7 incredible facts, figures from a wild Opening Day

This yr’s Opening Day was historic, as all 30 groups took the sector for the primary time since 1968. With everybody in motion to start 2023, there have been loads of memorable highlights that reverberated all through the baseball world.

Here are a few of our favourite information, figures and storylines from this yr’s stacked Opening Day lineup.

Aces open in midseason kind
Yankees 5, Giants 0

One yr after hitting 62 homers to interrupt Roger Maris’ single-season AL report, new Yankees captain Aaron Judge crushed MLB’s first residence run of 2023 in his first at-bat in opposition to the Giants. Maris additionally homered on Opening Day the yr after his record-breaking 61-homer season in 1961, as did Mark McGwire after hitting 70 homers in 1998 and Barry Bonds after hitting 73 in 2001.

Judge’s blast fueled a 5-0 Yankees win in a recreation that noticed historical past made on the mound. Prior to 2023, solely two pairs of opposing beginning pitchers had ever recorded at the very least 10 strikeouts every in an Opening Day Game: Dave McNally (13 Okay’s for the Orioles) and Sam McDowell (11 Okay’s for Cleveland) in 1970, and Jacob deGrom (10 Okay’s for the Mets) and Max Scherzer (12 Okay’s for the Nationals) in 2019. The Yankees’ Gerrit Cole and the Giants’ Logan Webb grew to become the third pairing to perform the shared feat on Thursday. Cole (11 Okay’s) and Webb (12 Okay’s) each established new group data for strikeouts on Opening Day.

Rutschman rakes
Orioles 10, Red Sox 9

The man who set the tone for the Orioles’ resurgent 2022 marketing campaign was proper again at it on Opening Day. In powering the offense for the afternoon, Adley Rutschman reached base six occasions, blasting a first-inning residence run and driving in 4 of Baltimore’s 10 runs at Fenway Park. In the tip, the Orioles have been little question grateful for his outburst, as a late rally from the Red Sox made their first win of the season a good 10-9 contest.

Rutschman’s huge day made him the thirteenth participant (and first catcher) since 1901 to gather 5 hits on Opening Day (the Blue Jays’ George Springer went 5-for-6 in opposition to the Cardinals later within the day.) Rutschman can be simply the eighth participant to achieve base six occasions on Opening Day and the primary since Hideki Matsui in 2006.

Bochy ball
Rangers 11, Phillies 7

In a marquee Opening Day pitching matchup between two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom and Aaron Nola, who completed fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting final yr, the very last thing you would possibly count on could be a slugfest. But that’s precisely what transpired at Globe Life Field on Thursday, when the Rangers scored 9 runs within the fourth inning en path to an 11-7 victory over the Phillies.

The nine-run fourth marked the primary time a group had scored 9 or extra runs in a single inning on Opening Day since April 1, 1997, when the Padres scored 11 occasions within the sixth inning of a 12-5 win over the Mets. Coincidentally, the supervisor for the profitable group in each circumstances was Bruce Bochy, who managed the Padres from 1995-2006, and made his Rangers managerial debut in Thursday’s victory.

Springer excels in slugfest
Blue Jays 10, Cardinals 9

Toronto’s Opening Day matchup in opposition to St. Louis had just a little little bit of the whole lot. Established stars displaying up, prime prospects making their Major League debut and — most significantly — some drama. Neither beginning pitcher introduced their finest for Opening Day, because the rating was knotted at 5 after 4 innings because of a bevy of hits from each groups. The Blue Jays acquired their runs throughout the plate on RBI hits from Alejandro Kirk, Daulton Varsho and Bo Bichette, whereas the Cardinals acquired an RBI double from Nolan Arenado and two-run residence runs from Tyler O’Neill and Brendan Donovan. O’Neill has now hit a house run in 4 straight Opening Days.

After the groups exchanged runs by way of the center innings, Arenado gave the Cardinals the lead within the backside of the eighth inning on a two-RBI double that had Busch Stadium rocking. The Blue Jays shut these cheers down a half inning later, nonetheless, as George Springer tied the sport with an RBI single earlier than Vladimir Guerrero Jr. gave Toronto the lead with a sacrifice fly. Springer recorded 5 hits, which tied the report for many hits on Opening Day, whereas the Blue Jays had 19 hits as a group — probably the most by any MLB group on Opening Day because the 2005 Cubs.

South Siders finish Astros’ streak
White Sox 3, Astros 2

The reigning World Series champions had an opportunity to open the 2023 season with a record-breaker. From 2013 to ‘22, the Astros never took an Opening Day loss, tying a very old Major League record set by the Boston Beaneaters from 1887-96. Houston’s run had carried on by way of a number of eras of Astros baseball, starting with a 2013 group that finally misplaced 111 video games. Things, clearly, have modified rather a lot since then, and the membership’s latest success made the streak appear nearly untouchable.

Enter the White Sox, who, led by Dylan Cease, matched zeroes with the Astros by way of six innings, and after surrendering the go-ahead run on a wild pitch within the backside of the seventh, answered with three runs of their very own on a solo homer from Yasmani Grandal within the eighth and a two-run double by Andrew Vaughn within the ninth. Things acquired tense within the backside of the ninth, as Reynaldo López, introduced on to face the guts of Houston’s lineup, surrendered a 442-foot monster shot to Yordan Alvarez, however that was all of the Astros would get, placing an finish to their historic run of dominance over Opening Day.

Sho me some runs
A’s 2, Angels 1

Shohei Ohtani was electrical on the mound for the Angels to open the 2023 common season, recent off his MVP efficiency within the World Baseball Classic. The two-way famous person struck out 10 over six scoreless innings in opposition to the A’s on the Oakland Coliseum on Thursday night time, yielding simply two hits and strolling three on 93 pitches.

But it went for naught, because the Angels’ lineup may muster just one run over the primary 5 innings in opposition to Oakland’s rookie starter Kyle Muller earlier than being blanked for the ultimate 4 frames by the A’s bullpen. With the 2-1 Angels loss, Ohtani grew to become the primary pitcher in AL/NL historical past (since 1901) to surrender no runs whereas hanging out 10 or extra batters on Opening Day in a recreation his group misplaced.

One of the Angels’ 5 hits within the recreation, a single within the fourth inning, got here off Ohtani’s bat at 111.6 mph. While he ripped the ball on the plate, he additionally unleashed a fastball that topped out at 100.7 mph from the mound. Nevertheless, Ohtani walked away with a no-decision and the Angels started the brand new season 0-1.

17-for-17 … or one thing like that
Rockies 7, Padres 2

The Rockies loved a 7-2 Opening Day victory in San Diego, however there was far more to this recreation than the rating would point out. Colorado dedicated three defensive errors, together with two cases of catcher’s interference by Elias Díaz, and slugging first baseman C.J. Cron tied a franchise report with two residence runs and 5 RBIs on Opening Day (additionally Vinny Castilla in 1998). But these aren’t probably the most astounding factoids from this contest — by recording 17 hits and hanging out 17 occasions on the plate, Colorado grew to become the primary group within the Modern Era (since 1900) to have 17 or extra hits whereas additionally hanging out 17 or extra occasions in a nine-inning recreation, in accordance with the Elias Sports Bureau.