On March 29, every baseball fan was happy as that was the day that the 2018 MLB season started. Opening day, usually, is one of the busiest days of the season as fans can't wait to see their team play after waiting so long for the season to start. With most teams having only played about 10 games so far, some players have put up crazy numbers to start the season. While it's great that some players are off to hot starts, it's almost near impossible to keep it up as the season is 162 games long. Some players are off to dreadful starts and are looking ahead to the next 152 games of the season.
With baseball going into the third week of the season, here are some crazy things that happened in the first two weeks.
Shohei Ohtani
With Shohei Ohtani being the most hyped player in a long time, everyone was anticipating his MLB debut. With a dreadful performance in spring training, some people were worried that he wouldn't be able to adjust to playing in the MLB. Scouts were saying that he should start the season in the minors as they stated that his pitching needed work and that his swing reminded them of a high school baseball player.
In his pitching debut on April 1, he went six innings while striking out six. While his major league pitching debut wasn't anything spectacular, his performance in the following week is what stole the spotlight.
While playing his first game at home in front of Angels fans, Ohtani went three for four which included a HR. What made him more special is that he hit a HR in three consecutive games including hitting a HR off reigning AL Cy Young winner Corey Kluber.
Yesterday, Ohtani started on the mound for the Angels for his first career start at home.
He racked up 12 strikeouts and didn't give up a hit until there was one out in the seventh inning.
In the first two weeks of the season, he came out with the win in both starts and has 18 K over four hits given up to go along with an E.R.A. of 2.08. To further explain how good he's doing, he has more K and a better E.R.A than reigning NL Cy Young Winner Max Scherzer.
While he has only appeared in four games at the plate, he currently has a slash line of .389/.421/.889 with 3 HR's and 7 RBI's.
Elite SS
A long time ago, a typical SS was a phenomenal defensive player but couldn't do much with a bat. Now, SS are still spectacular defensive players but they can also hit. On April 3, Yankees SS Didi Gregorius went four for four with two HR's and eight RBI's. In the first 10 games of the season, Gregorius has a crazy slash line of .375/.524/.906. He also has 10 RBI's.
The Red Sox have been red hot to start the season and they have to thank their SS Xander Boagerts as he has played a huge part in the Red Sox's early season success. He currently leads all of MLB with 14 hits -- nine of those hits being for extra bases (seven 2B and two HR).
Just yesterday, Bogaerts injured his ankle and could land on the DL which will be determined soon, as the severity of his injury isn't known yet.
SS Carlos Correa of the Astros is also off to a good start as he has nine hits in nine games played -- with one of those hits being an inside-the-park-home-run. He is also currently batting .310 with 9 RBI's.
Bash party
Most baseball fans know that Bryce Harper is one of the best players in the game right now. Harper was the first overall pick in the 2010 draft and made his major league debut at the age of 19. Harper currently has the most HR's in all of baseball right now with six. He also has double the amount of hits compared to the number of times he went down on strikes and has been walked 13 times.
His current slash line is .357/.535/1.000.
Struggling stars
While it's only two weeks into the season, there are some superstar players who are off to bad starts in the 2018 season. With around 152 games left for most teams, players that are struggling are looking to turn things around to help their team win games.
The Yankees acquiring Giancarlo Stanton was the biggest move of the offseason in the Bronx. On Opening Day, Stanton went three for five with two HR's. After his monster opening day, the 2017 NL MVP has struggled to produce. Stanton had two games where he went down on strikes five times -- receiving boos from Yankees fans at home. In 10 games so far, Stanton went down on strikes 20 times while only getting seven hits -- with three of those being HR's.
Stanton currently has a batting average of .167 but expect him to turn things around soon.
Indians 3B Jose Ramirez is also off to a bad start. Through his first nine games, he has put up a horrible slash line of .061/.205/.152. Ramirez currently has only two hits in 33 AB. Expect one of the runners-up for the 2017 AL MVP to turn things around very quickly, which could even happen this week.
Other things that happened in the MLB in the first two weeks
- Red Sox and Mets are off to the best start in their franchise's history
- Mike Trout is only batting .220 in his first 10 games
- Kneel is on the DL for at least six to eight weeks
- Athletics called up Barreto
