No one could have predicted the way the first inning of the Mets' Opening Day win against the Pirates unfolded.

A five-spot for the home team, as the Mets chased reigning NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes before he can complete the first frame. But it could have gone very, very differently for both teams if the outfield defense was shored up.

Pirates outfielder Oneil Cruz made two crucial misplays in center field. The first came with one out and the bases loaded. Brett Baty lined an 0-1 changeup over the heart of the plate from Skenes to deep center field. However, Cruz misread the ball, coming in off the sound of the bat, and by the time he gathered himself, it was too late. Baty's hit went over his head all the way to the Citi Field wall for a bases-clearing triple, which put the Mets up 4-1. 

"Just the sun was right in front of my face," Cruz said of his misplays after the game, via the team interpreter. "You don’t want those things to happen, but it was really uncomfortable today to have the sun right in front of my face. I tried my best, but it was kinda tough."

"Worst-case scenario, I was hoping it was going to be a sac fly," Baty said of the play. "Then I saw Cruz come in on it, so I was like, just keep running."

 

 

 

BRETT BATY CLEARS THE BASES!

METS LEAD! pic.twitter.com/xDbBIjHIoo

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 26, 2026

The very next batter, Marcus Semien, hit a fly ball to left center. What should have been an easy second out, turned disastrous as Cruz clearly lost the ball in the sun and let it fall for an RBI double. The Mets held a commanding 5-2 lead after that, a lead they would not relinquish.

"Not really the first one. The second one for sure. The first one was one of those low line drives and it takes a little more time for me to read it," Cruz explained when asked if the sun affected both plays. "It was a tough ball to read because you don’t know if you got to come in or go back. It got the sun a little bit at the end, but it’s something I have to get better at. I’ll get better at it for sure."

Cruz is not known for his defense. The gifted slugger made 24 errors as the team's shortstop in 2024 before they converted him to the outfield. Last season, playing exclusively at center, he made 11 errors in 120 starts. He was also a zero in outs above average a season ago, according to Statcast.

Despite the costly miscues, Cruz is motivated to improve his defense and help the Pirates this season.

"Last year had nothing to do with this year," Cruz said of his recent defensive struggles. "For sure, I don’t want to start the season the way I did. I’m just going to focus on my work and get better, that’s it.

"You learn a lot," he added. "There’s good days and bad days. No one wants to make mistakes, just gotta learn a lot and continue to work hard. That’s it."

The Mets and Pirates continue their first series of the season on Saturday before wrapping up on Sunday.

Oneil Cruz says the sun was in his eyes during his misplays in center field:

"It was really uncomfortable today to have the sun right in front of my face - I was trying my best, but it was tough" pic.twitter.com/dfsevQoRKO

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) March 26, 2026

Well, it’s hard to imagine Opening Day having gone much better for the Brewers. Milwaukee’s bats came alive early and never let up, while Jacob Misiorowski and the bullpen shut down the White Sox to earn the Brewers a convincing victory.

Chicago was actually the first team to put a run on the board after Misiorowski threw a 99mph fastball up and in to White Sox leadoff hitter Chase Meidroth. Meidroth was ready, sending the pitch deep into the left field bleachers to give the Sox a quick 1-0 lead. Thankfully, Misiorowski then struck out the next three batters, which ended up being more indicative of how the game would go for Milwaukee.

Brice Turang led off the bottom of the first with a line drive double, but the next three batters — William Contreras, Christian Yelich, and Andrew Vaughn — all made outs to keep the Brewers scoreless. Misiorowski kept the White Sox off the board in the second inning, allowing only a walk to Munetaka Murakami. Miz picked up two more strikeouts in the frame, bringing him to a total of five through only two innings.

Milwaukee took the lead in the bottom of the second against White Sox starter Shane Smith. Smith struck out Jake Bauers to start the frame, but Sal Frelick worked a walk on a full count to give the Brewers a baserunner. David Hamilton, making his Brewers debut, reached on a catchers’ interference by Edgar Quero. Smith then issued a five-pitch walk to Garrett Mitchell, with all four balls well out of the strike zone. That loaded the bases for who else but Joey Ortiz, who looped a shallow fly ball into right field that dropped just out of reach of a sprinting Meidroth. Frelick scored to tie the game at 1.

With the bases still loaded, Turang struck out looking. Smith was just one out away from getting out of the inning relatively unscathed, but the next batter — Contreras — smoked a double down the third base line to clear the bases.

WILD BILL CLEARS THE BASES

→ https://t.co/eycfmE2vgmpic.twitter.com/RIRMMAJo0G

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 26, 2026

That would be it for Smith in his first Opening Day start. Sean Newcomb came in to face Christian Yelich, who grounded out to end the inning. Nevertheless, the damage was done. Milwaukee led 4-1 after 2, a lead they would never relinquish.

At this point in the game, Misiorowski was rolling. Despite needing 94 pitches to get through five innings, Miz gave up just one hit — an infield single to Austin Hays — and struck out eleven, an Opening Day franchise record. He did walk three batters, but otherwise more than looked the part of a No. 1 starter in his first season at the top of the Brewers’ rotation.

Milwaukee tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth against Newcomb thanks to a rally that started with Hamilton beating out an infield hit. Garrett Mitchell advanced him to second base with a sacrifice bunt, after which Hamilton promptly stole third. Joey Ortiz then hit his second single of the day — this one much harder hit — to give the Brewers their first run of the inning. Brice Turang grounded out for the second out, advancing Ortiz to second in the meantime. Newcomb then walked Contreras in order to face Yelich with runners on first and second. Bad idea. Yelich ripped a single into centerfield. Ortiz scored, but Contreras was thrown out trying to take third base.

Joey O and Yeli pile on 😈 pic.twitter.com/cA2uTl8Khg

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 26, 2026

Milwaukee would score five more runs over the next two innings. Sal Frelick hit a two-run homer into the second deck in the fifth to give the Crew an 8-1 lead. Jordan Hicks came in for the sixth and immediately gave up a single to Turang, who was then thrown out trying to steal second. After that, Hicks promptly melted down, walking two straight batters before allowing an RBI single to Andrew Vaughn. Bauers popped up for the second out, but Hicks walked Frelick to load the bases. That brought up Hamilton, who — you guessed it — walked, scoring another run. Jedixson Paez came in for Hicks, but he was unable to get out of the inning before walking in another run, bringing the score to Brewers 11, White Sox 1.

Bauers, the Brewers’ hottest hitter this spring, hit a three run bomb (108.6 mph exit velocity) in the seventh to widen the lead even further. Chicago got a run back in the ninth off of the newest Brewer, reliever Jake Woodford, courtesy of a home run from former NPB Triple Crown winner Munetaka Murakami. That brought the game to its final score: Milwaukee 14, Chicago 2.

Every starter had a hit today except Garrett Mitchell, who walked twice and had a sacrifice bunt. Turang, Yelich, Bauers and Ortiz each had two hits. The pitching staff (Misiorowski, Aaron Ashby, Grant Anderson, DL Hall, and Woodford) combined to allow just four hits while striking out 20. Milwaukee dominated this game in essentially every way possible.

The Crew have a day off tomorrow before continuing their three-game series with the White Sox on Saturday. Chad Patrick will get the ball for Milwaukee, with right-hander Sean Burke slated to start for the visiting team. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 p.m.

A few positives came from 2026 Opening Day for the Minnesota Twins: the starter was sharp, they showed some aggressiveness on the base paths, and Byron Buxton collected a big hit. But the Twins simply were not able to successfully sequence enough safeties off Baltimore Orioles hurlers to plate more than one run in a leadoff loss.

In the early portion of any Game 1-of-162, a lot of firsts need to get put out of the way. After 1-2-3 opening frames from both sides, those firsts started to fall in the second inning.

The first Twins hit of the 2026 season came from the bat of Ryan Jeffers. Immediately following that, Matt Wallner successfully turned a strike into a ball via the Twins’ first official ABS Challenge and it paid off in a walk. Alas, ultimately the rally would end on a three-pitch punch-out from ninth batter Brooks Lee.

MN bats were right back on the attack in T3 with Austin Martin singling and swiping second on the next pitch. But despite Luke Keaschall legging out an infield hit to put two on with one out, Baltimore 3B Coby Mayo made a nice stop and started an around-the-horn double play to quash the “first run” hopes again.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the Twins again clogged the dirt in T4 via two leadoff walks (Wallner & Josh Bell). Almost immediately: another double play initiated from Coby “Next Time Please Hold The” Mayo. A Royce Lewis fly-out slapped another goose egg on the line score.

On the pitching side of the equation, Twins SP Joe Ryan was sterling through four innings. The O’s pushed a runner to 3B with two outs in the 5th, but a nice catch at the wall from The Moose (Wallner) kept Joe’s ledger clean for another frame.

In T6, the Twins were gifted a golden opportunity when a Tyler O’Neill BAL error allowed Keaschall to scamper into second base with zero out. He never moved from that solitary station.

After recording the first out of B6, Ryan (5.1 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 7 K, 85 pitches) departed without allowing a run.

Both squads continued not scoring runs as fans took a stretch. But seeing-eye singles from Samuel Basallo (off Kody Funderburk) & O’Neill (off Justin Topa) set the Orioles up for success—which they immediately paid off with a Colton Cowser sac fly for the 1-0 lead. Two batters later, it was 2-0 O’s on a Blaze Alexander RBI single.

Remember those firsts I was referencing earlier? Well, with one out in T8, Buxton provided the first XBH—a triple!—and touched the irregular pentagon with the first R as Keaschall collected the first RBI on a sac fly.

With old-friend-turned-new-friend Taylor Rogers keeping the Orange Birds off the board, the Twins entered T9 just down by a single digit. After whiffs from Wallner & Bell, Victor Caratini dribbled one through the infield to keep hope alive. Hope then died similarly to the ball that BAL closer Ryan Helsley put in the dirt and PH Trevor Larnach swung over for the third strike of the third out.

Your Final: Baltimore Orioles 2, Minnesota Twins 1

Some new categories this year…

Zach’s Zealot (replacing Studs)

• Ryan: Strong Opening Day performance. The curveball was playing nicely off his usually-strong fastball

Zach’s Zombie (replacing Duds)

• Lee: 0-3, 2 K, missed tag (leading to an extra base) on a SB attempt, two dribblers that weren’t corralled

Egg-cellent Elocution (replacing Comment of the Game)

• 93tide regaling us with a story of HS baseball glory which may or may not be true

Who’s Got Next:

• Built-in weather off day Friday, followed by a national TV (FS1—but also TwinsTV) contest on Saturday (3:05 PM CT).

The Washington Nationals started their season off on the right foot with a statement 10-4 win over the Cubs. While the bats were quiet during Spring Training, they came to play in the season opener. However, the production came from some unexpected characters. It was also Blake Butera’s first career managerial win.

has he asked you to be his opening day w yet pic.twitter.com/valgopFeUu

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) March 26, 2026

In the first inning, the Nats offense looked a lot like it did in Spring Training. Matthew Boyd fired off a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts in just 8 pitches. While Andres Chaparro just missed a homer, it was still an inauspicious start. A leadoff double by Michael Busch made Nats fans nervous, but Cade Cavalli worked out of that jam with a pair of strikeouts.

The Nats got the scoring started in the second, with a new face making his presence felt. Strong wind was not enough to hold Joey Wiemer in the ball park. He absolutely crushed a Matthew Boyd changeup into the left field seats. The Nats were on the board, and they did it in a big way.

Joey Wiemer smashes a 110.5 MPH homer to get the @Nationals going on #OpeningDay! pic.twitter.com/KAyYiK3WD7

— MLB (@MLB) March 26, 2026

Wiemer had his finger prints all over this game. He was 3/3 with a walk and was all over the field. The 27 year old made some nice plays in the outfield and was aggressive on the bases. While he did get thrown out once, it was one of those plays where you like the aggression. The Cubs had to do everything right to get Wiemer out.

Who knows if this will last, but I like what I saw from Wiemer today. He is an energetic presence on the field and can really handle left handed pitching. Wiemer only has a .638 career OPS, but that number rises to .779 against left handers. His athleticism, defense and ability to hit lefties could give Wiemer a role in the Nats outfield.

Another Nats outfielder delivered some power for the Nats, but it was not James Wood. The usually light hitting Jacob Young showed some juice with a two run home run that capped off a six run fourth inning. That was not the only well struck ball we saw from JY today either. If Young can make more noise offensively, he could be a real piece for the future of this team.

nothin but nethttps://t.co/M7AONBLYL5pic.twitter.com/G6s6vYbVkI

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) March 26, 2026

Honestly, most of the offense did well. CJ Abrams had a big hit, even though he should have run out of the box. Andres Chaparro also had two knocks and Brady House continued his Spring Training form with two hits, including a homer late in the game. The only player who did not look comfortable at the plate was James Wood, who was 0/5 with four strikeouts. We are going to have to monitor Wood, as his struggles from the second half and Spring Training bled into today.

The Nats new regime has shown they are willing to make big calls. Wood has much more history of big league and upper minors success than Dylan Crews, but he does not look right at the moment. Hopefully he can get it going before too long.

On the mound, the Cubs put pressure on the Nats, but could not come through for the most part. Cade Cavalli only made it 3.2 innings, but dealt with some bad luck and bad defense. I thought his stuff looked crisp, particularly in the first couple innings. As Cavalli’s pitch count climbed and he threw more high stress pitches, the sharpness faded. However, he limited the damage for the most part.

Cade Cavalli, Literal Back Foot Sweeper…and Sword. 🦶⚔️

Adding Injury to Insult. pic.twitter.com/dMTwdVwRIE

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 26, 2026

In that fourth inning, Blake Butera made a big call by taking Cavalli out when he did. I probably would have let Cavalli face the right handed Matt Shaw and pulled him if he could not get Shaw out. However, Butera had seen enough and went to PJ Poulin. The decision worked, as Poulin got out of the jam.

Butera’s bullpen usage was good today, though there were some risks he took. He let Brad Lord work his way out of trouble on a couple of occasions. Butera let Lord go 2.1 innings despite the Cubs putting consistent pressure on him. He also trusted Clayton Beeter to work his way out of a jam. Overall, I was impressed by his work and the bullpen doing its job. 

The bullpen only allowed one run in 5.1 innings against a solid Cubs lineup. Out of all the relievers, I only really thought Cionel Perez had his best stuff. However, the boys battled and managed to get the Opening Day win.

It is only one game, but it is great to start this new era with a Curly W. There will be bumps along the road this season but I loved the fight they showed today. All I want from this team is to be a consistently tough team to beat. That is what they did today. Cheers to a new era of Nats baseball.

Ask and you shall receive.

Freddy Peralta requested run support from the Mets’ offense pregame, and that’s exactly what they delivered just a half inning into Thursday’s Opening Day matchup. 

After the Pirates jumped on the righty for two runs on a Brandon Lowe homer two batters in, New York responded with a five-run bottom of the first that saw them chase reigning Cy Young award winner Paul Skenes from the ballgame.

The Mets batted around, and the big knock came on a Brett Baty bases loaded bases-clearing triple. 

“It was amazing,” Peralta said. “I asked them earlier today, I said I need some runs from you guys and I was sitting there like damn, this is crazy.”

Things got even crazier as the day went on, as New York would strike six more times over the next seven innings to help them hang on for the thrilling season-opening victory. 

Peralta followed Lowe's homer retiring the next eight batters he faced, but that stretch was broken when the power-hitting lefty took him deep again, this time 401 feet to right-center. 

The righty would hit another speed bump after back-to-back knocks in the fifth, but ended things with his seventh strikeout, getting Bryan Reynolds swinging on a slider in the dirt representing the tying run at the plate. 

“Other than the two mistakes, I thought he was good,” Carlos Mendoza said. “They put together some really good at-bats -- fought off pitches, laid off tough ones, ran his pitch count up, but he was able to get through five.”

Just one start into Peralta’s time at Citi Field, things already feel different.

“The energy from the first pitch to the last one, you can feel it,” he said. “It was amazing, I think personally it’s something that helps me to get better. I can’t wait to see it that same way the rest of the season.”

Six pitches into Thursday’s season opener, Chase Meidroth attempted to serve notice that this will be a different season for the Chicago White Sox:

Unfortunately for the White Sox, they managed just one hit in the first seven innings of the game, and four total.

In what would end up as virtually the only highlight of the day for the White Sox, Meidroth running it to a full count in his leadoff at-bat pushed wunderkind Brewers starter Jacob Misiorowski to 24 pitches in the first frame.

Now, there’s a flip side to that, as part of Misiorowski’s high pitch count was in part a result of him striking out White Sox at will: He whiffed the three hitters after Meidroth in the first, had five Ks through two innings, and seven through three — and that seventh K placed him within one of Milwaukee’s team record for Opening Day.

Yes, in three innings.

On the first batter of the fourth, Andrew Benintendi waved at a ball over his head and outside, giving Misiorowski a tie for the mark. After a single by Austin Hays and a second walk to Munetaka Murakami (constituting the first of two “rallies” of the game for the White Sox), Everson Pereira helped the record fall, with another strikeout. And then just to top it off, Misiorowski got his 10th — in four innings — by punching out Quero with two on to escape the frame.

Those 10 strikeouts at only age 23 helped Misiorowski match Don Drysdale and Gary Nolan as the only NL pitchers since 1901 to have 10 or more Ks on Opening Day. And with one final strikeout in the fifth inning, getting enough distance in the game to earn what at that point (6-1) appeared to be a guaranteed win, Misiorowski became the only pitcher in major league history to have 11 strikeouts and two or fewer hits on Opening Day.

By the sixth, just one Brewer had not reached base on the day: Andrew Vaughn, who wasn’t having much of a revenge game in his first meeting with the team that had drafted him. However, he took care of that business with an RBI single to push the Brew lead to 9-1.

In MLB debut news, in his first at-bat in the majors, Murakami struggled to meet Misiorowski’s velocity, but regrouped enough to work a walk on a ball an eyelash inside. On the other hand, the Brewers starter didn’t throw Mune a single strike, so his free pass shouldn’t have taken seven pitches.

Later, in the ninth and down, 14-1, Murakami got his first MLB hit, a mammoth home run to right that doubled the White Sox run total.

Jedixson Páez, straight outta Single-A, made his MLB debut with the sacks packed and two outs in the sixth inning, which seems an entirely reasonable decision by manager Will Venable. Páez walked in a run (following four walks including one walked in by Jordan Hicks, in an utterly abominable White Sox debut) to start things off, and actually managed another later in his appearance, giving him two-thirds of his entire 2025 season base on balls output in just one game.

Shane Smith tried to recover from what was at best an uneven spring, after allowing a leadoff double on his very first batter faced as an Opening Day starter but shutting things down from there. But in the second, things fell apart after two walks sandwiched around a(nother) catcher’s interference from Quero packed the sacks with one out. There, Joey Ortiz blooped a hanging slider, and the 60.1 mph jam shot, with a .280 xBA, fell into short right field to tie the score.

Smith would not survive the inning, getting the collar at 51 pitches and just four outs. As much as Quero’s CI helped fuel Milwaukee’s rally, he also was 3-for-3 on catcher challenges on Smith pitches to help save the starter’s bacon.

In the eighth inning, the White Sox loaded the bases with one out, but whiffs from Lenyn Sosa and Austin Hays snuffed the heat. In the ninth, the only highlight was Murakami’s home run, as the White Sox otherwise struck out three times, ending the game with 20. That’s the most in Brewers Opening Day history (although believe it or not, it is not a White Sox Opening Day record, as they struck out 21 times in 1996 …. over 12 innings).

But it wasn’t something in the water in Milwaukee, if the final score didn’t make that obvious. The White Sox walked just five times, while Chicago arms issued 10 free passes and struck out just three Brewers.

It’s an off-day Friday, and the White Sox get back at it on Saturday, trying to even up their season in a clear trap game for the Crew.

---

Earlier today, we discussed the big news of the day from Walt Weiss’s press conference where he stated that Drake Baldwin would be the starting DH for Friday’s Opening Day game for the Atlanta Braves. I also mentioned that that wasn’t all he talked about, as he spoke at length about his thoughts on the team with the regular season opener less than 24 hours away.

Weiss was asked about moving Ronald Acuña Jr. to the leadoff spot and Weiss stated that Acuña leading off helps to “set the tone for our offense. It’s become part of his identity.” Weiss went on to compare Acuña to a former teammate of his: Rickey Henderson. “I played with Rickey Henderson for four-to-five years and I saw the impact he had at the top of the lineup and Ronald is like that in a lot of ways. He can take over a game and set the tone for us every night. We didn’t have to hit a homer to lead off a game but just getting on base and the havoc he creates right out of the gate, that’s what I like about having him lead off.”

I then asked Weiss about how he feels at this particular moment about his objective of improving the team’s base running going forward. Weiss responded by saying that he felt good about the offense and how he wants it to be more “multidimensional” in that regard. “Over the past several years, we’ve lived and died by the home run and we’ve been really good doing it. Last year was a little different and when you don’t hit the ball in the seats and you’re so reliant on that to score runs, it’s not very pretty. It makes you look flat. We need to be able to explore a variety of ways [to score] and the base running thing is going to be a big part of it.”

He then went on to talk about new first base coach Antoan Richardson’s potential impact on the base running. “[Antoan] knows how important the base running aspect is to me and we all know it’s very important to him and he’s made it important to the players.” Weiss then went on to make a cross-sport reference to how important the base running is to the success of any given offense. “I look at the base running like special teams in football. It doesn’t get all the glory that the offense and defense might but a lot of times, it’ll win you games. I’m very, very, very in tune with how we run the bases. I think you’ll see a much more aggressive team on the bases this year.

Before Walt Weiss came out to talk to us in the media, Matt Olson came in to take questions and he was asked about how the base running could potentially compliment the rest of the offense. “The thought of Antoan popped into my head,” said Olson. “He’s clearly somebody who is good at what he does and he instills confidence in the guys who are baserunners to go and get opportunities when they arrive.” I thought it was a little bit humorous that Olson referred to his teammates as “the baserunners” since I can’t imagine we’ll be seeing Olson out there stealing 50 bags this season.

Still, he feels pretty confident about how the offense is looking heading into this season. “I think we look at our lineup and you gotta like it on paper, every single day you look at it,” continued Olson. “We gotta have more than one way to win games — it’s not going to be go clip five-to-six homers in a game. I feel like spring training was great when it came to moving the line. I had some homers and there were very few throw-away bats — especially early on when you haven’t seen pitching. Getting back into the swing of things is kind of tough to do but I’m excited about it.”

One of the hottest topics surrounding the Braves is the lack of experienced (and healthy) starting pitching at the moment. We did get news that Grant Holmes will probably be starting on Sunday, with Reynaldo López presumably going on Saturday and of course Chris Sale getting the Opening Day nod. I asked Sale about whether or not he could use his experience of bouncing back from his fair share injuries to relate to his fellow starters who are currently dealing with injury woes.

“Absolutely,” responded Sale to my question. “In a weird way, I feel like I’m better at [giving advice for] that than the pitching side because some of the Xs and Os that stuff, I don’t really know the mechanical side…but I do know how to bring guys back away from the edge a little bit when they get hurt because I’ve been through it. I know what it can do to you. I know what it feels like physically to be hurt but I also know the mental side and how tough that can be as well.”

He continued on by stating that “As athletes, we don’t plan for that. We have to work, we have to compete, we have to produce and…you don’t ever really think about the bad stuff happening because you’re just so locked in on all the stuff you need to do. So it can be tough — especially when you’re young.” Sale expounded on that though by saying that he actually felt “lucky” to get hurt when he was older and that “I don’t know what it would be like trying to get your foot in the door and then having to deal with some of these injuries on top of that. I just try to be there for those guys like my teammates were for me and let them know that this is a process sometimes.”

Sale completed his thought on the matter by stating that “There’s going to be good days and there’s going to be bad days but every day is one step closer to the field so every day should be looked at as a good day.” If that’s the mindset that Sale had when he was bouncing back from his various ailments then it really does go a long way to showing how Sale was able to reach the level that he has here in the latter stages of his career and hopefully his fellow pitchers can be able to take some of that with them as they try to come back from their own injuries.

There was a workout following the presser and it was certainly nice to see the squad getting in one last piece of action before going back into the clubhouse and calling it a day before Opening Day tomorrow night. Hopefully everything comes together and we’ll see the Braves get off to a winning start in front of a home crowd, for once.

April 12, 2025.

I sat in the stands with my dad for a game against the Milwaukee Brewers. I was a day away from flying to Spain with my wife and children to show them a whole other half of my family for the first time. A Diamondbacks game with the man that practically raised me in this stadium felt like the perfect send off, if only for a little while.

We grew up on this team. In the early 2000s, I was at the BOB listening to the organist more than the organist at church. We sat in the left field bleachers every time; I became so used to the view that I ended up playing left field myself. Whatever the name of the stadium, the colors of the team, or the players on the field, this place was home.

The D-Backs are struggling to get anything going and it’s all thanks to some rookie we drafted named Chad Patrick. He ended up pulling a reverse snow bird by ending up in Milwaukee. My dad and I had a fairly decent amount to catch up on, but we live only a few minutes away from each other, so we talked mostly about the team.

By the 4th inning of that game, something shifted. My dad pulled out his phone and opened Facebook. For the rest of the night, the game in front of us became background noise. Every couple of minutes or so, he would show me photos of people I’d never met or some silly meme that made him chuckle. Mentally, he was somewhere else.

Physically, we were sitting in the left field bleachers.

Years of high fives after home runs, singing “Louie Louie” when Gonzo came up to bat, doing that silly little arm pump dance when the organ plays that one song (you know the one). Years of getting in line to get Baxter’s autograph in his clubhouse, eating McFlurries during the 7th inning stretch, and taking me out of class early sometimes to go to an afternoon game. Years of coaching me in Little League all the way to watching me play in high school. The strength of a bond like that was still no match to escape the gravitational pull of a 6 inch screen.

“Look, the D-Backs have an 11.8% chance of winning it says. You wanna just get out of here to beat traffic?”

These are the AnswerBacks – I’m not going anywhere till the Brewers can get three outs.

Geno grounds out, but I’m not phased. Let’s see what we got.

Gabi walks. Alek rides one to center. Garrett Hampson walks. Corbin barrels one right off the 413 sign in right center.

“That was perfect! Corbin just won me some money on a bet I made!”

Perdomo hops to first. Jake lines one right over the second baseman. Naylor doesn’t even get a chance to be the hero as he gets sent to first. Lourdes summons enough piña power to send Perdomo into home.

Ball game.

9th inning rallies like that are some of the most special memories you can have, especially if you shared it with someone. Baseball is a magical sport and it’s hard to replicate that intensity anywhere else. You’d assume I’d think back fondly on that game.

All I can think about was that damn phone.

The disconnect usually starts as a subconscious twitch. The pitcher steps off the rubber to fix his PitchCom and your hand is already in your pocket. You start hearing the Rafi Rafi jingle and you’re already three comments deep into a thread about ridiculous trade rumors. We’ve developed a compulsion to fill every silent moment with a screen.

It happens between innings. It happens between plays. I bet it even happens between pitches for some of us. Whether you’re at the stadium or at home, the phone has become the primary experience. The game is relegated as the second screen. We’ve lost the ability to just sit with the game and let the tension build naturally. Instead of soaking in the relaxed yet intense beauty that is baseball, we’re trying to figure out why some user named dodger4life could be such a boneheaded idiot.

When we do look down, we rarely find anything that makes the game better. Social media has turned fandom into a constant state of combat and a flood of insubstantial content. Instead of enjoying the glory that is Ketel Marte, we’re scrolling through the Diamondbacks subreddit, and maybe even-

shudders

Facebook Diamondbacks fan pages.

This constant stream of negativity poisons the way we see the team. It turns a hobby into another source of stress and anger. You stop seeing the Diamondbacks as a team and start seeing them as a collection of stats to argue about. You lose the ability to appreciate the season because the internet demands an immediate reaction to everything.

As our new season starts today, I challenge you, and myself, to do one thing.

Keep your eye on the ball.

Put the phone away. No one is saying anything you couldn’t enjoy after the game anyway. Yeah, it might seem a little ironic since I did create a podcast with my friends that has social media accounts all about the D-Backs with the intention that people see it. But that’s fine though. It’ll all be there waiting for you later if you really want to see. Our intention is about building a community, not creating content just to try and get paid.

Abstaining from social media during the season is a way to reclaim your own perspective, your own love of the team, and your own love of baseball. By putting the phone away, you’re giving yourself freedom to enjoy baseball the way we did back in the good ol’ days. You’re choosing to have your own thoughts about a player instead of adopting a narrative from a clip. You’re deciding that being present for the game, and the people you watch it with, is more important than the digital noise. I want to get back to the version of fandom my dad taught me before he got sucked in by all the distractions.

What’s rule number one in baseball? What did my dad teach me all those years ago?

Keep your eye on the ball.