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All 30 MLB teams have now played their first game, as 14 games were completed Monday. The St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs played their opener on Sunday.
For those of you who missed it, I previously provided my rundown of some interesting MLB Opening Day Statistics and Historical Notes. You can check that our here if you're interested.
Here are some notes following the Opening Day games, including some "firsts" of 2015.
Opening Day Recap & Player Notes
- Including Sunday’s game, there were six shutouts. The biggest margin of victory came as the Colorado Rockies scored 10 runs in shutting the Milwaukee Brewers. Other teams that went scoreless were the Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies and Cleveland Indians.
- In addition to six teams scoring zero runs, five other teams only scored one run. There were the New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Washington Nationals.
- The Oakland Athletics snapped their major league record 10-game losing streak by beating the Texas Rangers, 8-0.
- There were 213 hits in opening day games. The Rockies had 16 hits. Five teams had only three hits.
- 27 players hit their first home run Monday: Edwin Encarnacion (Blue Jays); Devon Travis (Blue Jays); Brett Gardner (Yankees); McKenzie Dickerson (Rockies); Nolan Arenado (Rockies); Alejandro De Aza (Orioles); Steven Pearce (Orioles); Ryan Flaherty (Orioles); Evan Longoria (Rays); Jose Abreu (White Sox); Michael Moustakas (Royals); Alexis Rios (Royals); Mike Trout (Angels); Dustin Ackley (Mariners); Ben Zobrist (Athletics); Stephen Vogt (Athletics); Andrew McCutchen (Pirates); Todd Frazier (Reds); Jay Bruce (Reds); J.D. Martinez (Tigers); Alex Avila (Tigers); Mookie Betts (Red Sox); Dustin Pedroia – 2 (Red Sox); Hanley Ramirez – 2 (Red Sox); Bryce Harper (Nationals); Jimmy Rollins (Dodgers); Adrian Gonzalez (Dodgers). Pedroia and Ramirez were the only two players with multi-HR games (two each).
- Opening day kicked off Sunday evening at Wrigley Field in Chicago with the Cubs losing 3-0 to the St. Louis Cardinals. Some firsts on the night:
- First pitch (Jon Lester): Strike; 52 degrees Fahrenheit
- First batter: Matt Carpenter
- First game Jon Lester played a game as part of a team in the National League. First game for manager Joe Maddon in an NL game.
- First hit: Jason Heyward, double to right field, in 1st inning (second batter)
- First run: Heyward in first inning off a single by Matt Holiday.
