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Tyler O’Neill does one thing better than anyone else: smash dingers on Opening Day.
Plus: A not-funny (but not entirely un-funny) illness, Ken on Sandy Alcantara and other early trade candidates, and how much of your favorite team’s first game did you miss? I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!
We’re So Back: Tyler O’Neill did it again?!
There were a lot of great Opening Day storylines. Devin Williams locked down his first Yankees save, and it was against his former team. Wilyer Abreu hit two home runs, the latter of which was a three-run job in the ninth to give the Red Sox a 5-2 win in Texas. Neither Cy Young winner could lift their team to victory. The Phillies scored four runs in the 10th inning. Paul Skenes vs. Sandy Alcántara. Austin Wells became the first catcher in MLB history to hit a leadoff home run on Opening Day. Joe Buck was back! The list goes on!
But first …
Tyler O’Neill made his big-league debut on April 19, 2018, meaning he wasn’t in the Cardinals lineup on Opening Day that year. The following year, he was in the lineup, but did not hit a homer. In every Opening Day since then — this year makes six of ‘em — O’Neill has hit a home run.
If you’re wondering if this is a big-league record, yes. Of course it is. It was a record last year at five.
A weird plot twist (that we probably mentioned last year, but it bears repeating): Before O’Neill came along, the old record of four was held by three players, and they were all catchers: Yogi Berra (Yankees, 1955-58), Gary Carter (Expos, 1977-80) and Todd Hundley (Mets, 1994-97).
You’ll note that each of them accomplished the feat while playing for just one team. O’Neill has now dragged his record through St. Louis (2020-2023), Boston (2024) and Baltimore (2025). It was his 110th career home run, which means 5.45 percent of his home runs have come on Opening Day.
Baseball refuses to be a normal sport, and I love it. I’m so glad we’re back.
Ken’s Notebook: Three trade candidates to monitor
More from my preview of the season’s top storylines:
With so many races projected to be close, the deadline should again play a major role in determining the playoff qualifiers.
- Sandy Alcántara, the Miami Marlins’ ace, soon will be a walking trade rumor, a transaction waiting to happen. Alcántara, making his return from Tommy John surgery Thursday, was one strike away from taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning against Pittsburgh. With salaries of $17.3 million in 2025 and ‘26 and a $21 million club option for 2027, he would be available for three pennant races.
- Chicago White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. currently projects to be the best hitter available, assuming he can stay healthy after missing significant time in three of the past four seasons.
- Then again, another oft-injured outfielder might be even more attractive if he stays on the field — three-time MVP Mike Trout. Mind you, Trout has averaged 67 games the past four seasons. He turns 34 in August. And even if he performs close to his old levels, there is no guarantee he would waive his no-trade clause, or that a team would be willing to take on anything near the remainder of his $35.45 million salary this season, or the $177.25 million he is owed from 2026 to ‘30.
Yikes: MLB.TV crashes on Opening Day
The good news is that I can see one game with my eyes. The bad news is I’m trying to watch 3 other games and MLB.tv is not having it
— Levi Weaver, but for baseball (@threetwoeephus.bsky.social) March 27, 2025 at 1:22 PM
I thought the problem was the press box wifi. As I mentioned in yesterday’s newsletter, I was all set up at Globe Life Field with multiple screens to watch the best action from Opening Day from miles above the on-field action (the press box in Texas is … way up there). But on my laptops and iPad, all I could see were spinning circles and error messages.
Turns out, it was a problem everywhere.
After an offseason spent touting the potential benefits of a league-wide streaming service with no local blackouts in the future — and on the day MLB announced it would be producing and distributing games for five clubs in 2025 — MLB.TV false-started for about 45 minutes as the 4 p.m. ET games began.
That wasn’t the only snafu, actually. The Twins — one of those five teams the league mentioned in its announcement — launched a new TV channel on Opening Day. As the broadcast began, the familiar voice of Bob Costas came through the speakers.
Not a bad get for a new network, right? Except Costas was talking about the Twins’ division rivals, the Cleveland Guardians. The wrong broadcast only lasted about three minutes before it was switched to the Minnesota feed, so Twins fans didn’t miss any action (in fact, their game in St. Louis was delayed). On the upside, MLB did reach a deal with cable companies to broadcast Twins games. So that’s a win for fans.
I’m sure all these broadcast and streaming rights issues will settle in at some point in the coming years, but man, what a weird time it is to be a baseball fan right now.
Also Yikes: Down with the sickness
It’s not funny that Tanner Bibee was too ill with food poisoning to make his Opening Day start for the Guardians. It is objectively not. That’s the sort of opportunity that pitchers work their whole lives for, and he might never get another chance.
However … as our friends at Razzball pointed out on Bluesky, you can usually always find a little humor, even in disappointments.
You see, in an interview on the “Just Baseball Show” last March, Bibee and Steven Kwan discussed Bibee’s insistence he eat Chipotle the night before every start. Kwan even tells a story about the team wanting to go out to eat on an off day in New York City, and Bibee Doordashing Chipotle to his hotel room instead.
Alas, even the humor doesn’t fully withstand the scrutiny of good journalism. As part of Zack Meisel’s story, he reports: “A team source said Bibee was feeling a bit better on Thursday after a rough Wednesday.”
Ah. So it wasn’t the Chipotle, after all. There are very few things I hate worse than ruining a good joke, but I guess we’re back to “it’s not funny.” 🙁
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Mookie Betts was back in the lineup after being sent home from Japan with an illness. Michael Kopech revealed that he had a stomach bug earlier in spring training (though he is also back). The latest: Kiké Hernández was too ill to play on Opening Day, and was not present for team introductions (and likely not even at the park).
And one more note, though not an illness: The Red Sox placed Liam Hendriks on the IL to start the season with “elbow inflammation.” Given the long and arduous road Hendriks has traversed — lymphoma then Tommy John surgery have limited him to five big-league innings since the start of the 2023 season — we’re hoping it’s nothing too major.
Handshakes and High Fives
Tyler Kepner’s Sliders column is back, and he reveals each team’s hidden drought.
After Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s pointed comments, Miguel Rojas says he doesn’t feel the need to defend himself.
White Sox fans … why are you doing this to yourselves? (Jon Greenberg gets some answers.)
The Cardinals tried to trade Nolan Arenado this offseason. They didn’t, and he homered in the Cardinals’ opening day win against the Twins.
Chad Jennings was in Tampa to see the de-Yankeefication of George Steinbrenner Field as the Rays prepared to inhabit their temporary home.
Marucci and Victus have replaced Louisville Slugger as the official bat of MLB. Feels weird, doesn’t it?
Equally as weird: Are we ready for the 36th and last (for now) season of ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball”?
Eno Sarris tells us why sinkers, cutters or splitters will be one-third of all pitches this MLB season.
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(Top photo: Nick Turchiaro / Imagn Images)
