by EJ Fagan
March 28, 2025
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NOTE: The following comes from EJ Fagan's substack page and is shared with permission.
Please check out EJ's substack page for more great articles.
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I’m sitting in an airport lounge, watching the game on a way too small television with the radio broadcast in my ear. But you know something? None of that bothers me. Baseball is back, baby.
I won’t recap every game, but I figure that Opening Day is special.
My notes:
We start with a win! A little scary, but a win is a win, especially against a strong Brewers team.
Wells to start the season! Volpe shortly after! Great for both of them, especially off Peralta. Neither were monster home runs, but they were well-struck 100 mph fly balls. They count the same.
Volpe has a nice at bat with men on against Hudson in the 6th. He fouled off a few tough ones to bring the count to 3-2, which Volpe never did last year. It ended in a ground ball, but the at bat felt like progress.
Bellinger with a nice take of third base after a modest passed ball. Love it.
Pretty good start against a solid Brewers team for Rodon. 7 strikeouts. Unlike last year, he didn’t get lucky on tons of tons of hard contact. He got beat on the third time through the order, but that’s normal for a modern starter. He matched Peralta in swings and misses.
Tim Hill gets the Yankees out of a jam in the 6th inning. More of that, please.
Williams not sharp against the weak part of the Brewers lineup. He would have allowed a two-run home run to Collins in pretty much any other ballpark. He was nibbling. He got out of trouble, but I wonder if he’ll be available on Saturday.
Judge seemed off all through Spring Training and that continued today. He was up with two men on in the 5th but struck out on a high pitch. His double was as cheap as it gets, probably should have been a double play ball.
Aggressive advance by Cabrera on a short sac fly. Love it.
Boone subs out Dominguez for Grisham for defense. Not exactly a vote of confidence in the rookie, who hasn’t looked bad in left since early Spring. But Grisham might also be a pretty solid upgrade in center over Bellinger. Same for Bellinger in left over Dominguez. It might be the right move.
Caleb Durbin didn’t make the Brewers roster. Makes the Devin Williams trade feel better.
Dave Sims is excellent on the radio. Honestly a huge improvement over Sterling. Waldman didn’t say much.
That was fun! Now we get the annoying post-Opening Day off day.
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