On Tuesday night, baseball’s best and brightest stars will gather at Dodger Stadium for the 2022 MLB All-Star Game. The All-Star Game concludes a frenetic four-day stretch that featured the Futures Game on Saturday, the first 80 picks of the amateur draft on Sunday and the Home Run Derby on Monday. This is the 92nd edition of the Midsummer Classic.
The American League has dominated the All-Star Game in recent years. They’ve won the last eight, 15 of the last 18 and 20 of the last 24 All-Star Games. That said, the all-time series is only 46-43-2 in favor of the Junior Circuit.
Here’s viewing info for the 2022 MLB All-Star Game.
Odds: NL -115; AL -105; O/U 8 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
Featured Game| National League All-Stars vs. American League All-Stars
Storylines
Brian Snitker, manager of the defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves, will guide a National League club looking to end the American League’s eight-game winning streak. Houston Astros skipper Dusty Baker is managing the All-Star Game for the second time. Baker managed the NL in 2003 after taking the San Francisco Giants to the 2002 World Series, though he was manager of the Chicago Cubs that season. It was the first time in history an All-Star Game manager was not the manager of the team he took to the World Series the year before.
On the mound, Dodgers icon Clayton Kershaw will get the start for the NL club in his home ballpark. He will be the first pitcher to start in his home stadium since Max Scherzer got the ball for the NL at Nationals Park in 2018. Rays lefty Shane McClanahan, not Angels star Shohei Ohtani, will get the ball for the AL team. Kershaw vs. Ohtani would have been rather fun, though McClanahan is certainly deserving of the starting assignment. It is unknown whether Ohtani, who has never made a major league appearance out of the bullpen, will pitch in the All-Star Game.
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AL starting lineup
DH Shohei Ohtani, Angels
RF Aaron Judge, Yankees
3B Rafael Devers, Red Sox
1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays
LF Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees
CF Byron Buxton, Twins
SS Tim Anderson, White Sox
2B Andrês Gimênez, Guardians
C Alejandro Kirk, Blue Jays
SP Shane McClanahan, Rays
NL starting lineup
RF Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves
CF Mookie Betts, Dodgers
3B Manny Machado, Padres
1B Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals
SS Trea Turner, Dodgers
C Willson Contreras, Cubs
DH William Contreras, Braves
LF Joc Pederson, Giants
2B Jeff McNeil, Mets
SP Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
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Cleveland Guardians rookie outfielder Steven Kwan made history on Sunday against the Kansas City Royals by notching five hits in his third career game.
Kwan, whose afternoon was part of a larger Guardians’ offensive outburst that saw them plate 17 runs, became the fifth player since World War II to have a five-hit contest within their first five big-league games. He joins a group that includes Yermin Mercedes (who did it last season with the Chicago White Sox), Gregory Polanco (2014), Mike Lansing (1993), and John Wehner (1991). Kwan also reached base on Sunday by being hit by a pitch.
Kwan singled to center field in the first inning. He singled to left in the second. He then completed the hat trick by singling to right in the third. He reached on an infield single in the fifth inning, and he was struck by the aforementioned pitch in the seventh. Kwan came up one last time in the eighth and hit a double to right to cap off his afternoon.
Kwan was one of CBS Sports’ breakout picks prior to the season. Here was the explanation:
Kwan isn’t for everyone, but he’s a fascinating prospect who should get a shot in Cleveland’s outfield. He split last season between Double- and Triple-A hitting .328/.407/.527 with 12 home runs and five more walks than strikeouts. Despite that impressive rate of production, he’s failed to make headway on most prospect lists (the exception being Eric Longenhagen’s at FanGraphs) because of translatability concerns. Kwan is on the smaller side (he’s listed at 5-foot-9) and until last year he had seldom shown over-the-fence power. (His 12 homers were a new career best.) We’ve referenced the Sam Fuld-Brett Gardner spectrum before on similar players — outfielders who lack pop while displaying good contact and on-base chops — and it applies here; there’s a chance big-league pitchers will feel unthreatened and pound him with strikes, compromising his command over the strike zone and reducing his offensive potency. Believers in Kwan cite his unreal bat-to-ball skills (in terms of making contact and grinding out at-bats) and increased juice as reasons to think he can make it work. Non-believers think he’s probably a fourth or fifth outfielder. We won’t know which side was right for a while, but it’s not every day you have a non-top prospect who is so interesting.
Kwan entered Sunday having recorded three hits in his first eight trips to the plate. He’d also walked three times, giving him a nice .600/.750/.800 slash line in an extremely small sample.
NEW YORK — One week later than originally scheduled and then another day later than that, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox opened their 2022 regular seasons at Yankee Stadium on Friday. The Yankees rallied to win the opener, 6-5, despite falling behind 3-0 in the first inning. They did not lead until their big offseason addition, former AL MVP Josh Donaldson, provided the walk-off single in the 11th inning (box score).
“The team resiliency is going to lead to good things in the future,” Donaldson said after the game. “… To show some resiliency and fight back and hang in there — total team win, bullpen did a great job — hopefully it leads to great things in the future.”
Moreso than the game itself, the top story to come out of Yankee Stadium on Opening Day is the Yankees and Aaron Judge failing to agree to a contract extension. Judge set an Opening Day deadline for talks and he is scheduled to become a free agent after the season. The Yankees offered a seven-year deal worth $30.5 million per year covering 2023-29.
“We’re all disappointed right now that we can’t be talking about a contract extension today. Not now, but hopefully later,” Yankees GM Brian Cashman said prior to Friday’s game. “… Both sides would like to be here. I think Aaron Judge doesn’t want to be anywhere but here, and we’d love to make that happen as well.”
Here are four takeaways from Opening Day at Yankee Stadium.
1. The Red Sox should pay Devers
I mean, this was already obvious, but Rafael Devers really drove home the point with a towering two-run home run into second deck in right field in his first at-bat of the new season. Gerrit Cole tried to throw a 99-mph heater by him at the top of the zone, but Devers beat him to the spot and went deep. Not many hitters can handle this velocity in this location:
Similar to Judge, Devers set an Opening Day deadline for contract extension talks, and the two sides did not reach a deal. The Red Sox and Devers were said to be “very far off” earlier this week. Matt Olson signed an eight-year, $168 million extension at the same service time level as Devers a few weeks ago, just to give you an idea of his potential price range.
Devers will play the entire season at age 25 and he is scheduled to become a free agent after 2023. Because a deal did not get done prior to Opening Day, the two sides will go into next season in the same place Judge is with the Yankees now. Devers will be nearing free agency and looking for a massive payday next spring.
2. Cole settled down and pitched down
The 2022 season began much like the 2021 season ended for Cole: the Red Sox hit him hard. Cole did not make it out of the third inning in last year’s Wild Card Game, and the first four batters on Opening Day went four-pitch walk, two-run home run (the Devers homer), loud single off the wall, double into the right field corner. Just like that, the Yankees trailed 3-0, and the Yankee Stadium crowd gave Cole an earful.
“Tough settling in. Obviously the first four pitches were not really competitive,” Cole said after the game. “Honestly got burned on a couple pretty good fastball locations in the first. They put some great some swings. Fortunately we were able to settle in after that and give us a chance to win.”
After those first four batters reached, Cole retired 11 of the final 13 batters he faced, getting through four innings and giving the offense a chance to get back into the game. Like everyone else after the short spring, Cole was on a pitch count on Opening Day. He threw 68 pitches (27 in the first inning alone) and was slated to throw 75 or so.
“I think we just executed some better breaking balls down in the zone,” Cole said when asked what allowed him to settle in. “I can’t really say we got ahead of a lot of guys. I just we just made a little bit better pitches.”
Cole broke out as an ace-caliber pitcher with the Astros when he began using an elevated four-seam fastball and wicked breaking balls down. The foreign-substance crackdown has forced him to change his approach (no longer can Cole rely on sticky stuff to get extra spin), and he now pitches primarily down in the zone. Look at his Opening Day pitch locations:
Gerrit Cole lived down in the zone on Opening Day.
Baseball Savant
I count what, seven pitches in the upper third of the strike zone? That is not the Cole we saw from 2018 through June 2021. He has made the adjustment to pitch down in the zone — Cole also picked up a cutter in spring training and threw three on Opening Day — and it’s an ongoing process. The pitcher adjusts, the hitters adjust, the pitcher adjusts back, etc.
Cole finished second in the Cy Young voting in 2021, but he had a 2.31 ERA before the crackdown and a 4.12 ERA after. That is a bit deceiving though, because Cole had 3.28 ERA in his first 13 post-crackdown starts. He then hurt his hamstring on Sept. 7 and pitched through it because the Yankees were fighting for a postseason spot. In his last four starts, he had a 6.35 ERA.
3. The Yankees won a battle of the bullpens
After the Red Sox took their 3-0 lead four batters in the first inning, the Yankees battled back and tied the game thanks to an Anthony Rizzo two-run homer and a Giancarlo Stanton solo homer. Stanton’s home run was the kind of home run only Stanton can hit. It was a low line drive the other way that carried into Yankee Stadium’s short right field porch. It was a missile.
Stanton’s home run tied the game 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth. In the top of the sixth, the Red Sox regained the lead with a good ol’ fashioned get ’em on, get ’em over, get ’em in rally. Xander Bogaerts pulled a ground ball double inside the third base bag, JD Martinez moved him to third with a grounder to second, and Alex Verdugo got him in with a ground ball through the drawn in infield. Verdugo made two nice sliding catches in the game as well.
On paper, the Yankees have the bullpen advantage over the Red Sox, but the Red Sox have Garrett Whitlock, who they poached from the Yankees in the Rule 5 Draft last offseason. Boston is stretching Whitlock out, possibly to start later in the season, and he retired seven of the first eight batters he faced after the Red Sox regained the lead. The problem is he faced nine hitters. That ninth hitter, DJ LeMahieu, hit a game-tying homer to right.
LeMahieu started Opening Day over Gleyber Torres, and manager Aaron Boone indicated it was essentially a “feel” move. The Yankees have nine starting caliber position players for eight spots (not counting catcher), so someone will be out of the lineup each day. On Friday, it was Torres. That meant he was available to pinch-hit for catcher Kyle Higashioka in the tenth inning, and he provided a game-tying sacrifice fly.
“Maybe he has the most important at-bat of the game today,” Boone said about Torres earlier in the day.
The Yankees and Red Sox traded runs in the tenth. In the 11th, Yankees righty Michael King stranded the automatic runner with two strikeouts and a broken bat groundout. King was electric that inning. On the third pitch of the bottom of the 11th, Donaldson poked a walk-off single back up the middle. As noted in the intro, this is the Yankees first Opening Day walk-off win since 1957.
“It was great. Our team put us in a great in position there,” Donaldson said after the game. “It was nice for my first game here to help the team win. Couldn’t ask for much more than that.”
4. New York’s new-look defense shined
The Yankees prioritized defense over the winter, specifically on the infield, and it was on full display on Opening Day. Donaldson, the new third baseman, and new shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa each made sparkling plays. Rizzo, brought back to play first base after coming over at the trade deadline last year, made several nice scoops as well.
Last season the Yankees ranked 29th among the 30 teams in defensive runs saved, and 25th in Statcast’s outs above average. The Yankees gave away too many free bases and forced their pitchers to throw too many extra pitches. Improving the defense was a must, and while it’s a long season, the early returns on Opening Day were good. The defense is no longer a glaring liability.
“Just a fun game to be a part of. The guys competed well all night,” Boone said following Friday’s game. “You know, I think it’s an example of it’s not always going to be perfect. We get punched in the mouth there early. Gerrit settles in and throws up some zeroes for us to keep us right there.”
Fans can breathe a sigh of relief: MLB is officially back.
After a months-long lockout, the prospect of seeing MLB games any earlier than the summer seemed, at points, to be dim. But the games are actually here, slated to begin Thursday and carry on through the rest of the year.
This year’s Opening Day, for the first time in five years, will be split between Thursday and Friday. Not every team is going to play on Thursday, and not every team will play on Friday. But every team will be back in action on Saturday.
With first pitches scheduled to be thrown out over the course of the next three days, The Sporting News is breaking down exactly how to watch each team play their first games of the season, and where to find the nationally televised matchups.
Here’s everything you need to know about Opening Day 2022.
The first few days of baseball will feature a handful of nationally televised games, with some slated to be carried by MLB Network, one on ESPN2 and one on FS1. There are also going to be three games carried by ESPN+ and two by Apple TV+.
Thursday, April 7
Here’s a look at the full schedule of games scheduled for Thursday.
Nearly all of the games on Opening Day will be broadcast on regional sports networks, meaning that viewers will need to be within their region to view them on cable television.
Across the first two days of Opening Day, however, there will be a few nationally televised games. The first two Mets vs. Nationals games on Thursday and Friday will be on ESPN+ and Apple TV+, respectively. The Reds vs. Braves on Thursday will be on ESPN2. The White Sox vs. Tigers game on Friday will be on ESPN+, and the Astros at Angels on Saturday will also be on Apple TV+.
Each day, there will be an afternoon game on MLB Network, depending on locality. On Thursday, fans not in the Milwaukee or Chicago regions will see the Brewers vs. Cubs on MLB Network. On Friday, the network will broadcast the Red Sox vs. Yankees game for anyone not in the region, or Athletics vs. Phillies for those who are in the Boston or New York regions.
MLB live streams for Opening Day
Fans hoping to catch a glimpse of MLB action over the two-day Opening Day will also have the option to stream the games instead.
MLB TV
Fans can watch MLB games that aren’t in their local market using MLB TV. If a viewer tries to access a game that is being carried by their local cable station, it will be blacked out.
The yearly package costs $129.99 per year, $24.99 per month or $109.99 for watching only a single team.
Network apps
There are options to stream the nationally televised games as well. ESPN and Fox Sports have their own streaming apps that will carry their channels.
The only way to watch the Apple TV+ games will be with an Apple TV+ subscription. It offers a seven-day free trial, and costs $4.99 per month after the trial period.
Online streaming bundles
But if interest is more in the local games, there are streaming bundles that include access to the channels on which the games will be broadcast.
DirecTV stream, YouTube TV, Hulu Live and fuboTV all provide access to select TV channels that will carry several of the games.
In Canada, viewers can find Sportsnet, which carries the Blue Jays, and MLB Network on fuboTV.
How to watch MLB games in Canada
Baseball fans in Canada can watch MLB games on Sportsnet, TSN, TVA Sports and RDS. All Blue Jays games are broadcast live on Sportsnet One in Toronto.
MLB Network, which hosts various live games all season, can be live-streamed on both DAZN and fuboTV, which offers a free trial.
Big League Baseball homeowners and gamers struck a labor pact on Thursday,ending a 99-day lockout and preserving a total 162-activity period for this spring and summer season.
Spring instruction will begin late future 7 days, with typical period contests setting up April 7.
“I am truly thrilled to say Major League Baseball is back, and we’re likely to play 162 games,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred stated. “I want to start out by apologizing to our lovers. I know the last number of months have been difficult.”
When the lockout started, shots of gamers vanished off team internet websites. But by Thursday evening, when the lockout was lifted, images experienced returned.
“Let’s enjoy ball. Ultimately,” Cincinnati Reds pitcher Amir Garrett tweeted, succinctly summing up the reduction felt by gamers and enthusiasts alike Thursday.
Even while MLB will miss out on its initially scheduled March 31 Opening Day, the offer presents schedule makers a possibility to in good shape in 162 games for every club by the conclusion of September.
The agreement, which will be for 5 many years, involves a handful of on-the-discipline rule changes.
The playoffs will reportedly extend to 12 teams, altering a 10-workforce structure in put given that 2012.
Underneath the new structure, two division winners in just about every league will acquire 1st-spherical byes. That’ll go away one particular division winner and three wild cards in each league to engage in ideal-of-a few rounds.
All video games are now predicted to have a designated hitter, meaning a full-time batter will hit for the pitcher. The American League has employed a DH given that 1973, but the Countrywide League had stuck with the outdated guidelines.
The agreement will also let groups to provide marketing on uniforms for the initially time.
A slew of major gamers are nevertheless no cost brokers, that means the following 4 months will see a baseball-buying frenzy as stars such as Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa, San Francisco Giants utility man Kris Bryant, Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Tale and Reds outfielder Nick Castellanos go up for bid.
The two sides walked away from the bargaining table not totally pleased with offer, San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer told reporters Thursday afternoon.
“I’m not declaring it is fantastic for the gamers. I’m not stating it is excellent for the entrepreneurs,” he claimed. “But this is a big step ahead.”
Less than the new offer, a crew can shell out up to $230 million on player salaries before it ought to pay out a luxury tax on revenue about that mark. The threshold will rise to $242 million by the fifth and ultimate calendar year of the offer in 2026.
The minimum wage for a main-league player was $570,500 final calendar year. It will be about $700,000 in 2022, with annual raises to about $780,000 by the close of the deal.
A 162-activity plan for all groups was initially set in 1962, and golf equipment have fallen shorter of a complete slate only a handful of moments.
Major League Baseball presented the MLB Players Association with a new set of collective bargaining proposal hypotheticals as part of a Zoom call on Monday, and did so while setting a new deadline to avoid further regular season game cancellations, according to The Athletic‘s Evan Drellich. The league’s latest self-imposed time limit will fall sometime on Tuesday evening.
Commissioner Rob Manfred scrapped the first two series on the schedule this past week as the owner-imposed deadline entered a third month, and he is prepared to scrap another two series if the two sides fail to come to terms on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement by the deadline.
In an interesting and predictable twist, the league has informed the union that it views Tuesday as the last chance for the season to be 162 games in length and for the players to receive both full pay and full service time. As Drellich noted, none of those aspects can be dictated unilaterally, and each is subject to further negotiation between the sides.
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The two series that Manfred canceled last week could be added to the end of the schedule if an agreement is reached on Tuesday, according to USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale. The odds of the two sides reaching a new deal on Tuesday still seem unfavorable, though Nightengale added that the league’s self-imposed deadline could be pushed to Wednesday if there’s significant progress Tuesday. As Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweeted, one player briefed on the league’s call was told that the parameters remained “tilted in the league’s favor.”
The league did up its offer on the Competitive Balance Tax threshold to $228 million, per Drellich. The union has requested that it start at $238 million, but that’s the number the league would have it swell to over the course of the CBA. Previously, the league had been offering to begin the CBA with a tax threshold of $220 million. Drellich notes that the league’s offer has “major strings attached.”
Former Marlins president David Samson broke down the latest in the MLB lockout on Tuesday’s Nothing Personal with David Samson. Listen below:
As a reminder, here’s where things stood after the union’s latest proposal on Sunday that saw them cede ground on multiple matters, including the league’s ability to implement a pitch clock, larger bases and defensive positioning rules in 2023:
The union lowered its request on the pre-arbitration bonus pool from $85 million to $80 million. The owners previously proposed a $30 million central fund, meaning the gap there remains sizable at $50 million.
As mentioned above, the union ceded no ground on its request for the Competitive Balance Tax to begin at $238 million and grow to $263 million. The league had countered with a CBT threshold that starts at $220 million and slowly climbs to $230 million. That changed on Monday, with the league going up to $228 million to begin and $238 million to end. This has been arguably the hottest button issue in negotiations, with four owners reportedly voting no to the proposal based solely on the CBT threshold.
The union also made no movement on its ask for a higher league minimum salary of $725,000, with annual raises of $20,000. The league has offered a minimum of $700,000 with annual raises of $10,000.
The union wants a draft lottery to determine the top six picks every summer as a means of curbing anti-competitive behavior. The league wants that lottery to cover only the top five picks.
A league spokesperson released a statement on Sunday suggesting the union’s offer was a step backward.
