Baseball fans, rejoice. The 2021 Major League Baseball season officially begins Thursday in ballparks that will actually hold (some) fans during the regular season, a departure from the 60-game campaign MLB played last year.
This year, the plan is to play all 162. And on Day 1, all fans – no matter the expectations or predictions – hold that sense of promise that comes with every new season.
Two games have already been postponed: one due to weather, the other due to COVID-19 concerns, a reminder the pandemic will still factor into the 2021 season. Follow along here for the latest updates and highlights from the first “real” Opening Day since 2019.
Outfielder Austin Meadows broke up a scoreless tie with a solo homer in the top of the eighth inning as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Miami Marlins 1-0 in the Battle of Florida.
The game was a classic pitcher’s duel between the Rays’ Tyler Glasnow and the Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara. Both tossed six shutout innings before turning things over to their bullpens.
Glasnow struck out six and allowed only a first-inning single to Jesus Aguilar before retiring the final 16 batters he faced. Alcantara yielded two hits and two walks, striking out seven. Meadows’ homer came off Marlins reliever Yimi Garcia.
Diamondbacks rally back against Padres (6:30 p.m.)
Trailing 6-1, Arizona scored six runs – on four home runs in the top of the fifth to take the lead. After Ketel Marte and Asdrubal Cabrera homered, pinch hitter Tim Locastro’s two-run shot tied it at six and Stephen Vogt followed with a solo home run to take the lead.
Leading off the 10th inning with a man on second (it’s still weird), Randal Grichuk hit an RBI double to break the tie game and Toronto held on to win 3-2 in the Bronx. Julian Merryweather struck out the side to get the save for the Blue Jays.
St. Louis scored six runs in the first inning against Reds ace Luis Castillo, capped off by rookie Dylan Carlson’s three-run homer. Prized offseason acquisition Nolan Arenado singled in his first at-bat with the Cardinals, coming around to score earlier in the frame.
Texas scored five runs before Kansas City starter Brad Keller even recorded an out, getting an RBI single from Nick Solak, a three-run double from new addition Nate Lowe and an RBI single from designated hitter Eli White. The Rangers sent 10 batters to the plate and had seven hits in the inning.
Pittsburgh third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, among the favorites to win the NL Rookie of the Year award, hit a two-run homer in the first inning off Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks. The 24-year-old, son of MLB veteran Charlie Hayes, hit .376 with five home runs and 11 RBI in 24 games last season.
Playing in a snowstorm in Detroit, Miguel Cabrera hit the first home run of the 2021 MLB season, a two-run shot in the second inning off reigning AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber. It was Cabrera’s 488th career home run and 2,867th hit, a great start for the 37-year-old looking to reach the 500 and 3,000 milestones this season.
With the first pitch of the Yankees-Blue Jays game in the Bronx, the 2021 MLB season is officially underway. Yankees ace Gerrit Cole set Toronto down in order in the top of the first.
Washington was set to be without five players for Thursday’s game after one player tested positive for COVID-19 and four others were in quarantine due to contact tracing. Now, the game won’t be played and despite a scheduled day off Friday, the earliest the teams will play is on Saturday.
Thursday’s game at Fenway Park between the Red Sox and Orioles was called off due to rain and will be played on Friday, which is the exact reason for the built-in off-day following opening day.