of one in every of three errors by rookie Roberto Peña, who was making his massive league debut.

• Don’t really feel dangerous, although. Peña picked up three hits, together with his first massive league homer off Bob Gibson within the third.

• Gibson gave up 5 runs and failed to complete 4 innings.

• Ernie Banks hit the game-tying three-run residence run within the ninth inning to ship the sport to additional innings.

• Lou Brock gave the Cards a 10-9 lead with a single within the prime of the eleventh, however Ron Santo tied it with a double within the backside half. The sport was then referred to as due to an absence of sunshine. That meant that every one the statistics counted, however the sport did not. Both golf equipment have been nonetheless 0-0.

• Steve Carlton additionally made the primary look of his profession, although you’d by no means have anticipated a Hall of Fame future. He walked one batter within the backside of the eleventh and was pulled from the sport.

If you’re going to skip work or college for Opening Day, you could as effectively get your cash’s value. Toronto and Cleveland made positive of that on Opening Day in 2012. The sport went 16 innings and noticed 14 pitchers, 540 pitches and Omar Vizquel in a five-man infield.

Cleveland held a 4-1 lead into the highest of the ninth, however two singles, a sacrifice fly from José Bautista, a stroll and an RBI double from Edwin Encarnación tied the sport and despatched it to extras.

Both groups had an opportunity to finish it earlier than the sixteenth, however Cleveland’s Asdrúbal Cabrera hit into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded within the twelfth and Rajai Davis bunted into one other DP with two on and no outs within the prime of the fifteenth.

The sport lastly ended within the sixteenth. J.P. Arencibia — who was 0-for-6 with three strikeouts coming into the at-bat — hit a three-run residence run to seal it for the Blue Jays.

But when Clayton Kershaw hit a house run whereas throwing a shutout on Opening Day in 2013, that was slightly totally different. While the shutout was one in every of 15 he is thrown in his profession, the house run is the one one he is ever hit as skilled. Even higher, it was a game-winner, coming off George Kontos within the prime of the eighth and breaking a 0-0 tie.

Kershaw was the primary to tug off the homer/shutout on Opening Day since Bob Lemon in 1953.

“I had no idea it was going out because I’ve never hit one like that in a game before,” Kershaw mentioned. “What an awesome feeling.”

There was one draw back, although: Kershaw’s buddy and former catcher, A.J. Ellis, would now not be capable to remind Kershaw about his one Spring Training residence run each March 19.

Four gamers have hit three dingers on Opening Day. While most who’ve pulled it off have been identified for his or her energy, Tuffy Rhodes was not. When the Cubs’ middle fielder outfielder stepped to the plate at Wrigley Field to begin the 1994 season, he had hit simply 5 residence runs in 107 massive league video games.

That day, every part clicked. Rhodes led off the underside of the primary with a house run into the left-field bleachers towards Mets starter Dwight Gooden. Rhodes added one other within the third, and hit one once more within the fifth. Fans began hurling their ballcaps onto the sector to honor Rhodes’ hat trick of a sport.

“I didn’t realize that was going on when I saw all the hats,” Rhodes mentioned. “Somebody finally told me it was a ‘hat trick’ — like they have in hockey. It was great. I loved it.”

While the day appeared to predict greatness, it by no means got here within the Major Leagues. Rhodes hit solely 5 extra massive league residence runs, however turned a star in Japan, the place he hit 464 lengthy balls.

We all know the Yankees of the ’50s have been an absolute powerhouse, reaching the World Series in all however two years that decade. So, it’s not a shock that they destroyed the hapless Washington Senators, 19-1, on Opening Day in 1955.

Whitey Ford pitched a whole sport, giving up simply two hits and hanging out eight, whereas the Bronx Bombers started working on the plate.

Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Bill Skowron all went deep. Bob Cerv drove in 4. Every Yankees starter recorded not less than one hit aside from Phil Rizzuto, who walked and scored in each of his plate appearances earlier than he was pulled. Ford even went 3-for-5 with 4 ribbies, too. It was a whole decimation.

There was just one saving grace for the Senators: It wasn’t their Opening Day. Washington had performed their opener two days earlier towards the Orioles and received, 12-5.

Despite all of the video games performed on all of the Opening Days, just one no-hitter has began a season for an AL or NL staff. (Notably, Leon Day additionally threw one within the Negro Leagues in 1946).

If you have been there that day, you would not have anticipated it at the start. When Cleveland’s Bob Feller toed the rubber on a chilly April day in 1940, he had bother discovering the strike zone. He walked a batter within the first and walked two extra within the second because the White Sox loaded the bases.

“The first couple of innings, I was pretty wild,” Feller remembered later. “In the second inning, I loaded the bases. Someone in the bullpen was warming up and the manager [Ossie Vitt] was getting ready to walk out to the mound. But I managed to strike out the last hitter on a full count.”

He quickly obtained into the groove, and issues regarded simple till there have been two outs within the ninth. Hall of Famer Luke Appling stepped to the plate and drew a 10-pitch stroll. Eventually, Feller determined to surrender and face the following batter.

“I just decided to walk him, because he was fouling balls off and off and off,” Bob DiBiasio, Cleveland’s senior vp of public affairs, remembered Feller telling him. “It was a 1-0 game. He said, ‘Screw it, I’ll just get the next hitter.'”

Taffy Wright then got here up and hit a tough grounder to second base. It took a diving cease and robust throw by Ray Mack to finish the sport and safe Feller’s no-hitter.

Balks are in all probability the least satisfying means for a sport to finish. One minute the stakes are excessive with a runner on third; the following, the sport is over and everybody asks their neighbor, “What happened? Was that a balk?”

That’s how the Orioles escaped with a win of their 1966 opener towards the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Brooks Robinson tied the sport with an RBI single within the prime of the ninth, and the sport remained knotted at 4 till the thirteenth inning. That’s when the O’s loaded the bases towards Boston’s Jim Lonborg behind a single and two walks.

Luis Aparicio stepped to the plate, and regardless of going 0-for-7 on the day, Lonborg hesitated in his windup and residential plate umpire Red Flaherty caught it.

“It was a moment of indecision,” Lonborg mentioned. “I was supposed to throw a curve and just as I started my windup a thought flashed through my mind: Nope. I’m going to throw a fastball. Then it was too late.”

Thanks to the climate, the Blue Jays almost missed their first Opening Day. On April 7, 1977, the Jays have been set to host the White Sox, however the 44,649 followers that confirmed up might have simply been anticipating a hockey sport. That’s as a result of the Exhibition Stadium turf was coated in snow that the groundskeepers have been shortly attempting to shovel away. Chicago’s Wayne Nordhagen even took some shin guards and used them as snowshoes earlier than the sport began.

“I don’t think any of us expected to play because it kept snowing,” Jays shortstop Hector Torres mentioned. “They had that Zamboni dragging the sector and as quickly as they cleaned it up, it could be white once more.

Somehow, the sport obtained underway and the Jays even obtained the victory — 9-5 — behind two residence runs from Doug Ault, who hit solely 15 extra in his massive league profession.