Outside The Confines: Opening Weekend highs

We’re done with the first series of the season. So far, everything is pretty quiet on the news front, which is a good thing. But of course, there’s always something.

I do have one minor complaint about the pitch clock. If there are no Central time zone games, then the East Coast games end around 9:30 Eastern and the West Coast games don’t start until 10 p.m. Eastern. What are we supposed to do for that half an hour? (Admittedly, this is a bigger problem on the West Coast when it’s only 6:30 in the evening.)

Make sure there are always Central Time Zone night games, MLB.

• Dodgers outfielder Trayce Thompson hit three home runs in Saturday’s win over the Diamondbacks. Even more unusual than that, all three home runs were measured as having an exit velocity of exactly 107.5 mph.
• Fabian Ardaya looks at Thompson’s big night and his struggles to stay on the Dodgers’ roster. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Before we move on from the Dodgers, there were incidents on Opening Night where Dodger Stadium’s new “nightclub” LED lights were distracting to the visiting Diamondbacks. For example, they would flash and change colors while the ball was still in play.
• However:

• This also happened at Dodger Stadium on Opening Night. Seriously. Do not propose in public at the ballpark. And certainly don’t go on the field to do it like this doorknob. I hope she said “no.”
• MLB is also investigating an “altercation” between the Angels’ Anthony Rendon and an Athletics fan on Opening Day.
• Rendon said that he cannot comment on the incident.
• The pitch clock is doing its job. Opening Day games were 26 minutes shorter than last year.
• Ben Lindbergh goes over the “forgotten history” of the pitch clock. There have been rules in baseball about the time between pitches since 1901. There just has never been a way to enforce that rule until now, although as Lindbergh has explains, some have tried.
• Commissioner Rob Manfred gives the new rules an “A+.”
• Manfred also agreed with an unnamed MLB owner who said that analytics were an “arms race to nowhere.” (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Michael Baumann has some thoughts the new collective bargaining agreement with the minor league players.
• If you haven’t seen Garrett Broshuis’ thoughts on the new minor league CBA, you should definitely check them out.
• Three teams—the Rays, Twins and Rangers—are still undefeated. Theo DeRosa looks at the longest all-time winning streaks to start a season. I’m kind of surprised the 1984 Tigers aren’t on the list, but they “only” won their first nine games. It’s just that they went 35-5 over the first 40 games.
• The Padres have locked up infielder Jake Cronenworth to a seven-year extension.
• Diamondbacks pitcher Madison Bumgarner went to the injured list with “arm fatigue” after his first start of the season.
• Mariners pitcher Robbie Ray went on the IL with a left flexor strain.
• Jay Jaffe has a roundup of other top starting pitchers who are on the IL and the impact that will have on their teams.
• Mets starter Kodai Senga impressed in his MLB debut.
• Guardians rookie Tim Herrin did something that has never been done before—or at least hasn’t been done since 1893. Herrin faced four batters and struck all of them out in his major league debut.
• Anthony Castrovince responded to eight “overreactions” by fans to Opening Weekend.
• Will Leitch has one take for each team’s Opening Weekend. I agree. The Cubs and Dansby Swanson are going to get along just fine.
• R.J. Anderson’s take is that Jazz Chisholm’s move to center field is not going well so far.
• Tom Kludt interviews Hall-of-Famer Pedro Martinez on his thoughts about the state of baseball in 2023.
• Dayn Perry has some milestones to look out for in 2023.
• Evan Petzold looks at how the Tigers are managing Miguel Cabrera’s playing time in his final season.
• Mike Petriello ranks the fastest teams in MLB.
• Bryan Hoch breaks down Yankee slugger Giancarlo Stanton’s massive 485-foot home run.

• More on that catch here.
• And finally, Jack Nicas has noticed that Yankees caps are everywhere in Brazil. But almost no one knows what the cap stands for. He reports on the phenomenon.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.