Expectations soar for early first games
NEW YORK» The Houston Astros will take the field as World Series champions for the first time. Giancarlo Stanton, J.D. Martinez and Eric Hosmer will wear new uniforms following an odd offseason when tanking teams helped sink the free agent market. First-time managers will fill out lineup cards, home run and strikeout totals will be watched closely, and out West, a Japanese import will try to do it all.
Opening day is here. The 162-game grind of the regular season starts Thursday.
“It’s a full-circle moment,” Astros ace Justin Verlander said ahead of Houston’s opener at Texas. “Just being out there Game 1 of the season, everybody is so high on expectations and so excited about the upcoming season, the unknown, what’s going to happen with their team. It’s a unique atmosphere.”
The March 29 start date is the earliest in Major League Baseball’s history excluding international openers, and all teams were scheduled to play on opening day for the first time since 1968 — the last year before the American and National Leagues split into divisions.
“I’m just excited about standing out for the anthem and getting it started,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said before the Nationals arrived in rainy Cincinnati. “The boys are ready. I’m ready.”
Martinez is among six new managers, joined by fellow rookie skippers Alex Cora of Boston, Aaron Boone of the New York Yankees, Mickey Callaway of the New York Mets and Gabe Kapler of Philadelphia.
Detroit’s Ron Gardenhire is the lone retro hiring, joining the Tigers after leading Minnesota from 2002-14. Baseball has undergone a quick evolution since he left the Twins dugout, favoring upper cuts, long balls and a quicker hook for starting pitchers.
A record 6,105 home runs were hit last season, topping the 5,963 in 2000 at the height of the Steroids Era. Strikeouts set a record for the 10th straight season at 40,104 and sacrifice bunts fell to their lowest level since 1900 at 925. The 59 complete games set a record low for the third straight season and 27 individual shutouts were the fewest since 1878.
“You’re starting to understand that a ball on the ground is essentially an out,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “So they made adjustments in their mechanics, their approach to elevate the baseball that’s going to turn into more flyballs, more homers, some swing and miss.”
There is one slight change in the format this year, with the regular season extended by three days to 186 to create more off-days — an accommodation players negotiated in their labor contract.