Angels Let Down Shohei Ohtani, More MLB Opening Day 2023 Takes and Observations

Yesterday was Opening Day for the 2023 Major League Baseball season. It was a dandy, and you know what that means.

That's right. It's time to send in the takes.

We have observations, notes and opinions on nine storylines from the 15 openers that went down on Thursday. They concern players, teams and games that stood out for reasons good and bad, as well as the initial returns on MLB's game-changing new rules.

Let's start in New York.

The New York Yankees' 5-0 win over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday—their first Opening Day shutout since 1988—played out as if it was plucked straight from a "Yankees Wins for Dummies" manual.

Aaron Judge, he of the American League record 62 home runs in 2022, picked up where he left off in his first at-bat, putting the Yankees up 1-0 with the very first home run of 2023.

The Yankees otherwise enjoyed Gerrit Cole striking out 11 batters to break Tim Leary's club record for Opening Day. He touched 100 mph with his fastball and got 17 whiffs on 44 total swings. Whether you prefer "nasty" or "filthy," he was definitely unpleasant to Giants hitters.

It was also a banner day for the middle of the Yankees infield, as Gleyber Torres added a two-run home run and much-hyped rookie Anthony Volpe drew a walk in his first plate appearance, followed swiftly by his first stolen base.

The Yankees still have questions looming over them, specifically pertaining to their laundry list of injuries and their questionable pitching depth. But if nothing else, Thursday was a nice reminder that there's no better stress reliever than stars playing like stars and that the Yankees have plenty of them.

If you haven't yet bought stock in Adley Rutschman, do so now.

The Baltimore Orioles' 25-year-old catcher put his fingerprints all over a wild 10-9 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday, reaching base six times as he went 5-for-5 with a home run and four runs batted in.

Five hits on Opening Day? That had only happened 12 times before Rutschman did it on Thursday, and not since 2005 to boot. Five hits with a home run on Opening Day? Just four times. By a catcher? Zero times.

Not that anyone should be surprised, of course. Rutschman was Baltimore's No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft and he was the best prospect in baseball by the time he debuted on May 21 of last year. He started slow, but then he was one of the best players in the league after June 15.

Because Julio Rodríguez was simply too good for the Seattle Mariners, Rutschman missed out on the AL Rookie of the Year last season. But at the rate he's going, the territory immediate ahead of him should contain his first All-Star selection and more than a few MVP votes.

After Adley Rutschman became the first player in nearly two decades to record five hits on Opening Day, there was (for the first time ever) another 5-hit performance just a few hours later in a humdinger of a ballgame.

This time it was George Springer, whose fifth hit brought home the tying run in the ninth inning of a contest his Toronto Blue Jays would take from the St. Louis Cardinals by a 10-9 final.

It's early yet, but this one ought to have a permanent place in "Game of the Year" discussions for 2023. Nine of the 19 runs were scored from the bottom of the sixth onward, resulting in a win probability chart that resembles a blueprint for an actual roller-coaster.

For which we say: thank you, balanced schedule. Whereas the imbalanced schedule that existed between 1997 and 2021 might have left the Blue Jays and Cardinals separated, their Opening Day thriller goes to show that fun things can happen when all 30 teams play each other at least once.

On a less thrilling note, Willson Contreras' Cardinals debut was cut short when he exited after taking a 103 mph fastball from Jordan Hicks off his right knee. The club diagnosed him with a contusion. Not ideal, given that he's their $87.5 million replacement for Yadier Molina.

Are you an ace pitcher in the National League East? Better watch your back, lest the injury bug suddenly creep up on you.

It sure crept up on three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, who was placed on the injured list before the New York Mets even opened their season with a 5-3 win over the Miami Marlins. He has a low-grade in the upper part of his right arm.

Not long after that news came out, Atlanta ace Max Fried had to leave the club's eventual 7-2 win over the Washington Nationals in the fourth inning after he came up lame following a play at first base.

Fried's injury was later revealed to be hamstring discomfort, which manager Brian Snitker says "is more than likely" to require an IL stint.

It's always better for injuries to happen earlier rather than later, but both Verlander's and Fried's injuries could loom large if the Mets and Atlanta take the NL East race down to the wire again after both won 101 games in 2022. Because he's joining José Quintana and Edwin Díaz on an already crowded IL, that could prove to be especially true of Verlander's absence.

Let's just say that Opening Day went better for the Texas Rangers than it did for their newly signed $185 million ace.

Whereas the Rangers ultimately pulled out a come-from-behind 11-7 win over the defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies, the comeback was only necessary because Jacob deGrom got lit up for five runs in 3.2 innings.

It was ultimately a day of firsts for the two-time Cy Young Award winner. Not only in the sense that he gave up runs on Opening Day for the first time in his career, but also because he allowed six extra-base hits for the first time ever.

It wasn't all bad. The 34-year-old deGrom didn't issue any walks while striking out seven batters, with his fastball getting as high as 101 mph. To these ends, at least, were decidedly deGrom-like.

All the same, the day didn't do much to improve the vaguely ominous vibes hanging over deGrom. The size of his contract came as a surprise after he made just 11 starts in 2022, and then he was slowed in spring training by a side injury. He can certainly still live up to his deal, but the trendline isn't exactly pointing in that direction.

The Houston Astros brought out all the stops and then some to celebrate last year's World Series championship ahead of their home opener. Clydesdales. Gold-plated unis. Megan Thee Stallion. You name it.

And then they lost their first opener since 2012, falling 3-2 to the Chicago White Sox.

The air started coming out of the balloon early, as Houston hitters could do little to nothing against White Sox ace Dylan Cease. He carved them up through 6.1 innings, allowing just one run on two hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts. His stuff, as usual, was nasty.

Though the Astros nonetheless took a 1-0 lead into the eighth inning, a solo home run from Yasmani Grandal and a two-run double by Andrew Vaughn took that away and provided just enough cushion to withstand Yordan Álvarez's 442-foot blast in the ninth.

This loss is nothing the defending champs can't shake off, but it felt like a statement win by the White Sox. They're generally not seen as having much of a chance this year, but, hey, this is largely the same roster that some viewed as being World Series-caliber this time last year.

Tungsten Arm O'Doyle ended up striking again as the Los Angeles Angels fell 2-1 to the Oakland Athletics, but at least Shohei Ohtani's 2023 debut was fun while it lasted.

Fresh off his dominating run through the World Baseball Classic, Ohtani picked up right where he left off by firing six shutout innings on two hits and three walks with 10 strikeouts. He got as high as 101 mph to strike out Ramon Laureano in the fourth inning.

On the other side of the ball, Ohtani's 111.6 mph single in the fourth was the hardest hit of the game. He also drew a walk, so the 2021 American League MVP was basically just a home run short of going full Ohtani to open the season.

As to other silver linings for the Angels, that no-look catch by Hunter Renfroe is one for the books and Mike Trout hit three balls over 100 mph. Indeed, the Angels were responsible for seven of the game's eight hardest-hit balls.

The fact that the Angels lost anyway shouldn't feel like a bad omen, but it does. This, after all, is the same team that's on an eight-year playoff drought even despite the dual presence of Ohtani and Trout. And this latest L was even a historic one.

Pretty much as soon as they signed Xander Bogaerts to an 11-year, $280 million contract, the San Diego Padres positioned themselves as a super-team and a World Series favorite for 2023. The hype train was o'rolling.

Now it's a'screeching after a 7-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

At least Bogaerts had himself a good game. He collected three of the Padres' seven hits to become the first player to debut for them with at least three hits since 2008.

Let it be granted that the best version of the 2023 Padres isn't here yet, as they're still waiting Joe Musgrove's return from the IL and Fernando Tatis Jr.'s return from his 80-game performance-enhancing drug suspension. Once the band is fully back together, the aforementioned hype train figures to really start moving.

But as beginnings go, the Padres opening with a loss to one of baseball's worst teams while the arch-rival Los Angeles Dodgers coasted to an 8-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks is what they call "suboptimal."

The pitch timer, the bigger bases and the shift ban were all there in spring training, but it wasn't until Thursday that they were all there for real. And, alas, we can't say it was all good.

For future trivia-related purposes, let the record show that Marcus Stroman and Rafael Devers are responsible for the first timer violation and timer-related strikeout in MLB history. Awkward moments, to be sure, and then there was the downright confusing scenario that unfolded midway through the Mets vs. Marlins game.

What we can say, however, is that it was mostly good.

Despite the occasional awkwardness on the field, the pitch timer debuted to generally rave reviews from fans and, crucially, worked as intended. Compared to 2022, the average time of game was down by about half an hour for Opening Day of 2023:

It's otherwise to soon to read into whether the new rules will permanently increase balls in play, much less whether what kind of effect the shift ban will have. The bigger bases, though, are clearly going to be a hit. Whereas there were just six stolen bases in last year's openers, this year there were 21.

It's a brand new ballgame, folks. Not in a perfect way, perhaps, but certainly in a welcome one.

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.