Author: MLB Baseball News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games

The Mets (0-1) continue their season-opening series against the Astros (1-0) on Friday at 8:10 p.m. on Apple TV+.

Here's what to know about the game and how to watch...

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Mets Notes

• Tylor Megill takes the mound after posting a 4.24 ERA and 18 strikeouts in four spring starts
• Megill has struggled to the tune of a 5.54 ERA in his career on the road
• Both Juan Soto and Pete Alonso reached base three times in New York's Opening Day loss
• Soto has a 1.000 OPS in five career at-bats against Astros starter Hunter Brown
• Brown is coming off a breakout campaign, but he struggled this spring, pitching to a 5.25 ERA

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Here's what happened in Mets Land on Thursday, in case you missed it...

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• The Mets' offense simply couldn't come through with the big hit they needed in a 3-1 Opening Day loss to the Astros
• Juan Soto had his chance late in the game with the tying runs on base, but Houston closer Josh Hadergot him swinging on a nasty slider out of the zone
• SNY's Andy Martino provides some insight on Soto and starter Clay Holmes following the loss
• Speaking of Holmes, the right-hander had a bit of an up-and-down first outing in the Mets' rotation, which suggests he's still a work in progress
• While things didn't quite go as hoped, Holmes said afterward he's ready to "build off this and keep moving forward"
• Luisangel Acuña committed a costly error on a potential inning-ending double play in the third, but he made up for it with a tremendous at-bat later in the game against Hader
• Prior to the game, Danny Abriano provided his preview and prediction for the season, which included the Mets making a deep playoff run for the second straight year
• Abriano also broke down his five things to watch and predictions for the season-opening series in Houston
• Andy Martino answered fans questions about Brett Baty's role and Kodai Senga's pitch limit in an Opening Day edition of the Mets Mailbag
• Alexander Canario and Jose Azocar were designated for assignment after failing to crack the roster

He held the World Series championship trophy aloft at a Lakers game, flanked by Mookie Betts on one side and Freddie Freeman on the other. He worked a shift at Villa’s Tacos in Grand Central Market. On Wednesday he went out for dinner and someone thanked him.

That is a taste of what the offseason was like for Jack Flaherty. The Dodgers and their fans had not enjoyed a parade in 36 years. No wonder so many people in Los Angeles stop him and say thank you.

The gratitude is reciprocal.

“I’m as thankful as you guys are that we were able to get it done and we were able to win the whole thing,” Flaherty said Thursday. “That’s what we all want as players. That’s what I hope every fan wants, is to win.

“To be able to be on that side and be able to finish it off was special. And then, the reception and everything, that was special, for the entirety of the offseason when I was back around here.”

It is the “on that side” part that stings. If his story truly had a Hollywood ending, Flaherty would collect his World Series championship ring during Friday’s ceremony at Dodger Stadium, then start the game for his hometown team.

He is scheduled to start the game, but for the visiting Detroit Tigers. The Dodgers will present him with his championship ring Saturday.

Flaherty, the pride of Sherman Oaks Little League and Harvard-Westlake High, started Game 1 of the National League Championship Series and Game 1 of the World Series, both at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers grabbed him when they desperately needed a starting pitcher at the trade deadline. He ended up becoming the first kid to grow up in Los Angeles and then start a World Series game for the Dodgers since Hall of Famer Don Drysdale, in 1966.

Read more:Plaschke: Honoring past, dominating present, unbeaten Dodgers shine in home opener

“This is where I grew up and fell in love with the game, and then I got to live out a childhood dream last year in the second half and through the World Series,” Flaherty said. “It holds a special place with me.”

He would have happily stayed, but the Dodgers signed two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell to a five-year contract before November was out. In January, as Flaherty shifted his focus to a short-term contract, the Dodgers added Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki.

“The whole focus on this winter,” Flaherty said, “was figuring out where the best place was for me to end up and let the pieces fall where they may.”

Did he have any negotiations with the Dodgers?

“I’m going to give you the same answer I just did,” he said.

Flaherty made the rounds before Thursday’s opener, catching up with Dodgers personnel from Dave Roberts to Clayton Kershaw to Joe Davis.

“It’s not awkward, that’s for sure,” Flaherty said. “Just more interesting. Through the run of emotions and everything, knowing everything that occurred here last year, then being back here and opening up here, the emotions of opening day and starting off that way, throw a start and then you’ve got everything to celebrate from last year, all at the same time.”

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said he had no concerns that the emotion surrounding the ring ceremony Friday might derail Flaherty’s start.

“I think it’ll go perfectly fine,” Hinch said, “because he’ll be locked in on his start. He’ll be focused on [Shohei] Ohtani to start the game.”

Tarik Skubal, the Tigers’ Cy Young winner, recalled watching Flaherty last season in his first start against his first team, the St. Louis Cardinals. Flaherty struck out 14 and took a shutout into the seventh inning.

“I expect him to be just as good as that time,” Skubal said. “He’s a good player. He lives for moments like these, and obviously he was a big part of the reason why they won the World Series. So I’m excited for him.”

As a fan there is nothing better than a player who gets your team because he lived and died with your team. After he shut out the New York Mets in Game 1 of the NLCS, Flaherty launched into a passionate speech about the greatness of Kershaw.

Flaherty gets the Dodgers.

Read more:Shohei Ohtani hits one of Dodgers' three homers to beat Tigers in their home opener

“It’s so special,” he said. “It’s an incredible thing to think about and an incredible thing to be a part of. I got lucky enough to be on a team that got to win it in the fashion we did and make it happen in the way that we did.

“Growing up here and being a part of this — this city and this community — to give it all back and live it out in real time was awesome.”

Flaherty gets you, L.A. He should get a nice ovation Friday.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Why Posey believes Harrison still has ‘bright future' with Giants originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

CINCINNATI — When the Giants lined up at Great American Ball Park on Thursday, two of their best young starting pitchers were announced. A third was 2,000 miles away.

Kyle Harrison will start the season with Triple-A Sacramento, but the Giants still believe he’ll have plenty of opportunities to start games at the big league level this season. President of baseball operations Buster Posey said before the opener that right now they want the lefty to focus on his development. 

“We think the world of Kyle,” Posey said. “It’s a disappointment for him, but we still have belief in a bright future for him. It’s a luxury to have the amount of arms that we have, and it is difficult to have to send somebody of his stature down, but I’m hopeful that he uses this as an opportunity to just continue his growth and developing pitches and just his overall aptitude as a Major League pitcher.”

Harrison spent all of last season in the big leagues, making 24 starts while also twice going on the IL with minor issues. An ankle sprain cost him time early in the summer and he wasn’t quite right when he came back, leading to shoulder inflammation that required an offseason of rehab. He was behind all camp, and the fifth starter competition ended up being Landen Roupp against Hayden Birdsong. 

Harrison will start the 2025 season in a pretty strong Triple-A rotation. The Giants haven’t announced their minor league rosters yet, but Keaton Winn, Tristan Beck, Mason Black, Carson Whisenhunt, Trevor McDonald, Carson Seymour and Carson Ragsdale all could be options for the Triple-A rotation and big league appearances this year. 

Roupp ended up winning the fifth spot, and he’ll take the ball Tuesday in Houston. Birdsong is in the bullpen for now, but the Giants aren’t worried about harming his development as a starter. They believe he can stay stretched out, and there are zero concerns about the mental aspect of going back and forth. 

“He’s got the quiet confidence walking around the clubhouse, on the mound, he’s got it in his interactions with his teammates,” Posey said. “For us to have him here in the bullpen, it obviously gives us some more length in the pen along with (Spencer) Bivens. It’s electric stuff that can carry you for three, four, five innings if you need to. It’s a big weapon.”

Harrison was behind from a workload standpoint in late March, but he did show signs of progress the further he got into the spring. His velocity was back in the 93-95 mph range as the Giants prepared to head home. 

“I think he’s trending in the right direction,” Posey said. “We’ll see, we’ll keep an eye on him. Is velo important? Yeah, velocity is important. It’s not everything, but it is important and he’s moving in the right direction.”

The Top Guy

The Giants aren’t ready to announce where Bryce Eldridge will begin the season, but it appears likely he’ll be in Arizona a bit longer. Eldridge missed a lot of March with left wrist soreness, but the Giants don’t have long-term concerns. The tests came back clean, they say. 

“He just needs a little more rest,” Posey said. “He’s still feeling it a little bit, but nothing we’re concerned about.” 

Eldridge is the organization’s top prospect and the hope is that he can debut at first base at some point in the second half. He finished last season in Triple-A, but played only about a week in Double-A, and the Giants are giving strong consideration to having him return to Richmond initially. 

Trainer’s Room

Jerar Encarnacion certainly would have been in the lineup on Saturday had he stayed healthy, but instead he’ll have surgery on his hand fracture on Friday. Encarnacion was scheduled to have the procedure on Monday but there was a travel delay. The Giants will have a better idea of his recovery timetable after the procedure is done. 

Encarnacion was supposed to get a lot of the DH at-bats, and many of them will now go to Luis Matos. Wilmer Flores, the hero of Thursday’s win, will be the primary DH but also will play first base against lefties. 

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The Yankees began their 2025 campaign with a 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday in The Bronx. Here are some notes from Opening Day including details on Carlos Rodon's start, Anthony Volpe and more...

Anthony Volpe's improved timing

The Yankees' offense has question marks after Juan Soto signed with the Mets in the offseason. Will they score enough runs, especially with all the injuries to the starting rotation?

Thursday, Austin Wells and Volpe helped answer that question -- at least for one game -- as their solo homers powered the offense. Volpe's home run was impressive in that he turned on a 95.4 mph fastball from Freddy Peralta and went opposite field, depositing it 373 feet into right-center field. The blast gave the Yanks a 2-0 lead, and although it was Volpe's only hit -- he finished 1-for-4 with one strikeout -- Aaron Judge is seeing a difference in the young shortstop's approach at the plate.

"His timing. That’s been the biggest thing I’ve noticed since being called up in 2023," Judge explained. "He just has better timing, looks comfortable in the box. When you’re aggressive in the box that’s when you start to take those tough pitches. It just starts by having that mindset of going up there, being confident and taking your swings."

The Yankees will need Volpe, Wells and other youngsters like Jazz Chisholm and Jasson Dominguez to do a bit more this season if the team hopes to make it back to the World Series.

But the Yankees captain is confident the kids will get it done. 

"I'm excited about our young guys and what they’re going to do," he said. "Wells, Volpe, Jazz, Dominguez all those guys are going to be a big part of our success this year and it’s cool to see those guys get off to a good start."

Austin Wells' confidence behind the plate

Wells was always scouted as a bat-first catcher, but last year and this spring has shown he can be a very good defensive catcher and pitch-caller with the rotation.

"To see where he’s at now is to see one of the game’s really good defensive coaches," manager Aaron Boone said. "Ultimately, his ability and his commitment, and the one thing I always noticed, there’s just presence to him. I felt that way about him the first big league camp with us. There’s something about him you notice."

Thursday's starter Carlos Rodon echoed his manager's sentiments about the young backstop. 

"His presence behind the plate, he brings a lot of confidence in who he is," Rodon said. "This is a guy who does his homework this is a guy who spends his time at the ballpark preparing for the game ahead. He’s grown tremendously defensively, as we know. I know it’s one game, but he has a good bat as well."

Wells led off Thursday's game, becoming the first Yankees catcher to do so. He also hit a leadoff homer, making more Yankees history and finishing 1-for-3 with a walk.

Carlos Rodon's pitch mix

Rodon has always been known as a two-pitch pitcher. His "break and butter," as Boone calls it, are his fastball and slider. Well, the southpaw used six different pitches in his Opening Day start and it seemingly worked against a good Brewers team.

The left-hander allowed just one run over 5.1 innings while striking out seven. It was a solid start for a rotation that needs him to be that No. 2 guy behind newly-acquired southpaw Max Fried and with Luis Gil and Gerrit Cole out for long periods of time -- in the case of Cole, the whole season.

Despite that, Boone doesn't think Rodon needs to "step up" when asked about it after the game.

"He was incredibly consistent for us last year. He’s capable of it if not more so," he explained. "I just want him to really focus on his job every single day. Not just the day he pitches, now starts the process of when he gets back out there in six days. If he does that, the results will handle themselves. He has ability. That’s always my message to Carlos, just focus on chopping wood everyday."

So whose idea was for Rodon to throw six pitches? Well, Wells of course.

“Wells was great with the pitch. We get a plan together and I just roll," Rodon said. "There’s not much decision-making on my part. We get into a rhythm, he calls the pitch and I throw. We featured a lot of today and I thought he was great behind the plate." 

"[Rodon's] slider was really good today too. That’s still going to be his calling card, but I think the changeup is really good now," Boone said. "The ability to slow it down with the curveball and then introducing that sinker… He’s capable of doing that and to have real longevity in this game as a pitcher is to be able to evolve and adapt and add and subtract from your arsenal."

Rodon was asked if incorporating these new pitches makes him less predictable, and the 32-year-old said it does.

"The scouting report on me the last few years jas been four-seam’s up in the zone, slider’s below," he said. "The plan as a hitter was to cover the fastball and react to sliders.  The rounding of the repertoire and adding a few other pitches that move different and the change of speeds, it makes it less predictable especially the usage portion of it."

HOUSTON -- Juan Soto was clearly angry, and you love to see it. What artist is ever happy with what they make? This is the curse of greatness.

The Mets clubhouse after their 3-1 Opening Day loss to the Astros was appropriately calm, fine, confident, whatever. It’s just one game. But then there was Soto, agonizing over his at-bat against Josh Hader.

“He got me,” a downcast Soto said of the game-ending strikeout that stranded the tying runs on base. “A pretty good pitch, a slider down and away that I wasn’t expecting.”

And what was he expecting?

“His best pitch,” Soto said. “His best pitch is the fastball, so I was thinking the fastball.”

Soto rarely guesses wrong, but it happened this time. His meek wave at Hader’s slider was an aberration, and one that left him brooding.

Immediately after the obligatory discussion with reporters, Soto left the clubhouse. He did not stop to smile, schmooze, chit chat or join his teammates in the food room. The rest of the Mets had perspective: It was a noble comeback, it fell short, what are you gonna do, let’s eat.

Soto was just like, dammit. I’m going home. He’s probably still thinking about it.

HOLMES WAS ALSO REFLECTIVE

In spring training, Clay Holmes threw his vaunted sinker 34 percent of the time. The former All-Star reliever was a starting pitcher now, and featured a wide array of pitches: four-seam fastball, sweeper, slider, cutter, changeup.

But when the bell rang for the regular season, 49 percent of Holmes’ pitches were sinkers. He threw the changeup -- the big new pitch that wowed Mets officials in February and March -- just four times. This was partly because the Astros are a righty-heavy offense, and Holmes’ changeup works best against lefties, but it was also because Holmes reverted to his comfort zone.

Spring training is not big league game speed. Spring training is when you throw whatever whenever, and try to sharpen the pitches. The regular season is when you have to sequence those pitches in a way that deceives and defeats batters. This is new for Holmes.

“Maybe the second time through [the lineup] there was room for the changeups more, but that’s something we’ll feel out more and learn as we go,” Holmes said.

Imagine yourself in this situation: Sinkers made you a star. Sinkers are your path toward success. You’re in the intensity of the moment, and what are you going to do? Probably what you’ve always done.

Another question that followed Holmes into his transition to the starting rotation was his ability to hold his command for multiple innings. This requires mental and physical endurance beyond what a reliever needs to find.

A veteran scout watching from the stands said that Holmes’ “delivery opened up front side a little more [mid-game, meaning that his] legs probably got tired.”

Holmes said that he lost his command, and probably some stamina, in the second and third innings -- but regained them in the fourth. This is a positive indicator. Now he knows that he can lose it and get it back in the same game, a luxury that closers do not have.

The Dodgers marched in from center field on a blue carpet. The Commissioner’s Trophy cruised in from the parking lot in an icy blue convertible.

The championship flag was raised by the owners. The championship sign was unveiled by two fire department officials.

The pregame festivities before the Dodgers’ home opener at Chavez Ravine was nicely rolling along Thursday when suddenly, appropriately, in its final moments, sweet became spectacular.

The ceremony finished with a homer from the guys who hit the homers.

Gibby actually met Freddie.

Moments after Freddie Freeman and his family were honored for his Game 1 game-winning grand slam in last year’s World Series, out of the Dodger dugout popped Kirk Gibson, the Game 1 homer-hitting hero of 1988.

Read more:Shohei Ohtani hits one of Dodgers' three homers to beat Tigers in their home opener

Gibson walked to the mound. Freeman walked behind home plate. Gibson tossed him a pitch. They hugged. The crowd roared in surprise and appreciation. Goose bumps everywhere.

As the Dodgers’ mascot and trophy chauffeur Ice Cube once famously said, “Today was a good day.”

For those wondering what the defending champions can possibly do for an encore, they began to answer that question Thursday on a perfectly choreographed return to town in front of a sellout crowd that screamed like it was still guzzling last October’s champagne.

On the field, their shirts and caps adorned in gold lettering honoring their championship, the Dodgers remained untarnished with a comeback 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers. Just like so many times last season, big hits powered the victory. And just like so many times, they came from Teoscar Hernández and Shohei Ohtani, who homered in the fifth and seventh innings, respectively, to help the Dodgers beat defending AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal.

Three games, three wins, and you have to ask … 162-0 anyone?

Off the field, the organization classily honored their present with a bow to their past, bringing Gibson back for a rare appearance that reminded their enduring fan base why they keep coming back opener after opener.

“I thought the ceremony was fantastic... we nailed it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

It was particularly special for fans such as 92-year-old Phil Brooks, the retired physician attending his 60th consecutive home opener, more than half a century experiencing rebirth from the field level.

Brooks was wearing a faded 20-year-old Dodger jacket, but his passion was undimmed.

“I just love the home opener,” he said. “It’s a renewal, when all hopes are possible.”

Like many Dodger fans, this is a tradition Brooks has passed on to his family, as he was accompanied Thursday for the 40th consecutive opener by his son, Stan. During the rest of the season Stan brings his three sons to the games, prepping them for the time when they will take their destined spot in the home opener seats.

“I’ve loved sharing this day,” Phil said. “Every year is the beginning of new hopes and dreams.”

Dodger Stadium was filled with both for a team that had already swept its first two games against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo. While those first two games counted in the standings, they really didn’t count in the soul, which was newly refreshed in a home opener that featured stars familiar and new.

Read more:Shaikin: Apple's documentary on Dodgers provides 'all-access' look at World Series run

Tommy Edman, the hero of last fall’s National League Championship Series, blasted a second-inning homer.

Hernández, who the Dodgers smartly retained as a free agent this winter, hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning after an Andy Pages single and a Mookie Betts walk.

Ohtani, whose bat understands big moments better than any in baseball, clinched the win with a solo blast in the seventh.

“It was amazing,” Hernández said. “It was a great feeling to be back at Dodger Stadium.”

Then there were the new kids, starting with Blake Snell, the two-time Cy Young winning starter who signed a five-year $182-million contract in the offseason. He was frustrating but efficient, walking four and loading the bases twice but eventually yielding two runs in five innings for the win. Snell was eventually followed by a shaky one-run inning from new reliever Tanner Scott, who was in the dugout when last season’s World Series-clinching hero Blake Treinen finished it.

“I’ve got a lot to learn... a lot to improve on,” Snell said.

No matter who was starring, every good Dodger play was greeted with a roar that rang of familiarity. This is how Dodger Stadium sounded last year. This is why the Dodgers have such a powerful home-field advantage.

“The fans, just feeling the energy and how much the fans love the team... while I was getting ready I could feel how encouraging they were before the start, how much they showed love to me, that was pretty cool,” Snell said. “Then you go out there and you want to do everything you can to win.”

These fans deserved one more chance to celebrate the title. This opening weekend series, which features a Friday ring ceremony, gives them that chance.

"I'm telling you, I just think that our fan base has waited a long time for this kind of culmination," Roberts said. "It was a huge offseason for the organization, for the club, and then you kind of go to Tokyo and get a chance to be received in Japan like we were. And all the while, our fans here are just watching in anticipation for us to come back here. There's just a lot of excitement and traction, momentum, whatever you want to say, with the Dodger fan base. Our players feel it."

The Dodgers' loud homecoming emphasized not only the Dodger muscle, but the strength of their fans. 

"Huge advantage,” Roberts said. “You can talk to any relief pitcher that faces us in the late innings, seventh, eighth and ninth inning, and they feel the pressure, and they feel it when the game's on the line. So I would say probably the biggest advantage is when we're hitting in the bottom half of the inning in the later innings."

The home opener ended early Thursday evening with the sweetest noise of all.

Welcome back, Randy Newman.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

So Clay Holmes made his first start for the Mets on Thursday and he was more meh than masterful against the Houston Astros. His sinker blipped in and out like spotty WiFi and he was generally too wild, all while he was navigating the complexities of a new job. 

Indeed, Holmes’ transition from reliever to starter is still a work in progress, even after a glossy spring camp that had blue-and-orange hopes soaring. Understatement alert: Nothing in the major leagues is easy. Maybe we should’ve expected this, even in the afterglow of his camp. 

Still, there were some moments for Holmes and even those stray glimmers might offer some assurance that Holmes-to-the-rotation, one of the biggest Met pitching moves of the offseason, can work. 

Here’s one of the major pluses for Holmes – the insane sweeper he threw to Jose Altuve in the first inning for strike three. Altuve, a future Hall-of-Famer, flailed wildly at the 82.4 mph pitch, which broke abruptly as if Holmes were steering it with a remote control. It wound up in the left-handed batter's box and Altuve wound up walking back to the Astros bench.

Holmes had set up the finishing pitch with a sinker outside for a called strike and then a swinging strike off a sinker that veered in on Altuve. Altuve, a three-time batting champ, was primed for a big breaker outside and Holmes executed it perfectly. 

In the second inning, with two runners on, he struck out Altuve again, battling back from being down in the count, 3-1, and putting Altuve away with a sinker in. In the third, he caught Yordan Alvarez, one of the game’s most dangerous hitters, looking at a backdoor sweeper that grabbed the outside corner for strike three.

All nifty pitches. Overall, though, Holmes, who was pitching on his 32nd birthday, allowed three runs (two earned) and five hits in just 4.2 innings. He struck out four and walked four – too many – and hit a batter. He threw a career-high 89 pitches (53 strikes). If you think this matters this early, his ERA stands at 3.86. 

All the hits he allowed were singles, though there was some hard contact. Holmes knows he succeeds, as most pitchers, by limiting an opponent’s slugging. Thursday, that advantage was torpedoed by his walks. “Walks that didn’t need to happen,” as he put it to reporters in Houston. 

Maybe, he noted, there were times he was thinking too much. 

And over-relying on an old friend – his sinker. The plunging pitch helped him bloom into one of MLB’s true ground-ball monsters as a reliever. It’s a big reason he was a two-time All-Star relief pitcher for the Yankees. Maybe it was the familiar weapon he counted on too much on a day it wasn’t working. 

Experience should help him streamline his work as a starter. After all, now he has real-time competition data to take into his five-day break in between starts. 

Not that spring training or his relief experience has no application, but now that Holmes has banked his first start since his rookie year (2018) with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he’s got more of a sense of how a starter must attack a lineup and what pitches from his arsenal to use and when. He’ll continue to learn about the intricacies of preparing for a start while sorting through days of waiting for another chance.

The Astros used a righty-heavy lineup against Holmes, which made him think he should perhaps shy away from the kick-change that became such a buzz pitch in camp. He only threw four and only one of those was a strike. But his sinker wasn’t cooking enough to be a weapon against all those righties. In some cases, Holmes said, the sinker was the right pitch to throw in a situation, but they ended up too plump, up high in the strike zone.

Does that fit with his self-evaluation that he, at times, might’ve been thinking too much? Perhaps. Maybe that’s something he can learn from. And he knows, despite his 0.93 ERA in spring, that he’s got plenty to figure out about his new gig. That’s another reason to think he can succeed at this. 

“It’s different than spring training,” Holmes said of his first real start in years. “It’s definitely a learning process.”

The 2025 Dodgers looked a lot like the 2024 Dodgers on Thursday.

Just with gold lettering adorning their World Series championship jerseys.

In a 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers in their home opener, this year’s Dodgers produced all the same hallmarks of last season’s title-winning club.

Timely offense, epitomized by Teoscar Hernández’s go-ahead, three-run home run in the fifth inning off reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, and Shohei Ohtani’s solo blast in the seventh for a key insurance run.

Read more:‘Generational upgrade.’ Inside Dodgers’ offseason renovations to their home clubhouse

Starting pitching that was just good enough, with two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell limiting damage in a five-inning, two-run debut with the team.

And effective relief from the bullpen, which nursed a narrow lead to the finish line for a home-opening win and 3-0 start to the Dodgers’ championship defense.

Thursday was always going to be about 2024 more than 2025.

Over a 30-minute pregame ceremony, the Dodgers raised a “2024 World Champions” banner up the center-field flagpole, unveiled a new “2024” sign next to their other seven World Series plaques in right field, and were delivered the Commissioner’s Trophy by Ice Cube — via a Dodger blue Chevrolet Bel-Air the hip-hop artist drove across the warning track.

To commemorate their title, the Dodgers also wore special gold-trimmed jerseys and caps, just as they will again Friday when they are presented their World Series rings.

And if all that wasn’t enough, the ceremonial first pitch came with a fitting twist. Kirk Gibson, the walk-off hero of the club’s 1988 World Series, took the mound to throw the ball. Freddie Freeman, the walk-off hero of last year’s Fall Classic against the New York Yankees, squatted behind the plate to catch it.

The accompanying roar from the early arriving Dodger Stadium crowd wasn’t quite to the level of either man’s iconic October home run. But for a hazy afternoon in late March, it was deafening nonetheless.

The Dodgers’ goal is to be back in the World Series, aiming to become Major League Baseball’s first repeat champion — and undisputed dynasty — since the New York Yankees of 1998 to 2000.

But first they will have to tackle another grueling 162-game schedule. So far, they’re off to an unblemished start.

After sweeping their season-opening series against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo last week, the Dodgers faced a new task on home soil against Skubal, the 28-year-old left-hander who rolled to last year’s Cy Young with an 18-4 record and AL-leading 2.39 earned-run average.

For four innings the Dodgers couldn’t crack him, a second-inning home run from Tommy Edman representing their only scoring.

Snell, the biggest star of the Dodgers’ half-billion offseason spending spree, was less clinical in his first Dodgers start. Though all five hits he gave up were singles — most of them hit softly — the $182-million star struggled to find the strike zone, walking four and putting himself under constant stress.

Snell stranded runners at second and third in the second inning, then another at third base in the top of the third. But with the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth, he spiked consecutive two-strike curveballs, the second bouncing all the way to the backstop to plate a run. In the fifth the Tigers loaded the bases again with two singles and a walk, setting up Manuel Margot for a sacrifice fly to center.

It was an imperfect outing for Snell, who despite owning two Cy Youngs still is known for a lack of consistent efficiency, having topped 130 innings just twice in his nine-year career.

But on this loaded Dodgers team, his ability to limit damage — the Tigers were 0 for 9 against Snell with runners in scoring position and 0 for 15 on the day — was enough.

Just like in the latter stages of last season, when Hernández punctuated his bounce-back, All-Star season with a penchant for clutch hitting that continued into the playoffs, manager Dave Roberts bumped Hernández ahead of Freeman in Thursday’s batting order, putting the right-handed-hitting slugger third against a left-handed starter, and the left-handed-hitting Freeman fourth.

“I just like it,” Roberts said before the game. “There's a Teoscar tax, to get through Freddie the third time.”

Indeed, with two on and two outs in the fifth, Skubal paid it on a first-pitch fastball, leaving a 96-mph heater over the heart of the plate that Hernández blasted to center, turning a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead.

Two innings later Ohtani answered a Spencer Torkelson solo homer in the top of the seventh, the Japanese star's second long ball of the season just three games in.

And after Tanner Scott and Blake Treinen combined to close out the game in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, Dodger Stadium erupted in the same way it did so often last fall, celebrating a home-opening victory from a club beginning another long march toward World Series glory.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

You could not have scripted it any better if you were the Mets.

After struggling to get any offense going against Astros starter Framber Valez, the Mets had prized offseason acquisition Juan Soto up with a chance to steal Opening Day from Houston.

Astros closer Josh Hader had a rocky start to the ninth, allowing the Mets to load the bases with no outs. After scratching across a run, the Mets were down to their final out with men on the corners for Soto.

Soto worked the count in his favor 3-0 before taking a get-me-over slider. Hader threw a 95 mph fastball up in the zone that Soto fouled back. The 26-year-old slugger looked primed and ready to do something special. He’s done it multiple times before in his career, including in the postseason for the crosstown rival Yankees a year ago.

But Hader’s sixth pitch of the at-bat was an 86 mph slider that went west to east outside of the zone. It's a pitch that we've been accustomed to seeing Soto, and his unreal eye, scoff at but instead, he swung weakly at the offering for strike three, ending the Mets’ rally and the game. 

“Pretty nasty pitch there by Hader,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of the at-bat after the game. “That 3-1 fastball, [Soto] put an A-swing there and just missed it. Hader’s pretty good too. He got him this time with a pretty nasty slider there.”

“He’s one of the best closers in the league,” Soto said of his ninth-inning at-bat. “His stuff is nasty, everything he do. And he’s really smart on the mound. That’s why he’s been so effective.”

Soto went into the at-bat 2-for-4 in his career against Hader, so he had some familiarity with the southpaw so when he was asked what he was looking for on that final pitch, Soto said plainly, “His best pitch. His best pitch was the fastball and I was sitting fastball.”

“Everyone was like ‘Let’s get Juan up and see what happens,’” Thursday’s starter Clay Holmes said of the feeling in the dugout in that ninth inning. “More times than not we feel good about it… At the end of the day, if we have Juan up and a chance to win the game, you like your chances.”

“I was expecting to be up in that moment, in that situation,” Soto said. “[Hader] let that ball go on the last pitch and he got me. It was a pretty good pitch, down and away. It happens.

"We all want to do something in a big spot. We all want to get that knock and bring the runs in and try to help the team either way. For me, I don’t mind taking a walk right there. Pete [Alonso] behind me and he’s a really good power hitter...He just got me in that situation."

Soto finished the day 1-for-3 with two walks, showing how he can help this Mets offense with his ability to get on base at an insane clip. And that’s what Mendoza takes away from Soto’s first official game with the Mets…along with the fact that he knows his star has a great chance to reverse the result next time he’s in that situation.

“As a competitor, he always wants to come through,” Mendoza said. “I thought he had some good at-bats today and even on that one. He got 3-0 and then 3-1, that pitch he got there he just missed it. And then pretty good pitch [on 3-2]. He’ll come through.”

And there’s no reason not to feel that way. Soto is historically a clutch hitter, so Thursday was just the exception to the trend. 

Entering Opening Day, Soto is a career .294 hitter and has smashed 17 home runs with two outs and runners in scoring position. Last season, when he finished third in AL MVP voting with the Yankees, he hit .375 with seven home runs in that same situation.

Despite the disappointment, Soto and the Mets understand it’s just one game and that there is good to come from the Opening Day loss. Despite being outmatched by a great starter, the team clawed its way back in the later innings, a hallmark of last year’s rollercoaster season, and now Soto is along for the ride, and is happy to be on it.

“I was expecting to win the game but it’s not how we wanted,” he said of his Opening Day experience with the Mets. “They are a really good team over there. For me, It was a good experience, these guys are amazing we’ve been having a good time since spring training we just have to bring that all the way.”