Sometimes all I can say is, WOW!! As the winter glum subsides, the outside scenery begins to come alive, the tarps are lifted from ballparks nationwide, and the fresh chalk lines can be seen for the first time since the previous fall, one day is circled on the calendar each year as greater than the others: Opening day. A day for buzz, excitement, dreaming, and celebrating the game that seemingly makes life worth living.
This year it reminds us to savor everyday we get to watch this great game as this annual holiday looks unclear next year. That’s the last I’m going to talk about any sort of lockout possibilities for awhile, especially today, because the Nationals just absolutely blew my mind! I’ll admit, in 13 years of following this team, I entered this opening day with the fewest expectations of any of the prior 13, but boy were we treated to something special today. Not only did the Nationals win on opening day for the first time in three years, the offense treated us to a ten-run outburst on a blustery afternoon at Wrigley. Lets get into it.
It was a hot start for both pitchers, as Matthew Boyd and Cade Cavalli each put up a zero in the first inning. That set the table for brand new National, Joey Wiemer, to walk up for his first at-bat in a Nats uniform, and he did not disappoint. All he did was send a ball 398 feet through the Chicago wind and into the left field bleachers to give the Nationals their first lead of the season. As if that didn’t fire me up enough, Cavalli setting down the side with two strikeouts in the bottom of the second had the vibes sky high for this team.
Boyd cruised through the bottom of the Nats’ order plus James Wood in the third inning, striking out the side in a nice bounce back. The bottom of the inning brought trouble for Cavalli and the Nationals, as a leadoff walk turned into a game tying RBI single by Michael Busch, and later in the inning the homestanders snatched a 2-1 advantage on an RBI single by Pete Crow-Armstrong. Then the Nationals’ offense erupted. The fourth inning was one that saw both starting pitchers chased from the game, and in the top of the fourth, the Nats changed the game. After striking out seven times in the first three innings, the Nats made some adjustments to their approach at the plate in the second time through the order. Those adjustments paid off, as Daylen Lile tied the game with an RBI single, CJ Abrams drove in two on a single that was mashed off the right field wall. In a mental lapse, Abrams got caught watching the ball fly off the bat, and was thrown out at second base, but not before the Nats took a two-run lead. The damage continued as another run scored on an RBI groundout by Nasim Nunez, and after the Cubs brought in Ben Brown to replace Boyd, and Jacob Young greeted him with a two-run opposite field home run to balloon the lead to 7-2.
The Cubs added one run in the bottom of the fourth, on an RBI groundout by Dansby Swanson, and rookie manager Blake Butera wasted no time pulling his ace from the game after 75 pitches.
- Cade Cavalli: 3.2 IP, 3 hit, 3 runs (2 earned), 3 walks, 5 strikeouts, 75 pitches
- Matthew Boyd: 3.2 innings, 6 hits, 6 runs (all earned), 1 walk, 7 strikeouts, 63 pitches
The Nationals got 1.1 innings of great relief work from PJ Poulin, taking the game to the sixth inning with the score locked at 7-3. Nasim Nunez added an insurance run in that frame, scoring on a wild pitch by Brown to make it 8-3. The Cubs got one of those runs back in the bottom of the seventh against Brad Lord, as Armstrong recorded another RBI single, this time via the bunt. Lord would get out of the inning without further trouble, giving his manager two solid innings in relief.
The exclamation mark came on a two-run home run by Brady House in the top half of the ninth to make it 10-4. Three outs later, Cionel Perez finished off the game with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to close the books on an unprecedented opening day Curly W.
Offensively, it was a great day to be a Nat for all those besides James Wood. A few negatives from today’s game was Wood’s 0-5 line with four strikeouts, Andres Chaparro‘s defense, and Abrams baserunning. The offensive output was supplemented by two-hit games by Chaparro and House, and a 3-3 Nats debut by Weimer. Young had two hits but one was wiped out after a scoring change to assess an error to a Cubs fielder.
As little things could be big things, Cavalli in the first inning was in a jam and a 2-0 count when his third pitch was initially ruled ball-3. Keibert Ruiz challenged the call, ABS reversed it and Cavalli went on to throw a zero in that first inning, thanks to the challenge and a diving stop by House.
The Nationals will have tomorrow off to savor today’s win, before getting back into action Saturday afternoon at 2:20 for game two of the season. Miles Mikolas will get the ball for his Nationals debut on Saturday, facing the reigning NL rookie of the year runner-up, Cade Horton. Until then, please do not under appreciate what we just witnessed, go out and celebrate the Nats, and celebrate the return of this great game. See you all this weekend!
