As expected, MLB’s opening day was glorious. There were homers and steals and a couple of extra-inning games. Some matches raced over the total, some games stayed under the total. It was a little chilly here and there, but no rain.

In a game and a day about numbers, one stood out to me: 13. That was the strikeout count for Washington lefty, MacKenzie Gore.

Gore didn’t get a win, of course — his 1-0 lead was quickly lost by the Washington bullpen. The Nationals didn’t win the game, either — the Phillies scored a 7-3 victory in 10 innings. But Gore’s pitching line was a thing of beauty: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 13 K. He used 93 pitches, 66 in the zone. He collected 20 swinging strikes, always a sign of pure dominance.

Here’s the scouting tape, see what you make of it.

Could 2025 be a breakout party for Gore? He’s always had an exciting pedigree. He was the third overall pick in the 2017 draft and a key part of the Juan Soto trade back in August 2022. He’s stepping into his age-26 season. Last summer, Gore nudged his ERA into a playable area for mixed-league managers (3.90), although the WHIP was still a bumpy 1.42. The stat that caught your eye was the 181 strikeouts over 166.1 innings. Focused on Gore’s age and strikeout potential, he was a target for me during this draft season.

Do the rules of signature significance apply to a pitcher recording 13 strikeouts? Including Gore’s gem Thursday, we’ve seen 13 or more whiffs just 75 times since the start of the 2021 season.

Most of the pitchers on that list are stars — 28 of the occurrences came from a pitcher with at least one Cy Young on his mantle. You know their names by heart: Blake Snell, Spencer Strider, Tarik Skubal, Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, Robbie Ray, Jacob deGrom, Gerrit Cole, Corbin Burnes, Sandy Alcantara.

And so many of the non-Cy winners are (or were) legitimate stars, too, names like Dylan Cease, Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, Hunter Greene, Michael King, Pablo Lopez, Carlos Rodon, Freddy Peralta, Framber Valdez, Zack Wheeler, Max Fried, Kevin Gausman, Tyler Glasnow, even Shohei Ohtani.

Can a non-star pull off a trick like this? It’s not common. The most ordinary pitchers on the 13-strikeout board, per my estimation, were these guys: Braxton Garrett, DJ Herz, Rich Hill (bless Rich Hill), Cristian Javier (terrific in 2022), Eric Lauer, Patrick Sandoval. Maybe you would include Luis Gil and Yusei Kikuchi on this part of the list, but I wouldn’t — they certainly impressed me last year. I drafted Kikuchi a few times, and Gil would have been a consideration if not for an unfortunate injury.

We know baseball analysis generally demands large samples of data before we make major conclusions. We ponder signature significance every so often because it’s a shortcut — sometimes a singular event has so much magnitude, it can lessen our need for further proof. This can be a social rule, too — if your blind date is rude to the waitstaff at dinner, they’re probably a jerk. You don’t need 10 more dates to figure that one out.

And shutting down the Phillies is impressive — last year this offense was fifth in runs and fourth in OPS. They weren’t a giveaway in strikeouts, either — ranking middle of the pack. It’s not like Gore took advantage of some cushy draw Thursday; his raw stuff probably would have succeeded anywhere.

Gore was already widely rostered in Yahoo leagues (he’s now at 78%), so this start isn’t an actionable event for most of you. But perhaps 2025 will be the year Gore takes the step from preferred streamer or rotation backfill to set-and-forget status. We’ll give him a dedicated watch next Wednesday when he works in Toronto.

More Opening Day fantasy baseball takeaways

Boston outfielder Wilyer Abreu was a heavily added player in Yahoo fantasy baseball over the last day, on the heels of his two homers and three hits at Texas. I didn’t add him to my rosters myself, noting that he’s probably in a strong-side platoon at best, and he opened the year batting seventh. The Red Sox have a pipeline of talent percolating in the high minors, notably top OF prospect Roman Anthony. If your format isn’t especially deep and allowing of daily switches, Abreu might be best left on the wire. He’s a matchup play.

Boston’s bullpen also deserves a mention. Aroldis Chapman pitched the eighth at Texas in a tie game — probably because star lefty Corey Seager was leading off — while Justin Slaten worked a clean ninth and earned the save. Slaten is coming off a tidy 2024 season (2.93 ERA, 1.01 WHIP), including an outstanding K/BB rate (58 whiffs, just nine walks). Chapman enters his age-37 season and Liam Hendriks hit the IL after a messy spring. Perhaps Slaten (16% rostered) is the best target in this group. The 2025 Red Sox sure look like a playoff team to me. And when in doubt, stockpile relievers on those winning teams.

Tyler Soderstrom opened the spring on sleeper lists. Now, he’s wide awake in America. Soderstrom conked two home runs — in Seattle, no less — in a 4-2 loss. It’s possible he might pick up catcher eligibility during the year, though part of the pro-Soderstrom angle was the knowledge that he wouldn’t be burdened by catching. Either way, it’s not easy to find inexpensive power at the corners, and the Athletics will get a fairer offensive shake this season from their new (if temporary) Sacramento park. Soderstrom has been actively added but is still free in around 80% of Yahoo leagues.

In some pools, Kyle Manzardo is utility-only. He carries the 1B tag in Yahoo, though. Manzardo made a splash Thursday with three hits, including a homer — and it all came against left-handed pitching. If the Guardians are going to play Manzardo every day and against all pitching, this is one of the easiest breakout calls of the year. He was eagerly added in many pools Thursday, but still waits for your call in 80% of Yahoo leagues.

[It’s not too late — join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2025 MLB season]

Terry Francona openly admitted his closer situation as unsettled to open the year. Alexis Díaz is on the IL, and several candidates looked plausible to step in the ninth. Surprisingly, Ian Gibault received the first look Thursday but wasn’t ready for prime time, allowing four runs, including a three-run homer to Wilmer Flores. Goodbye, ballgame.

Scott Barlow, Emilio Pagan and Tony Santillan worked scoreless innings before Gibault, so they’re the next names of interest if you’re speculating for saves here. Taylor Rogers and Graham Ashcroft didn’t pitch. Because Santillan pitched the eighth inning Thursday and had a solid partial season last year (3.00/1.00, 46 K in 30 innings), he’d be my first guess. But guessing is all we can do with this bullpen right now.

With 28 teams in action, Opening Day was sure to bring its fair share of excitement and surprises, and Thursday’s contests did not disappoint.

The Dodgers logged another victory, and so did the Marlins and White Sox. Two Yankees not named Aaron Judge hit home runs, and so did Tyler O’Neill. Two games went to extra innings, and nobody got no-hit.

Here are some of the highlights and takeaways from Opening Day 2025.

The Orioles can’t stop hitting homers

It was a hot start north of the border for the Birds as they crushed an Opening Day franchise-record six (!) home runs in their 12-2 romp of the Blue Jays. Baltimore got two dingers apiece from catcher Adley Rutschman and center fielder Cedric Mullins, a solo shot from Jordan Westburg and, most incredibly, a homer from new right fielder Tyler O’Neill, which made Thursday the sixth consecutive Opening Day on which he has left the yard, an MLB record. Seeing Rutschman in particular slugging like that has to be encouraging for the Orioles after his poor second half at the plate last year.

Overall, it was a tremendous display from an Orioles lineup that might need to compensate for a pitching staff that features a fair number of question marks. But if Thursday was any indication, the Birds might just have enough firepower to do exactly that. And to think: MVP candidate Gunnar Henderson isn’t even in the lineup yet, as he opened the season on the injured list and is expected back at some point in April.

Chicago White Sox … win?

Besides Baltimore’s rout of Toronto, the most dominant Opening Day victory came courtesy of … the Chicago White Sox? Last year, the White Sox were shut out on Opening Day and began the season 3-22, an awful start to what turned out to be a historically terrible season. This year is likely to feature a boatload of losses as well, but at least the 2025 squad got off to a more enjoyable start.

Sean Burke was stellar across six shutout innings before late homers from Andrew Benintendi and Lenyn Sosa put the game out of reach en route to an 8-1 win over the Angels, marking new skipper Will Venable’s first career managerial victory. This series doesn’t resume until Saturday, so the Sox can bask in the glow of being undefeated for an extra day.

Phillies strike out 19 times and blow a save, win anyway

For six innings against MacKenzie Gore, the Phillies’ lineup looked positively helpless. The talented Nationals southpaw was straight dealing from the get-go, racking up 13 strikeouts with zero walks and just one hit allowed. For Philadelphia, it was an ominous first few frames for a lineup that looked frighteningly similar to what we saw in the second half and in October last year.

Then Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber happened. With Gore out of the game, the two sluggers pounced on the Nationals’ bullpen for two homers in the seventh to retake the lead and provide ace Zack Wheeler some well-earned run support. The vibes quickly swung back in the other direction an inning later, when offseason acquisition Jordan Romano coughed up two runs in his Phillies debut, which allowed the Nationals to tie the game and push it to extras.

In the 10th, the Phillies’ bats finally prevailed over the weak Washington bullpen, taking the opener 7-3. It wasn’t the most comfortable inaugural victory for a Philadelphia team with championship expectations, but hey, a win is a win.

Paul Skenes vs. Sandy Alcantara delivers. As for their teams?

The best pitching matchup of Opening Day featured a former Cy Young winner in Sandy Alcantara in his first start back from Tommy John surgery and a possible future Cy Young winner in Paul Skenes making the first start of his super-hyped sophomore season. Alcantara had the edge early, holding the Pirates hitless until Ke’Bryan Hayes singled with two outs in the fifth, but Pittsburgh ended up taking the lead and knocking Alcantara out of the game that same inning.

That seemed to set the stage for Skenes to cruise to his first Opening Day win, especially once Nick Gonzales added a two-run homer to make it 4-1 Pirates in the sixth. But then Skenes’ command wavered, ending his outing earlier than he would’ve preferred and opening the door for a Marlins comeback. Sure enough, the Fish fought back over the final few frames, culminating in a walk-off single from Kyle Stowers off Pittsburgh closer David Bednar to claim a surprising 5-4 Opening Day victory for Miami.

Padres beat Braves thanks to superior NRI

Atlanta knocked San Diego starter Michael King out of the game in the third inning and carried a 4-3 lead into the seventh thanks to homers from Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley. Then things took a turn for the worse for the Braves, as veteran righty reliever Héctor Neris allowed a pinch-hit game-tying homer to Gavin Sheets — a sentence that wouldn’t have made a whole lot of sense a few months ago, considering that both Neris and Sheets were non-roster invites who signed minor-league deals this spring.

But sure enough, there they were, facing off in a high-leverage spot on Opening Day for two playoff hopefuls. And Sheets came out on top. He tied for the Cactus League lead with six homers this spring, an intriguing introduction to his new team after he spent the first eight years of his career in the White Sox organization before Chicago non-tendered him. His power evidently carried over to Opening Day, providing a memorable moment for the 28-year-old Sheets as he looks to establish himself in San Diego’s lineup.

The Padres eventually seized a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, as the final five San Diego relievers combined to throw 5 1/3 hitless innings to secure a 7-4 victory.

Wilyer Abreu reminds everyone that he is good at baseball

On a Red Sox roster loaded with star veterans and with immense hype surrounding the incoming wave of top prospects, a player such as Wilyer Abreu could get lost in the shuffle. But the 25-year-old outfielder, who posted a 114 wRC+ and won a Gold Glove as a rookie in 2024, reminded everyone of his presence with a monster showing for Boston on Opening Day: 3-for-3 with a walk and two homers, including the go-ahead blast in the top of the ninth that put the Red Sox ahead 5-2.

It was Abreu’s second career two-homer game — his first also came in Texas in August — and a much-needed offensive display on an otherwise quiet day for Boston’s lineup, which produced only three hits from players not named Abreu. The lefty-swinging Abreu is still largely a platoon bat who won’t face many southpaws, but as long as he plays sterling outfield defense and mashes against right-handers, he’ll remain a crucial cog in Boston’s efforts to return to October.

Guardians win a wild one in Kansas City

Cleveland had to scramble before the season even started, as right-hander Tanner Bibee was scratched due to food poisoning hours before first pitch. But just as he did so many times last year when the rotation collapsed around him, Ben Lively stepped up and did an admirable job keeping the Guardians in the game, matching Royals ace left-hander Cole Ragans for five innings.

DH Kyle Manzardo slugged a go-ahead homer off Kansas City reliever Angel Zerpa in the sixth, marking the first career home run against a southpaw for the lefty-swinging Manzardo. After Emmanuel Clase was unable to slam the door in the ninth — not exactly the most promising first outing coming off his high-profile struggles in October — Manzardo provided another key knock in the 10th against another lefty in Sam Long, giving the Guardians a lead they’d hold for a 7-4 victory. 

Manzardo finished the day with a double, a triple and a homer, an outstanding game for a young hitter for whom Cleveland has ultra-high hopes. If Manzardo can prove capable against same-handed pitching, it would be a massive development for a Guardians lineup that no longer features Josh Naylor.

With all due respect to college basketball, no game had more madness Thursday than the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Chicago Bulls.

The Lakers lost 119-117 to the 33-40 Bulls despite holding a five-point lead with 10 seconds to go, thanks to a preposterous sequence of events that culminated in a halfcourt buzzer-beater from Josh Giddey.

The Bulls started the comeback with a corner 3-pointer from Patrick Williams to cut the deficit to two points with 9.8 seconds left. In theory, the Lakers were supposed to inbound the ball and take the obvious foul from the Bulls. In practice, LeBron James soft-bounced the inbounds pass and had it stolen by Giddey, who found an open Coby White for a 3-pointer.

116-115 Bulls, with six points scored in six seconds.

The Lakers nearly redeemed themselves on the next possession. Austin Reaves found a lane and took the ball to the rim to give the Lakers the lead back. At that point, the Bulls had no timeouts left and 3.3 seconds left.

Fortunately, no one picked up Giddey after he inbounded the ball, allowing him to reach halfcourt, sink the buzzer-beater with James in his face and blow the roof off the United Center.

Here are some other angles of the chaotic final few seconds: 

That might just be the worst loss any NBA team has taken all season, especially when you consider the Lakers led by as many as 18 points early in the fourth quarter.

James took responsibility for the turnover after the game:

“We put ourselves in a position to win…Horrible turnover by myself. Bad miscommunication the play before that. AR still hit a big bucket to try to save us and you tip your hat if someone hits a game-winner from half court”

Giddey finished the game with a triple-double, posting 25 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists, while White led the team with 26 points. Reaves had 30 points on the Lakers’ side.

Theoretically, the Lakers are healthy now, and also theoretically, they are a true contender when healthy. However, that hasn’t exactly been the case in the past week or so. 

It started with another loss to the Bulls. James returned to the team Saturday after two weeks out with a groin injury, and the Lakers proceeded to get run out of the gym. The same thing happened against the Orlando Magic two days later.

Los Angeles got a reprieve when James saved them with a tip-in buzzer-beater against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, but the flipside of a win like that is the Lakers were a fingertip from losing five games in a row (they lost their last game without James too).

With their record at 44-29 and only nine games left in the regular season, this isn’t the portion of the calendar the Lakers want to still be figuring things out. For now, they still sit in fourth place in the Western Conference, though losses like Thursday’s probably feel like they count double.

Anyway, we can be pretty sure Stephen A. Smith is smiling somewhere. Or uproariously laughing.

NEW YORK — This Opening Day belonged to the kids.

For the first time in 70 years, two Yankees aged 25 or younger went deep in the first game of the season. The last time that happened, Mickey Mantle was involved, and the Yankees reached the World Series.

Austin Wells, a 25-year-old catcher, and Anthony Volpe, a 24-year-old shortstop, delivered homers Thursday on the way to a relatively breezy, 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Southpaw Carlos Rodón cruised through 5 1/3 innings in place of injured ace Gerrit Cole. Captain Aaron Judge laced a timely double that doinked off third base in the seventh. Things got hairy for new closer Devin Williams against his former club in the ninth, but the All-Star held on for his first save in pinstripes.

And the home fans — all 46,208 of them — went home happy on an appropriately chilly spring afternoon in the Big Apple.

Included were all the usual pomp and circumstance of Opening Day. The colorful bunting draped from the upper deck, the pregame roster introductions for both teams, the oversized American flag during the national anthem. The buzz, the hope of a new season, the promise of spring.

Those pregame introductions also provided the first real glimpse of Gerrit Cole since the 2023 Cy Young winner underwent season-ending elbow surgery on March 11. The star hurler, his repaired arm protected by a black mechanical brace, conspicuously traveled down the first bump line with his left hand. There was also an emotional moment of silence for Miller Gardner, the son of former Yankee Brett Gardner who died last week at the age of 14.

Before all the ceremony, as fans were shuffling into the stadium, a video played on the Yankee Stadium jumbotron championing the club’s offseason additions. The featured quartet — Williams, outfielder Cody Bellinger, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and starter Max Fried — have among them two MVPs, 13 All-Star games and eight Gold Gloves. Losing all-world supernova Juan Soto to the Mets wasn’t offseason Plan A, but the Yankees received deserved plaudits around the industry for their admirable pivot over the winter.

Still, Game No. 1 of 2025 was a reminder that despite the flashy new pieces and their many accomplishments, this Yankees campaign might very well rest on the shoulders of the less proven. Greener players such as Wells, Volpe and 22-year-old left fielder Jasson Domínguez could dictate the tenor of the season.

“Two of our younger players that we’re counting on taking steps offensively, Austin and Volpe, doing what they’re capable of doing,” manager Aaron Boone said after the game. “That was big.”

Wells, who arrived in a sharp, navy three-piece suit for his first Opening Day start, became the first catcher in the franchise’s 123-year history to hit leadoff. His place atop the batting order became a major topic of conversation as spring training came to a close. While lineup construction, generally speaking, doesn’t have enormous impact over a 162-game season, it makes for stellar talk radio fodder. And seeing a backstop leading off a game in pinstripes at Yankee Stadium was notable.

The Yankees like Wells in the leadoff spot because he’s superb at controlling the strike zone. He gets ahead in counts, he doesn’t chase, he walks a lot. He sees a lot of pitches, yet he’s aggressive in the zone when he needs to be. Those are all qualities that have become more valued in the leadoff spot in recent years.

And in his first at-bat of the season, Wells showcased why Boone has faith in his leadoff abilities. Wells took the first two pitches he saw — wayward, armside fastballs from Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta — and on the third pitch, he pounced, connecting on an elevated heater. The ball crested over the outstretched glove of right fielder Sal Frelick into the first row of the famously close Yankee Stadium bleachers. Cue roars, cheers, loud music, jubilation.

That will not be the last short-porch poke for the left-handed-hitting Wells this season.

An inning later, Volpe doubled the New York lead with a high-arching moon shot into the right-field seats. 

Two Opening Days ago, a fresh-faced Volpe, the boyhood Yankees fan from New Jersey, made his MLB debut to much anticipation and fanfare. In the two years since, he has teased the power and offensive impact that made him such a well regarded prospect while providing ample value in the field and on the bases. A real breakout with the bat has always seemed just around the corner.

The Yankees are hopeful that time has finally come. Volpe hit a ball this spring training harder than he’d ever hit a ball before. The swing that produced his Opening Day crank was an impressive, inside-out maneuver against an up-and-in fastball. It’s the type of athletic move that could make Volpe an All-Star.

Both Volpe and Wells are crucial not just to this season but also to the next half-decade of Yankees baseball. Aaron Judge will turn 33 in April. Cole will be 35 when he returns next season. Goldschmidt, Williams and Bellinger can be free agents this winter. Jazz Chisholm Jr. could depart the next winter.

And so, the blossoming of Volpe, Wells and Domínguez is not a pipe dream or a nice bonus. It is, as Boone said, something the Yankees are “relying upon.”

“Those guys are gonna be a big part of our future — and our success this year.”

The Indiana Pacers certainly didn’t need to go off on Thursday night, considering both the state of the Washington Wizards and the fact that they entered the final period with more than a 30-point lead.

But the Pacers left Capital One Arena with a blowout win and several new franchise records anyway.

The Pacers cruised to a 162-109 win over the Wizards on Thursday in what was a truly dominant outing. Their 162 points were the most scored by any team in the league so far this season, and set a new NBA franchise record for the most points scored in a single game. They made 27 3-pointers in the win, too, which was also a new team record.

The Pacers even quit at the end, too. They took three straight shot-clock violations in the final two minutes simply to end the game quicker.

Indiana led the entire way in the win, and put up 45 points in the first quarter to get the night started. They hit 83 points as a team by halftime, and then took a 36-point lead into the final period. The Wizards simply couldn’t keep up offensively, even with the Pacers being on the second night of a back-to-back that ended with a LeBron James buzzer beater on Wednesday. It was a blowout in every sense of the word.

“Obviously on a back to back, the energy can be there or it can’t,” Haliburton said after the win. “I feel like we did a good job of bringing energy. Obviously making shots is fun, but I feel like we just played the right way. Our processes were right, and that was a good win.”

The Pacers had nine different players hit double figures in the win, led by Tyrese Haliburton’s 29 points. He hit seven of their 27 3-pointers, too. T.J. McConnell nearly had a triple-double off the bench with his 10 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. They assisted on 48 of their 59 made field goals, which is a season high, and shot nearly 57.5% from behind the arc.

Alex Sarr led Washington with 22 points and seven rebounds, and Jordan Poole added 18 points. The Wizards were out-rebounded by 19 points and made just 11 3-pointers as a group. The loss dropped them to 16-57 on the season, which is the worst in the Eastern Conference and has them in line with the Utah Jazz for the worst record in the league.

The Pacers, on the other hand, sit at 43-30 on the year with nine games left in the regular season — which includes Saturday’s matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder and a pair of games against the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers. The Pacers can realistically make a play for the No. 3 seed in the playoffs with a strong finish.

While an offensive night like Thursday’s won’t be a regular thing — that’d be impossible for anybody to keep up with — the Pacers offense is clearly clicking at the perfect time.