Happy Opening Day!!!
Happy Opening Day to all! And congratulations on making it through another winter, one that had its momentary ups and severe downs. But we are now back, full of optimism on the first day of the year, ready to get hurt all over again!
Today’s game is in Tampa, “scheduled” for a 4:10 ET start. With the Opening Day pageantry, expect the real start time to be closer to 4:30.
Blue Jays’ Starter
With Kevin Gausman missing time over the spring and his status for the start of the season under question, the Blue Jays turn to José Berríos to open the season, doing so for the second time in this his third Opening Day with the team. Add in his assignments with the Twins in 2019 and 2020 and this will be his fourth.
After a very rough season in 2022 (5.23 ERA), Berríos had a great bounceback season last year, throwing 189.2 innings to a 3.65 ERA. His biggest culprit from 2022 was an uptick in home runs thanks to a bit more fly balls carrying out, and allowing a few more fly balls in general. He also saw is strikeout rate drop by more than 6% compared to his previous couple seasons, a rate which bounced back most of the way last season. If he can stay at his normal rates of home runs and strikeouts like he did last season, he should have another good season.
Rays’ Starter
Shane McClanahan had made the previous two Opening Day starts for the Rays, but he went down for Tommy John surgery back in August and will likely miss this season as well. Enter Zach Eflin, in year two of his record breaking (for the Rays) free agent contract he signed prior to last season, ready to make his first career Opening Day start after spending the first seven seasons of his career in Aaron Nola’s shadow.
Eflin certainly earned his spot here today though. In 31 starts last season, he tied Chris Bassitt with a league best 16-8 record, putting up a 3.50 ERA and an even better 3.02 xERA and 3.01 FIP. That FIP gave him a 4.8 fWAR, putting him in the top 10 in all of baseball. He garnered some Cy Young attention as well, finishing in 6th place in the voting.
Blue Jays’ Lineup
It isn’t official yet, but it’s looking like the Jays will go with:
George Springer, RF
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B
Bo Bichette, SS
Justin Turner, DH
Daulton Varsho, LF
Alejandro Kirk, C
Kevin Kiermaier, CF
Isiah Kiner-Falefa, 3B
Cavan Biggio, 2B
Vladdy has been bumped up to the 2 spot, getting the now-premier position in the lineup.
Rays’ Lineup
Should be something along these lines:
Yandy Díaz, 1B
Brandon Lowe, 2B
Randy Arozarena, LF
Isaac Paredes, 3B
Harold Ramírez, DH
Richie Palacios, RF
Jose Siri, CF
José Caballero, SS
René Pinto, C
There are some definite weakspots here, but the top of this lineup has some firepower.
Find the Link
Find the link between Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ernie Whitt.
Stats retrieved from Fangraphs and Baseball Savant