MLB Opening Day overreactions: Mets are overhyped, Dodgers are best team ever and Angels hit rock bottom

Welcome to our annual MLB Opening Day overreactions! Regulars around these parts know the deal. We’re starting off tongue-in-cheek and even sort of mocking people will go nuts over 1 game out of 162 in the regular season being in the books. Lying within, though, we do get the chance to give real, earnest analysis. It’s a fun approach to run around the action from Opening Day and hit on several different teams and players. 

Let’s get to it. 

The Dodgers are the best team ever

The Dodgers won the World Series last season after having the best regular-season record. This happened despite a pitching staff absolutely ravaged with injuries in the playoffs. Shohei Ohtani was playing on one arm in the World Series. Freddie Freeman was on one leg in the playoffs. Not only did they win it all, but they reloaded in the offseason. We’ve had to endure months of “no fair!” cries all over social media. 

The Dodgers are now 3-0 and things aren’t going to quiet down any time soon. They just won a game against reigning AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, arguably the best pitcher in baseball entering the season. The Tigers even had a lead, but then Teoscar Hernández hit a three-run shot because of course he did. If it wasn’t him, it would be one of their other handful of All-Stars or even a member of their loaded supporting cast. They are inevitable. 

Yeah, I have no argument about them being the best team in baseball. It’s gonna take at least five months of this before I start talking best ever. And it’s sure as hell gonna take more than one title in a row — and just one real-season title since 1988 — before I start worrying about how things aren’t “fair” enough. 

Rodón is ready to fill Cole’s shoes

The Yankees had multiple starting pitcher injuries in spring training, including the loss of Gerrit Cole for the season due to Tommy John surgery. They signed Max Fried in the offseason, but they could stand to see Carlos Rodón — he of the six-year, $162 million deal that yielded 1.2 WAR in his first two seasons — step up. 

Thursday, he took Cole’s spot as Opening Day starter and got the win. He only gave up one run, on a solo homer, in 5⅓ innings of work, striking out seven. 

Hey, he stepped up and the Yankees won. Ace time?

The reality of the situation is Rodón has flashed plenty of good in his time with the Yankees. He’s just been inconsistent. One game isn’t enough to believe that has changed. Plus, he needed 89 pitches and couldn’t finish the sixth inning. 

The Mets are overhyped

The Mets had an OMG-magical run all the way to the NLCS last season and then added uber-superstar Juan Soto via (a $765 million) free agency in the offseason. They now sport the third-place finisher in AL MVP in the two-hole in their batting order and the NL runner-up leading things off, not to mention the thunder behind them. They were ready to take the league by storm. 

And then they actually had to play a game and couldn’t even muster a run against the Astros until a sac fly brought one home with two outs in the ninth. Then Juan Soto came to the plate with the tying run on base, himself the go-ahead run, and he struck out to end the game.

So much for all that hype, huh? 

I do have the Mets third place in the NL East and I have plenty of concerns about their rotation. I don’t have many concerns about their offense and one game isn’t enough to back me off my prediction that they’ll be a playoff team. It was only one game against a very strong Astros team. Framber Valdez is underrated, but he’s a sturdy, frontline starter and looked like himself for seven innings. That’ll happen. 

Adley is back and the O’s are stacked

Adley Rutschman was the Orioles‘ No. 1 overall pick at the start of their rebuild. He doesn’t have to carry the burden alone, as he has help with players like (the currently injured) Gunnar Henderson, but he still feels like the leader. After the All-Star break last season, he hit a paltry .207/.282/.303 with three home runs in 58 games. He was 1 for 8 with two strikeouts as they were swept out of the playoffs. Again. 

Thursday was the start of another chance to break through. Rutschman homered in the first and ended the game 3 for 5 with two homers, three RBI and three runs while the Orioles put the hurt on the Blue Jays, 12-2. Jordan Westburg and Tyler O’Neill homered (again) while Cedric Mullins went deep twice. The Orioles pounded out 14 hits and this thing wasn’t close for long. 

Might Rutschman be back and the Orioles ready to win 100+ games, this time with a deep playoff run? 

Maybe, honestly. The Orioles have the talent to be the best team in the American League and though they might need to pick up some starting pitching in front of the trade deadline, again, there’s always potential for a team like that to make a deep run. 

We’re never gonna know that on Day 1, of course, but it was one heck of a start. 

WATCH: Tyler O’Neill extends MLB record with home run in sixth straight Opening Day, his first with Orioles

R.J. Anderson

Here comes Tatis’ MVP season

Remember that kid in 2019? Fernando Tatis Jr.? For most people, he was just a highly touted prospect whose dad once hit two grand slams in the same inning. And then we all saw him play and, boy, was that ever fun. At age 20, he had 22 homers, 16 steals and 4.0 WAR in 84 games. The off-the-charts potential saw him finish fourth in MVP voting in 2020 and third in only 130 games in 2021. He was bound to win at least one, probably pretty soon. Then the disaster that was 2022 hit. He missed the entire season due to a wrist injury — the cause of which he initially lied about — and then had shoulder surgery and was suspended for PEDs. 

Yuck. 

He came back and has been good since, but not necessarily great and certainly not what we once thought he could be. 

Keep in mind he’s still only 26 years old. 

Thursday, the Padres won over the Braves, 7-4. There were lots of good vibes on the offensive side. Jackson Merrill had a huge hit early and drove home four. Gavin Sheets hit a game-tying homer in the seventh. Manny Machado doubled twice and scored three times. But man, Tatis looked like that kid again. 

From the leadoff spot, he was the catalyst, going 3 for 4 with two steals and just generally carrying and electric aura with him. Note: One of the singles should have been a double, as Tatis was stylin’ as he watched it fly, thinking it was a homer. He was then bunted to second before stealing third. In all, it wasn’t just the stat line. In watching the game, he just felt like the Tatis of old (who was really young). 

And you know what? It’s entirely possible that’s who he is all year. He has it in him. 

The same-ol’ gritty Guards

The Guardians last season weren’t supposed to be as good as they were. Just the same as it was in 2022 and several other years in recent memory. Their fan base likes to talk about how the Guardians just do the little things. You know, small ball. They play great defense. They grind you to death. It’s not a little thing, but their bullpen was the best in baseball by a mile last year and that doesn’t always jump out at you on paper. 

This season, the Twins were the computer favorite. Many of us picked the Royals to win the AL Central. Others took the Tigers. Most projection systems had the Guardians fourth (I took them second because I’m tired of being wrong about them, yet I still couldn’t pull the trigger for first). 

What happens Thursday on Opening Day? Well, it starts with the news that Guardians’ ace Tanner Bibee had to be a late scratch due to illness, so they had to throw Ben Lively into the proverbial fire as opening-day starter. The Royals took a 3-0 lead in the third. 

Then the Guardians scored one in the fourth, one in the fifth and two in the sixth. Two of those runs were on sac flies. The latter two were on a home run, though. When the Royals somehow scored a run off Emmanuel Clase in the ninth to tie it, the Guardians dropped the hammer in the 10th with three runs to win it, 7-4. 

Those who watched the Guardians often last season came away with a familiar feeling, right? 

Obviously, it’s still possible the Guardians do end up in fourth place, as the computers projected. Again, this was only one game out of 162. I still maintain their operation is a lot more than numbers and that’ll propel them toward the top once again. 

The Angels are an embarrassment

The Chicago White Sox in 2024 were the worst team in modern MLB history, finishing 41-121. On paper, they don’t look a whole lot better than last year. Not only did the Angels lose to them on Opening Day, but the final score was 8-1 and the Angels had to put in a position player to pitch. Yes, a position player pitched on Opening Day. 

How pitiful. 

I will say this: The White Sox aren’t going to be nearly as bad as last year. I took the over on 53.5 wins. Still, they are going to be terrible. 

But I’m not gonna defend the Angels. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2014 and haven’t won a playoff game since 2009. They have wasted the prime of Mike Trout and wasted what prime they had of Shohei Ohtani. Given their resources, they deserve every ounce of mockery they get.