Insane Opening Day, Bryant is “Edgy” and Other Nuggets
Baseball is back. While, sure, it officially started a week ago in Japan. In either event today officially opened the baseball season for the other 28 cities across the country.
Opening day means something. For baseball fans, it means something. Opening day ushers in the summer. It reminds us that there’s always better days ahead. It gives people reason for hope, cause as baseball reminds us, hope springs eternal.
This opening day started with a bang. This day was about the home run, and in the second inning of the Milwaukee Brewers and St Louis Cardinals game, the season’s first back-to-back pair of homers were hit.
BACK-TO-BACK JACKS ? pic.twitter.com/ULMKtO3yGD
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) March 28, 2019
(I apologize for Cardinals content)
All in all, there were 48 homers hit today. It was certainly the day of the homer.
All 48 #OpeningDay homers because we care. pic.twitter.com/lOsJg1WEPu
— MLB (@MLB) March 29, 2019
The Cubs got in on the action and hit 6% of all home runs hit today, but they didn’t come near the Los Angeles Dodgers and their eight jacks to open the season. But then again, that was a MLB record, so…
The @Dodgers 8 HR today are an #OpeningDay record. pic.twitter.com/lMDKSqw2Rl
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) March 28, 2019
This might be a crazy homer season. Me thinks the MLB will go over budget on baseball’s in 2019.
Kris Bryant is “edgy”
We all know Kris Bryant. The handsome guy with the eyes that smile better than anyone’s actual smile, well except for Kris Bryant’s actual smile. He’s never told a door-to-door solicitor to go away. He’s never passed up someone selling Girl Scout cookies, and there’s rumors that he once called timeout because someone in section 421 sneezed and no one said “bless you.”
That’s just how nice Bryant is.
Well apparently he’s aware that he might be, you know, kinda… too nice? That’s what Bryant and Jon Greenberg spoke about recently anyways.
“I’m just realizing more and more that I think I’m just too nice,” he told me. “It’s not going to change who I am, it’s just like I try to be a nice guy, but I think I have a little bit of an edge.”
Players should have an edge about them, at least that’s what the old school athlete in me believes. In a sport that there’s so much lingering on confidence. Day in and day out, pitch by pitch, inning by inning. An edge certainly helps you get through the grind, and rise to being one of the best players in the league. Possibly more important, that edge helps a player from falling into the traps of a long season. You know, like playing in 40 days and during a hurricane.
“Yeah, yeah definitely,” Bryant said. “I think that’s a perfect way of putting it. Like I said, last year I don’t think we really did take that ownership, myself included. I was complaining about whatever, how many games in a row, playing in a hurricane. It just kind of trickled down to everybody and we all just had that, it was kind of like a disease that infected everybody in the clubhouse. It wasn’t the greatest way to go about it. Hopefully now that we know what we did wrong last year, we’re going to fix it.”
Let’s face it, negativity is easier to gravitate towards, especially when there’s potentially a raw deal. The Cubs caught a raw deal in 2018. It’s easier to fall into the traps, complain, than rise above. Even for the positive thinkers, it becomes difficult to maintain that mentality when your going through this stretch and not scoring.
Whether it’s playing with an edge, or a chip on their shoulder, or whatever they want to call it – it will help keep all 25 men pulling in the same direction.
“I think the biggest thing this year is the urgency of not taking a game, an inning off,” he said. “That’s really it. If you looked how things turned out for us last year and how close things were, an inning here or there, where we might not have been at our best, maybe cost us. I think that’s the focus this year. We’re going to go up there in the middle of the games where we necessarily feel great, that we don’t feel great in, where we’re playing 40 in a row, we’re going to be ready for those.”
Oh, and it appears Bryant was turning it into good play on the field. In the opener, he hit a 420 foot homer to right on a pitch that was 4” below the strike zone.
First home run of the year for @KrisBryant_23! #KBoom#EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/cgBu42c6nJ
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) March 28, 2019
But also impressive was his flyout in the first inning. This mas a massive flyball that he absolutely crushed. He happened to just miss this, but if he barreled this a fraction of a centimeter lower it’s a 500 foot smash to left.
Kris Bryant (1) off LHP Mike Minor (1) – 111.2 mph, 40 degrees (376 ft Flyout, .630 xBA)
94 mph Four-Seamer#Cubs @ #Rangers (T1)— MLBBarrelAlert (@MLBBarrelAlert) March 28, 2019
The ball still traveled 376 feet!
The Javy Show
Could folks be wrong about Javier Baez? Of course he had an amazing season in 2018, but there weren’t many experts that would put their reputation on him repeating his performance. After opening day, he just might be better.
JAVIER BAEZ HOME RUN pic.twitter.com/s6JT47917N
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) March 28, 2019
Baez has always been pegged as potentially the most talented player in the Cubs organization. After some road bumps in his first couple seasons, things began to click. 2018 he was ridiculously good, and finished second in MVP voting.
JAVIER BAEZ 2019 MVP FRONT RUNNER pic.twitter.com/MFxXErLk0E
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) March 28, 2019
Maybe Baez has just found a way to come out of the bubble? Maybe 2018 showed him how much work it takes to be a potential MVP, and just how much more he needed to work to be the best player in the league.
What is somewhat interesting is, Baez’s risero potential superstardom, might have taken some of the spotlight off others in the clubhouse. Reporters came in and asked Jon Lester about Baez’s day. They asked David Bote, who had a good game, about Baez. They even asked Bryant, who homered, to talk about Baez.
Baez is a dude that can live in the spotlight. He revels in the attention and the flash. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a giant team player, and team first guy, but the attention the media give him could help others go about the early season without stress from the additional attention.
Best finish
The best ending to a game today was in the Cardinals Brewers game. I apologize if this offends your sensibilities, but this is an awesome way to end things.
LO CAIN. FOR. THE. WIN. ? #OpeningDay pic.twitter.com/2B34gddRLh
— MLB (@MLB) March 28, 2019
Hopefully this is the last time I post Cardinals or Brewers content…
