MLB Review/Game of the Day: 4-2-2024
Milj
Minnesota Twins @ Milwaukee Brewers 4:10 PM E.T.
04-1-2024 Recap:
Mondays aren’t so bad when you have some baseball to watch after a long day’s work. At least for me that is true. Before I get into my GOTD recap I want to highlight the Astros versus Blue Jays game in which the Astros won 10-0 for their first win of the young season. Congratulations Ronyel Blanco, throwing a no-hitter in just his eighth career professional start. Very impressive stuff and against a stacked Blue Jays order, nonetheless. For those who don’t know what a no-hitter is, it means that the starting pitcher got through an entire game without giving up a single recorded hit, and walks have no impact. That is the difference between no-hitters and perfect games in baseball. On top of the no-hitter, the Astros offense has finally woken up putting up ten runs on twelve hits. This all happened despite Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve, and Alex Bregman combining to go one for eleven. Goes to show what type of offense this team has, the pitching feat is awesome but I wouldn’t expect many of those to happen this season.
Now for the main stage, and what a game that turned out to be. The Reds came into 2024 with a bit of an edge, trying to prove themselves to the rest of the league. After a bit of a shaky series against the Nationals, this team showed up to play against one of the best in the league. The Reds were led by their pitching, after giving up two runs in the first inning, Andrew Abbott and co. shut down the Phillies offense. They were able to do so long enough for the Reds bats to wake up and tie the game in the sixth inning. It is just the first week of the season so given what I saw in his first start, I expect Abbott to be a strong force for the Reds this season. The Phillies had an offensive let down, given their lofty standards, Bryce Harper has yet to record a hit in 2024 which will change soon, I surmise. Another note, the Phillies bullpen has been stretched a bit to begin the year, after battling the Braves for three games it is not surprising that they were a little loose down the stretch. The exclamation point in this game came in extra innings, as Spencer Steer sent a treat out to left center for a grand slam. This also means that I am now 2-0 in GOTD picks so let's keep this rolling.
4-2-2024 Game of the Day:
For today’s GOTD, we have a couple teams that have started off strong and are looking to keep it going in 2024. The Twins are a team that I was high on coming in, mostly due to their weak division and the Brewers were a team that I was down on and have made me look foolish, so far. I expect this Brewers team to come down to earth after sweeping a banged up Mets side. These teams are rather similar in the sense that they both are scrappy and seem to find ways to win games. Despite how the Brewers look on paper they play much above standard, will that continue today? As I previously mentioned, the Mets pitching is a bit hospitalized so expect some offensive regression against a solid Twins rotation and pen. For this game in particular, I am not as familiar with the pitching matchup. Junis was a starter in San Francisco last year and was respectable enough, posting a 3.87 ERA in 86 innings pitched. I haven’t watched him much and I have never seen this Twins starter go, but I think the Twins have the pitching upper hand due to their bullpen. I am honestly not entirely sure what to expect from this one but it headlines a couple of the sneakier teams in the MLB. Christian Yelich is having a strong start to the year for the Brewers which is essential for them. Overall, neither team has been overly impressive offensively to begin the year, so this will be a great test for both.
Now for the most important piece of this whole rant, my pick. This game presents quite the tough task when it comes to picking a side, two unpredictable teams. I am going with the bullpen strength in this one and will opt to choose the Twins. Hopefully I can keep this streak going and see how far we can go. Let’s go twins.
GOTD Record: 2-0
A couple of new teams to take in presents an exciting unknown. Both teams were firmly in the playoffs last year and those ideals seemed to have stuck around for 2024. As always, hope you all enjoy the content and get the opportunity to enjoy some baseball!
