Liam Koch, Contributing Writer
The Major League Baseball season started last Thursday and already we’ve been given classics, a controversy, and a team scoring twenty runs against a favorite to win their division.
Starting the week, the LA Dodgers, who have been the World Series favorites ever since they won it back in October, played against the Detroit Tigers. All three games in this series were incredible, but the second game became an instant classic. This game was a back-and-forth with the Tigers taking the lead early in the game, but the Dodgers came back and tied it in the 6th inning, later taking the lead in the 8th. Down one run, the Tigers scored in the 9th to tie it. But after going into extras, down 5 – 3, the Dodgers brought it to a tie game before Mookie Betts, who had been viciously sick for multiple weeks, slammed a ball out of the park for a walk-off three-run home run. That’s been the story of Dodgers’ games this season, high moments and fun watching.
The NY Yankees have been matching that level of hype, playing against the Milwaukee Brewers to start the season, the Yankees’ offence has been nearly unstoppable. On Saturday, the Yankees combined to hit nine home runs and score 20 runs. Three of those home runs came from Aaron Judge, who hit another on Sunday, putting him at four on the season already. He’s been chasing the record ever since he reached 60 home runs a few years ago. However, this success has not come without controversy. On Saturday,y it came to light that the Yankees have been using a new type of bat named the ‘Torpedo’batb, which has more density around the sweet spot, leading to harder hits and more home runs. Many fans have been calling these bats illegal; however, on Sunday, MLB announced that these bats were completely legal. This will likely lead to a rush as teams all around the league look to acquire these bats and improve their offense.
Other than that, some underdog teams have been fighting hard. The STL Cardinals, who had a tough offseason and were looking like they were going into a rebuild, started the season 3-0 after sweeping the Minnesota Twins. This comes thanks to strong performances from Lars Nootbaar and Nolan Arenado, the latter of whom was predicted to be traded away in theoffseasonn The San Diego Padres started strong as well, similarly taking a 3-0 standing after beating the Atlanta Braves three times to start the season. The Braves are predicted as the most likely team to topple the Dodgers.
Some of the strongest teams have had rocky starts so far. The Brewers, who had to play against the Yankees, failed to take one win home in their first three games despite being predicted to fight for their division. The Red Sox, who, after the injury to the Yankees’ Garret Cole, were favored to win the division, have struggled as well; they have only won one of their first four games against the Texas Rangers. This is due in part to Rafael Devers, who has had a historically bad start to the season. In his first four games, he has struck out 12 times and has yet to record a hit. He broke the record for most strikeouts in the first three games of a season for a player when he struck out ten times over the first three games.
Like usual, the Baseball world is shaping up to be memorable, as the Dodgers put together one of the greatest teams of all time, the Yankees revolutionize batting, and underdogs start showing up and toppling the strongest teams.
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