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MLB Opening Day

MLB 2024: Everyone Likes the Dodgers

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LAS VEGAS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – As the 2024 major league season gets underway in earnest today, the Los Angeles Dodgers are already one game toward their projected total of 103.5 wins for the regular season. That’s courtesy of a split of their two-game, season-opening Seoul Series against the San Diego Padres.

The Dodgers lead the 30 major league teams with an over/under win total of 103.5 games at both BetMGM and DraftKings, via Betting Hero. By contrast, the Oakland A’s open the season at 57.5 at both books.

That represents a 46-game differential — or 28 percent of an entire 162-game schedule.

While the Dodgers spent the offseason adding stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to an already loaded roster, the A’s have spent the past several months mired in limbo about where the franchise will even be playing this time next year.

Extravagant spending doesn’t guarantee regular-season success — just ask the New York Mets. And the Dodgers know all too well that even regular-season dominance doesn’t automatically translate to postseason success.

They have plenty of competition, namely in the form of National League rival Atlanta. The Braves are second with a projected win total of 101.5 games. They are followed by a trio of American League teams: Houston (92.5 at BetMGM), the New York Yankees (91.5) and Baltimore (90.5).

Ironically, the Yankees opened at 93.5 projected wins and are tied for the biggest decline since the lines became available via Betting Hero.

The Orioles’ win total has increased the most since the market opened at 87.5 games. When it comes to the over, it has been the second-most bet total among all 30 teams behind only the Detroit Tigers, who have seen their projected win total increase from 79.5 to 81.5.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Miami Marlins have received the most under action on their 77.5-win projection. Second is the Boston Red Sox, also at 77.5 wins, followed by the Braves.

TEAM (OVER/UNDER WINS)*
Los Angeles Dodgers (103.5)
Atlanta Braves (101.5)
Houston Astros (92.5)
New York Yankees (91.5)
Baltimore Orioles (90.5)
Philadelphia Phillies (89.5)
Texas Rangers (88.5)
Minnesota Twins (86.5)
Seattle Mariners (86.5)
Tampa Bay Rays (85.5)
Toronto Blue Jays (85.5)
Arizona Diamondbacks (84.5)
Chicago Cubs (84.5)
St. Louis Cardinals (84.5)
San Diego Padres (83.5)
San Francisco Giants (83.5)
Cincinnati Reds (82.5)
Detroit Tigers (81.5)
New York Mets (81.5)
Cleveland Guardians (79.5)
Boston Red Sox (77.5)
Miami Marlins (77.5)
Milwaukee Brewers (76.5)
Pittsburgh Pirates (75.5)
Kansas City Royals (73.5)
Los Angeles Angels (72.5)
Washington Nationals (66.5)
Chicago White Sox (60.5)
Colorado Rockies (60.5)
Oakland Athletics (57.5)
*via Betting Hero

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Open at Seattle

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SEATTLE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – For two teams trying to get back to the postseason, the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners didn’t make any earth-shattering moves this offseason. Neither got more than a fleeting mention when it came to prized free agent Shohei Ohtani or trade candidate Juan Soto.

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Does either team have enough to compete in 2024?

That will be one of the top questions when they meet Thursday night in the season opener in Seattle.

The Mariners finished 88-74 last season, a game back of Toronto for the American League’s third and final wild-card berth.

Strikeout-prone sluggers Eugenio Suarez and Teoscar Hernandez are gone, via a trade and free agency, respectively. Suarez netted right-hander Carlos Vargas and backup catcher Seby Zavala from Arizona.

The Mariners sent injured left-hander Robbie Ray to San Francisco for outfielder Mitch Haniger and right-hander Anthony DeSclafani. Then they flipped DeSclafani, right-handed reliever Justin Topa and a pair of minor-leaguers to Minnesota for second baseman Jorge Polanco.

“This group is just hungry,” said Haniger, who spent one injury-prone season with the Giants following five productive years in Seattle.

“The guys in here want to win. Ultimately, being a loser is not fun. It’s really motivating just to try to get back into the playoffs and win a World Series — the No. 1 goal. It’s win the division first and get in the playoffs, and then make a run and win that last game of the season.”

The Mariners also sent right-handed reliever Isaiah Campbell to Boston for third baseman Luis Urias, and ditched the contracts of pitcher Marco Gonzales, first baseman Evan White and outfielder Jarred Kelenic to Atlanta for a pair of pitchers who won’t be available this season because of injuries.

Boston’s moves might have been even more underwhelming.

The Red Sox traded outfielder Alex Verdugo to the New York Yankees for three pitching prospects, acquired outfielder Tyler O’Neill from St. Louis, sent former ace left-hander Chris Sale to Atlanta for shortstop Marquis Grissom, and signed former All-Star closer Liam Hendriks, who is coming back from a cancer battle and Tommy John surgery.

Boston signed free agent right-hander Lucas Giolito to anchor its rotation, but he’ll miss the season with elbow surgery.

“It’s different compared to previous years,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of his youthful lineup. “This team is going to be fun to manage. We’re gonna do a lot of stuff that is probably different than in the past. We know what people think about us, but athleticism and youth helped (the Orioles) make it to the playoffs last year.

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“So hopefully we can accomplish that. We’re not shying away from our goals. We just have to keep going. It’s been fun. It’s refreshing. It’s good to see good athletes out there making plays and moving around and adjusting to everything that we’re throwing at them. And I think it’s been solid so far.”

Mariners right-hander Luis Castillo (14-9, 3.34 ERA last season) is scheduled to make his fourth Opening Day start and second with Seattle. Castillo is 1-1 with a 4.09 ERA in two previous starts against Boston.

The Red Sox will counter with right-hander Brayan Bello (12-11, 4.24), who will be making his first Opening Day start. Bello is 2-0 with a 4.09 ERA in two previous starts against Seattle.

–Field Level Media

Baseball Starts Season in Seoul

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SEOUL – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Major League Baseball’s regular season begins Wednesday in Seoul, South Korea, and Tuesday the league announced the starting pitchers for that game and the 15 Opening Day games that will be played March 28.

No fewer than 20 of the 30 pitchers named are All-Stars, and four of the Opening Day starters will be appearing with a new team.

Those staff aces making their debuts for their new teams are Corbin Burnes of the Baltimore Orioles, Tyler Glasnow of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Frankie Montas of the Cincinnati Reds and Alex Wood of the Oakland Athletics.

In the Seoul Series opener, at 6:05 a.m. ET, Glasnow and the Dodgers meet Yu Darvish and the San Diego Padres with the teams playing again 24 hours later.

MLB Network will have all the preview material for Opening Day covered with nine studio shows airing March 27.

Highlighting the March 28 slate is the lone interleague matchup, ESPN’s national broadcast between last season’s World Series champion Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs in Arlington, Texas.

The Rangers will send right-hander Nathan Eovaldi against Cubs lefty Justin Steele.

The Dodgers, favorites to win the 2024 World Series, return from Seoul to host the St. Louis Cardinals March 28.

Prized free-agent acquisition Shohei Ohtani is expected to play his first home game for the Dodgers in that contest, an MLB Network-televised matchup against Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas.

A pair of leading American League contenders meet in Houston when the New York Yankees send Nestor Cortes against the Astros’ Framber Valdez.

There are also six divisional contests, highlighted by the Philadelphia Phillies’ visit to the Atlanta Braves in a rematch of the National League Division Series. The Phillies will send Zack Wheeler to the mound while ace Spencer Strider takes the bump for the Braves.

The Braves and Phillies combined to win 194 games last season.

–Field Level Media

Twins Spoil Red Sox Home Opener, 8-4

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BOSTON – Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Joe Ryan made his second start of the 2022 MLB season – just his seventh career appearance – and spoiled the Boston Red Sox home opener by throwing six innings of five-hit baseball to anchor the Twins’ 8-4 victory over Boston.

Ryan allowed only one run (earned), struck-out seven Sox batters and walked none. He passed the ball to the Twins bullpen with a 6-1 lead with only a home run to Boston LF Alex Verdugo as his lone blemish. Ryan is (1-1) on the season and he lowered his ERA to (2.70) with the outing.

Boston’s starting pitcher, Nick Pivetta, didn’t fare as well. The Twins scored four runs on five hits over the first two innings to knock Pivetta out of the game after throwing 54 pitches in two innings and leaving on the wrong side of a 4-1 score. Minnesota 1B Miguel Sano did the most damage with a two-run homer off Pivetta in the second inning.

The Red Sox would go on to use six pitchers throughout the game and Minnesota scored a pair of insurance runs in both the fifth and ninth innings, hitting-up RP Hirokazu Sawamura for two runs in the fifth and Matt Barnes for another pair in the top of the ninth, sealing the Twins’ victory.

After rallying for three runs in the eighth inning, including two off the bat of Rafael Devers who homered off reliever Jhoan Duran, the Sox bats went limp in the bottom of the ninth. Both newly acquired infielder Trevor Story and veteran first baseman Bobby Dalbec struck-out to end the game in a whimper before a sellout crowd of 36,266 at Fenway Park.

 

It’s Opening Day at Fenway Park

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BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox face the Minnesota Twins in their home opener at Fenway Park after a six-game road trip to open the season. Boston split the six games and meet a Twins team that is (2-4) over their first six contests of 2022.

Between the fact it’s Opening Day, along with MLB’s league-wide tribute to Jackie Robinson, the 75th anniversary of NY/MLB’s first game at Ebbets Field, The Hub’s “ONE Boston” day to memorialize the victims of the April 15, 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and a home opening tribute to longtime Red Sox second baseman and TV commentator Jerry Remy, there’s a lot going on at the ballpark.

The Red Sox are in the midst of a stretch of six consecutive games when they play afternoon baseball. Eight of the Red Sox first 10 games of 2022 are scheduled for day games, including this Monday’s 11:10am (ET) start to celebrate Patriots’ Day in the Commonwealth and the running of the Boston Marathon.

The next time Boston plays a night game will be Monday, April 19th vs Toronto.

Boston will be playing games on 17 consecutive days (April 15-May 1)

TODAY’S STARTING PITCHERS: Twins: Joe Ryan (0-1, 4.50 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, four strikeouts); Red Sox: Nick Pivetta (0-1, 6.35 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, four strikeouts).

 

 

Red Sox Head to Motor City

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox will depart New York after the first ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game against the Yankees, can chill-out in Detroit for a three-game set against the Tigers Monday to Wednesday (two afternoon games) before heading home Thursday for the Friday, April 15, 2:10pm (ET) home opener against the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park.

This Friday, Minnesota’s SP Sonny Gray is scheduled to throw against Boston SP Nick Pivetta unless the weather forecast throws a change-up. The four-game set against the Twins concludes with the 11:10am (ET) start on Patriots’ Day, Monday, April 18th – the holiday in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts known best at the day of the famed Boston Marathon.

Reading the Boston Red Sox Tea party leaves this early in the season is nearly as impossible as forecasting the weather. After all, when the Red Sox were playing the New York Yankees on Saturday, Boston saw sunshine and spring-like settings turn to ominous skies, snow, hail, thunder and rain before returning to a beautiful spring evening.

That unpredictable weather pattern might equate to the Sox pitching roster, once again, as Nathan Eovoldi, Pivetta, Tanner Houck, Michael Wacha and Rich Hill could prove to be a formidable staff which can be super-sized if Sox star Chris Sale can return to form at some point mid-season. Currently, Sale is on the 60-day Injured List with rib injuries. He’ll begin throwing next week.

James Paxton, acquired by Boston for a single year deal for a lofty $10m, is recovering from Tommy John surgery last April when he was a member o0f the Seattle Mariners.

One-time Sox closer Matt Barnes is already banged-up as the season begins but could return soon. Until then, it’s bullpen by committee with newly extended four-year contract holder Garrett Whitlock carrying the load with Ryan Brasier and Hansel Robles. Matt Strohm andJake Diekman round out the relievers from the southpaw side. Josh Taylor, a 61 game reliever last season, has been out on the IL with a bad back but could return within weeks.

If you’re scoring at home, that pans out to create uncertainty every time Eovaldi, Pivetta, Hill, Wacha, Barnes and eventually Sale and Paxton take the pitching mound to start a game, whether it be at Fenway or on the road.

Of course, pitching is the key element for all teams to contend in the American League East as the Toronto Blue Jays, Yankees, and Tampa Bay Rays are all worthy to compete for playoff berths while the Baltimore Orioles are likely to hold up the rear in the division but are fast improving.

Lets take a look at the Vegas odds for the American League title as of Opening Day:

  • Toronto Blue Jays | +400
  • Chicago White Sox | +500
  • Houston Astros | +500
  • New York Yankees | +500
  • Tampa Bay Rays | +850
  • Boston Red Sox | +1000
  • Los Angeles Angels | +1000
  • Seattle Mariners | +1000
  • Minnesota Twins | +1700
  • Detroit Tigers | +2300
  • Cleveland Guardians | +4200
  • Texas Rangers | +4800
  • Kansas City Royals | +5000
  • Oakland Athletics | +6000
  • Baltimore Orioles | +16000

Baltimore Means Business vs Red Sox

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BOSTON – Baltimore Orioles ace pitcher John Means threw 7.0 innings of one-hit, scoreless baseball and the Orioles scored two runs in the 6th inning and one in the 8th to earn a 3-0 Opening Day victory over the Red Sox at Fenway Park. The opener was delayed one day because of inclement weather on Thursday, April 1. It was the first time the Boston Red Sox were shut-out on their MLB Opening Day since 1976.

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Means retired 18 consecutive batters with the only blemish being a lead-off single by Boston’s Kiki Hernandez and the Orioles’ 3B Maikel Franco allowing Xander Bogaerts to get on board with a fielding error. Otherwise, it was all command, control and an effective change-ups by Means that baffled Boston batters all afternoon long.

Baltimore earned its victory when Ryan Montcastle doubled in two runs in the 6th inning and an Anthony Santander RBI single to score Cedric Mullins in the 8th inning.

Orioles closer Cesar Valdez relieved Tanner Scott and retired the Red Sox with only a DH J.D. Martinez double in the 9th.

Boston SP Nathan Eovaldi (5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 SO) made his 2nd straight Opening Day start. He took the loss.

The teams will return to Fenway Park for 1:10pm EDT starts on both Saturday and Sunday.