Eight takeaways from MLB’s opening weekend

The first series of the MLB season is in the books, and they had it all: exceptional promotions, quick hits, surprising champions, confusing management decisions, even Single seat clearing incident. There’s a lot to tackle, but after spending four days calling MLB.tv Like the guy from Project Overlord in Mass Effect 2she has identified eight notable events and story lines.

The pitchers hear buzzes, and that’s a good thing

Obviously the biggest rule change this year is the introduction of DH into the National League, but no. 2 in that list PitchCom debuts. Instead of using hand signals to call out tones, hunters can now use a pager on their wrist to send the call to a small receiver tucked into the pitcher’s lid. (Between PitchCom and NFL- and NHL-style NFL referee mics, this is a big year for wireless technology in baseball.)

As an anti-signature theft measure, PitchCom has also been promoted as a way to improve the pace of gameplay. A catcher using hand signals must wait until the pitcher is at the rubber of the ball and facing the hit, after which he can have to go through up to half a dozen cues to get his message across. Now, the catcher can summon the pitch at any time with the press of a button. We’ll see if PitchCom accomplishes either of these two goals—If NFL teams could hack coaches’ headphones, some GM assistants to commit crimes will eventually figure out a way to take advantage of PitchCom. But the game is sure to move more actively.

A real revolution in the pace of play would require a court clock and a rule to keep hitters out (and possibly restrictions on pitch changes). But this is the beginning.

National Broadcasting Get a plastic surgery

This weekend, baseball fans received several innovations in the art of broadcasting, most notably the debut of the new ESPN. Sunday night baseball Kiosk and Apple TV + Friday Night Games.

The ESPN crew of Karl Ravech, Eduardo Pérez and David Cone called up the Reds-Braves’ tag team game Thursday night before heading to the coast on Sunday night. [checks notes]It says here that the Yankees and the Red Sox were working Sunday night baseball, but this cannot be true. This new crew has always been better than Matt Vasgrecian, Alex Rodriguez-Ravich and Perez are ESPN booth veterans, and Kohn’s work on YES has made him one of the country’s most popular local color analysts. It sure was good from opening day.

One of the selling points of this booth is the fact that Perez and Kun are both very thoughtful and well-prepared analysts and, unlike some other national broadcasters, they know they are not the main attraction. It’s definitely not a high bar to explain, and if you’re committed enough to watch an entire baseball game, you’re bound to listen to some people talk for three or four hours. But it’s just a much more enjoyable experience when the said people are having fun and getting involved in what’s going on in front of them, rather than catching up or trying to prove a whole point.

Even the old gags that didn’t work before, like the in-game interview, passed with flying colors on opening day. Joey Votto, who faced Chris Treasure’s character – as Joy de Vivre during a A self-described midlife crisisFun conversation with Ravech and Co during the fourth inning of Thursday’s game.

The Foto interview, and the sequel on Sunday with Red Sox midfielder Enrique Hernandez, showed that This format often Could you Work, if the player being interviewed is low.

In contrast to ESPN’s venerable production, Apple’s first weekend in baseball was somewhat unconventional — and bumpy. On the other hand, it’s annoying that MLB’s new streaming partnerships with Peacock and Apple require fans to find and navigate more apps, especially if said fans are already paying for cable and MLB.tv. (What do you get for $140 a season anymore if you can’t watch games on local TV, national cable, Peacock, or Apple, or if you live in Iowa?) But there are advantages to diversifying your streaming partners. For example, while RSNs across the country continue to trot out of indigestible Hall of Famers, Apple booths have been skewed for youth and both housed at least one announcer. And Apple, with a little skin in the game and respectful traditions from ESPN, experimented with some bullshit.

The graphics, as you might expect from Self-Congratulations Minimalism, Inc. It is elegant and unobtrusive. Picture quality looked great. And one of the most interesting innovations in broadcasting is the probabilistic prediction in the corner of the screen, even if the numbers that pop up sometimes don’t pass the smell test. Both broadcast crews also encountered the same problem as A-Rod Sunday night baseball Kiosk – Treat the game as background images for a talk show. The booth at the Astros-Angels game has been skewed by Mike Trout at-bat and Alex Bregman on its grounds, for example.

But that’s the broken tech company’s deal in microcosm: They come in, try new things — some really cool and some don’t work at all — and make mistakes that could have been avoided if they took the best advantage of institutional knowledge. But it’s early days, and there are some indications of a promising future once Apple gains more experience.

Padres Twirl unsuccessful successive shows

Everything that happens in the first weekend of the season is a statistical indication. Remember last year, when the Orioles went to Fenway and swept the Red Sox? Ultimately Baltimore lost 110 games, and the Sox went to the ALCS. It’s all noise.

But some pieces of noise are more entertaining than others. On Thursday, Yu Darvish – himself no stranger to unsuccessful bids in April – kept the Diamondbacks line injury-free for six runs. Manager Bob Melvin lifted Darvish in place of Tim Hill in the seventh inning, and Hill allowed one song for his first hit. Arizona eventually came back to win the Seth Beer Grand Tour, apparently on National Beer Day. (Or so they say – any day can be National Beer Day if you want it badly enough.)

It doesn’t matter, because the next night, Shun threw Mana Seven Roles do not strike. Once again, Melvin called Hill, and again Hill let out a single for the first hitter he encountered. Padres Become the number one team in recent MLB history To draw different novice players from unsuccessful bids for at least six innings and fewer than 100 throws, not just in successive games, but over the course of the entire season. It made Joe Musgrove’s debut Saturday night, the one-year anniversary of his no-hitter TV assignment. But Musgrove merely He allowed five hits and two over six runs for an easy win. What a disappointment.

White Sox Wild Weekend Weather

The big spin in Chicago was already a hit when Carlos Rodon left for San Francisco (he had 12 attacks in 5 rounds in his debut for the Giants), and Lance Lane fell with a knee injury. Injuries to Yoon Moncada, Garrett Crochet, Joe Kelly, and others have drained depth throughout the roster. Then opening writer Lucas Giolito straightened an abs and landed on IL, AJ Bullock probably had the worst weekend of anyone in the league.

On Friday, Bullock missed playing a ball on the warning track, turning into a Javier Paez single.

Then after about 24 hours, Bullock straightened his hamstrings and had to leave the game.

The White Sox is still able to take two out of three against a tough contender in Detroit, and Giolito and Bullock’s injuries don’t seem too severe. But it was a brighter opening sequence than they would have liked.

Washington Sartoriali Flowers

It was a busy weekend for baseball costumes, with the Astros presenting Cityconnect T-shirts inspired by NASA And the fanatics – the monopoly that spoils sports fan gear –Somehow fails to deliver alternate uniforms to Phils For weekend games.

But Washington stole the show. nothing wrong With the basic uniform of citizens. It’s only in red, white, and blue with text, in a department where Phillies and Braves have already made red, white, and blue with text an essential part of their team’s identities. Nor is it as good as the red, white, and blue look the franchise left in Montreal. it’s boring.

But this weekend, Nats showed up in their official City Connect uniform.

Not only does this new look relate to a well-known and instantly recognizable part of the local culture – the Washington cherry blossoms – it offers a unique floral element. And It uses two of the most commonly used colors in sports: gray and pink. They don’t believe. Citizens should throw their normal uniforms in the trash now.

Blue Jays and Rangers are back again

The Blue Jays hype train hit some uneasy track on opening day, as the Texas Rangers flagged José Berríos for four runs in the third inning and went on to lead 7-0 with the fourth. But Train kept it going, with Toronto scoring eight straight runs in the middle third of the game and completing the biggest opening-day comeback since 1950.

This was the series to watch if you like a huge comeback, because on Sundays, the shoe was on the other foot, or the heroines were lifted, or something. Texans, having fallen 6-1 after three runs, scored 11 unanswered runs to save one game from the series. Who would have guessed it These two teams That would produce a baseball game that is out of control.

Stephen Kwan is always at the base

When Stephen Kwan started gaining buzz as a rookie black horse of the year this spring, I thought, “How strange that there are two Stephen Kwans.” I remembered a player by that name who played with Nick Madrigal and Adley Rochman in Oregon, a skinny guy who looked like he was going to take the bat off his hands at the Pro. Surely there must be something else.

Three games into Kwan’s MLB career, it seems I owe him an apology. Kwan made the most of his first taste of the MLB move; In one series with the Guardians, he went 8 for 10 (including 5 for 5 on Sunday), with three walks and one hit after another. There was no shortage of big and/or great MLB appearances this weekend: Spencer Turkelson, Bobby Waite Jr., Bryson Stott, Hunter Green (I don’t think anyone went 100 miles an hour that easily), Julio Rodriguez, etc. But Kwan hit the field.

Jeremy Peña’s parents top the power rankings in the first week

Although Kwan had the best weekend as a rookie, he didn’t have the best moments. This belongs to Astros Shortstop Jeremy Peña, who has a great boot to fill, and sees how he replaces Carlos Correa in the Houston squad.

Not only did Pena take part in his second major league game, but he did so while Heidi Watney interviewed his parents live on Apple TV+ broadcast.

Moments like this happen More than you think, but they are not getting old. MLB as a business can be frustratingly satirical, but baseball Still romantic. Watching the Peñas celebrate their run on their turf, you can see each parent who drove their son to Little League training while there was still snow on the grounds or sat in endless U10 games where the kids are big enough to play but too small to throw hits. You have to be made of stone so you don’t eat this.