Though the primary MLB weekend of 2024 was contested in New York for Brewers vs. Mets, and in St. Petersburg for Blue Jays vs. Rays, to date the Dodgers and Cardinals haven't had any extracurricular flare-ups at Dodger Stadium.
Listed below are a couple of tales round baseball to begin your Easter Sunday.
JJ Cooper at Baseball America analyzed all 30 energetic opening day rosters in MLB, and located that the Dodgers drafted essentially the most gamers of another crew. Twenty-nine former Dodgers draftees had been on energetic rosters Thursday, among the many 583 whole energetic former draftees throughout the game.
Six Dodgers draftees had been on their very own roster on Opening Day — the not too long ago prolonged Will Smith, 2020 draftees within the present rotation Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone, the third-place Rookie of the Yr within the Final yr's Nationwide League James Outman, plus Gavin Lux and Michael Grove.
In a ballot of MLB executives, Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto acquired two votes out of 31 when requested which participant could be the highest rookie in MLB in 2024, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
Yamamoto's whole was tied for fourth in a protracted checklist. Rangers designated hitter Wyatt Langford was tops with seven votes. The Nationwide League's high vote-getter was Jackson Merrill, who performs heart subject for the Padres. Merrill acquired 4 votes.
The five-year common in MLB for OPS+ exterior of the designated hitter place has by no means been decrease than it’s now. Hannah Keyser at The Ringer examined why it has change into so troublesome for groups to seek out hitters to fill the place.
One of many primary causes is that many groups use the DH as a rotating spot to offer pseudo-rest to their regulars now and again. From Pirates basic supervisor Ben Cherington:
“However when you don't, you may simply make an argument that the easiest way to deal with it’s to make use of it as a partial restoration day for no matter place participant you assume wants it,” he says. “And it turns into a part of the amount administration technique versus maximizing the offense from that place.”
I actually loved this unimaginable element on the Rangers championship rings.
Love how the primary letters of the groups they beat had been ROAD – Rays, Orioles, Astros, Diamondbacks, so as, whereas going 11-0 on the street within the postseason. They usually used the typography of these groups within the design. Good. https://t.co/EcxvPdtws2
– Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) March 31, 2024
