Opening Day in Major League Baseball is not only a rite of passage to officially welcome the arrival of spring, but it also represents a moment in time where hope and optimism exists for all 30 ball clubs. This year, Opening Day takes on greater significance due to the availability of three COVID-19 vaccines that have received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. Thanks to comprehensive health and safety guidelines, fans are slowly returning to ballparks in limited and socially distanced capacities. Only the Texas Rangers will operate at full capacity for their home opener on April 5th at Globe Life Field.
Major League Baseball and its fans are eagerly awaiting the start of the 2021 season. There are several fascinating questions that go well beyond an expiring collective bargaining agreement in December. The sport is bursting with dynamic talent looking to secure $300 million contract extensions, a Hall of Fame-bound veteran on the cusp of two historic milestones, the health of two superstars for the New York Yankees, pitching concerns due to the abbreviated 2020 season, and the correlation between the quality of baseballs and prolific displays of awe-inspiring power.
Leftfielder Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals and shortstop Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets are two of Major League Baseballs exciting young superstars. Once the San Diego Padres signed 22-year-old shortstop Fernando Tatis, Jr. to a 14-year, $340 million contract extension after 143 ball games, questions began to surface whether Soto and Lindor would shortly join the exclusive $300 million club. Already earning extraordinary praise and lofty comparisons to the iconic Ted Williams, the 22-year-old Soto avoided arbitration in his first year of eligibility and signed a one-year, $8.5 million contract. He will be eligible for free agency at the conclusion of the 2024 season according to Spotrac.
Lindor is held in high regard as one of the best all-around shortstops in baseball. Upon his arrival in New York after being traded by the Cleveland Indians this past January, Mets fans immediately knew they had their shortstop of the present and future. Lindor avoided arbitration and signed a one-year contract worth $22.3 million according to Cots Baseball Contracts.
The next step for Lindor is a long-term contract as he is eligible for free agency at seasons end. Lindor and Mets owner Steve Cohen would like to come to an agreement on a contract extension prior to Opening Day. Besides a victory against the Nationals on the first day of the season, fans would love to hear an announcement from the Mets confirming that Lindor will be a cornerstone for the franchise over the next decade.
Cabrera is in the twilight years of his exceptional career and is in the conversation as one of the greatest right-handed hitters in baseball history. The two-time American League Most Valuable Player (2012, 2013) and Triple Crown winner (2012) is 134 hits away from becoming the 33rd member of the 3,000 hit club and needs 13 home runs to join the 500 home run club as its 28th member. As the designated hitter embarks upon his age 38 season, Cabrera could be the first ball player to achieve both monumental accomplishments in the same season according to the MLB Network. He would also be the seventh ball player in baseball history to achieve both milestones according to Stathead Baseball.
The Yankees have yet to experience the full power and potential of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in the same lineup due to multiple injuries by both ball players. According to data collected using Baseball-Reference.com, Judge and Stanton have appeared in the same regular season ball game 142 times or 36.98% of the total ball games played by the Yankees during the 2018-2020 seasons. With Judge and Stanton together, the Yankees have achieved a 90-52 record (.634 winning percentage). In these ball games, the duo has hit a combined 68 home runs, scored 189 runs, and accumulated 178 runs batted in highlighted by a .896 on-base plus slugging. In total, the Yankees scored 744 runs in the 142 ball games which produced a runs scored per game of 5.24 and a positive run differential of 183.
The workloads of starting pitchers have been a topic of conversation during spring training. After an abbreviated 60-game schedule and training interruptions last season, the consensus is ball clubs will take extra precautions with the conditioning of starting pitchers to avoid fatigue and injuries. In 13 starts last season while pitching for the Texas Rangers, Lance Lynns 84 innings pitched led Major League Baseball.
A noticeable decline has occurred regarding starting pitchers eclipsing 200 innings pitched in a season. During the 2010-2014 seasons, an average of 37 starting pitchers had surpassed 200 innings pitched per season. Over the course of the 2015-2019 seasons, the average had dropped to 17 according to data provided by FanGraphs. During this decade, Justin Verlander led all starting pitchers by achieving nine seasons of at least 200 innings pitched with a career high 251 innings in 2011 according to Stathead Baseball.
It is worth paying attention to the number of pitchers a ball club uses during the season. In 2020, the average pitchers per season was 25.7 for an abbreviated 60-game schedule. In each of the 2015-2019 seasons, the pitchers per season was at least 27 with an all-time high of 31 in 2019 according to Baseball-Reference.coms database.
There have been two offensive trends since the 2017 season: a proliferation of home runs at a historic rate and strikeouts are eclipsing hits on an annual basis. As launch angle, exit velocity, and barrels have become common parlance around batting cages thanks to Statcast, Major League Baseball has eclipsed 6,000 home runs in a season and has done so twice (2017, 2019) over the past four seasons. During this period, 90 ball players have had at least one 30 home run season according to Stathead Baseball.
In terms of strikeouts, 63 ball players have had at least one 150 strikeout season during the same period. Overall, Major League Baseball has eclipsed 40,000 strikeouts three consecutive times prior to the abbreviated 2020 season. The Associated Press reported that baseballs have been slightly deadened at the outset of spring training. The process involves loosening tension in the first winding of wool within the baseball. Inconsistencies in the height of seams are also one of the causes for the home run explosion in recent years as the Rawlings baseballs are hand-sewn by people.
As a return to normalcy is on the horizon, Major League Baseball is preparing for an exciting and safe season for ball players and fans. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and there have been many valuable lessons learned over the past year. Life is precious and never take anything for granted, especially celebrating Americas National Pastime on Opening Day!
