The night of July 23rd marked a long-awaited return to baseball among MLB fans around the world as Max Scherzer threw the first pitch to get the season underway.
Even though this game got cancelled after only 6 innings because of a rain delay, this 4-1 victory by the Yankees against the Nationals was the first MLB game played (that counted) since October 30th of last year.
This game saw Giancarlo Stanton hit a 2-run bomb in the top of the first to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead that they would never give back, and then extend it to 4-1.
Later that night, the Dodgers cruised by the Giants in an 8-1 victory, highlighted by an impressive 4/5 performance by Enrique Hernandez.
The afternoon after those two games were also very refreshing, especially for the 26 other teams that didn’t play the night before.
These games included a Mets 1-0 victory over the Braves, a 6-4 win by the Blue Jays over the Rays, a Cubs VS. Brewers matchup that saw Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks throw a complete game, only giving up three hits.
The Marlins beat out the Phillies 5-2, Cleveland won a divisional matchup against KC 2-0, the Red Sox destroyed the Orioles in a 13-2 fashion that was brought forth by 4 Red Sox with 3+ hits.
The Rangers edged out the Rockies 1-0, while the Twins beat the White Sox 10-5. St. Louis had trouble with the Pirates, only winning 5-4, the Padres beat the Diamondbacks 7-2, along with a Reds’ victory over the Tigers by a convincing score of 7-1.
The Dodgers beat the Giants 9-1, and the Athletics beat the Angels 7-3 with the help of a walk-off grand slam from Matt Olson in the bottom of the 10th.
With each team one game through their season, (besides the Dodgers and Giants), baseball is back.
Photo Credit: Arturo Pardavila III / Wikimedia Commons
