Opening Week MVP Awards + Other MLB Happenings

This week was one that I and many others had been looking forward to since Winter Meetings concluded as Sunday was officially the first day of baseball for six teams (typically there is only one game the night before the league's official "Opening Day" but they decided to take advantage of the months of built up hype to water down the appeal of having all 30 teams playing on the same day for the first time as a complete team). The storylines are already plentiful and the hot streaks/cold starts have fantasy owners overreacting in ways we will all shake our heads at a few months down the road. Rockies' shortstop Trevor Story is writing quite the tale (Yes, I'm tired of the puns involving his name already) in the Rockies' next year in review booklet by hitting six home runs in his first four major league games, all while managing to knock the ball over the fence at least once in all four of his games up to this point. Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Ross Stripling also has made quite the first impression by taking a no-hitter 22 outs into a game that typically requires 27 before rookie manager Dave Roberts rubbed much of America the wrong way by calling out Chris Hatcher from the bullpen to then lose not only the no-hitter but, the lead and eventually, the game in 10 innings.

Stripling watches as Dave Roberts promised him ice cream,bought two cones and proceeded to eat both in front of him.

Other players off to surprisingly scorching hot first weeks include Diamondbacks shortstop Jean Segura, Pirates starting pitcher Juan Nicasio and Astros first baseman Tyler White.

MLB.tv's free game of the day feature is back and why yes, I have been taking full advantage of that. How else would I know that Hawk Harrelson is still alive? The most recent contest featured was likely the only game to feature opposing grand slams all year (only happened once last season) between Josh Donaldson of the Blue Jays and Brock Holt of the Red Sox. The Red Sox ended up winning 8-7. The option to choose between which team's local feed you would rather listen to is appreciated as I had the choice of watching the game in the "Rogers Centre" or watching "Xander Bogahhts" play shortstop. 

In other, more negative news, the injuries are already starting to crop up as Cardinal OF Tommy Pham, National OF Ben Revere and Angels SP Andrew Heaney have all landed on the 15-day DL not even fifteen days into the season. The worst news of all occurred Thursday night as Cubs C/OF Kyle Schwarber (one of the surest young bats in all of baseball) collided with center fielder Dexter Fowler, causing Schwarber to not only sprain his ankle but, also tear his ACL and LCL thus ending his season far too soon. The Cubs will likely platoon many bats including Matt Szczur, Javier Baez and Tommy La Stella but most frequently will feature Jorge Soler in their lineup as they might not miss a beat this season but the long-term affects might be too much to feel 100% comfortable with.

A new feature that will occasionally make appearances on the Bla Blog is a recap of the daily MVPs and simply how they won this fake award (and I'm a man who loves his fake awards more than Adam West loves taffy) by being well... I think it's safe to say everybody gets the picture of where this is going. The only qualification is the winner's team must have won a game that day (doubleheaders may be split & my apologies in advance to the already distraught Ross Stripling).

Sunday: Royals 1B Eric Hosmer

AP Photo/Colin E. Braley

Why? (3/4, an RBI in a one-run game)

Sunday was only a three-game slate and the only highlighted game on everyone's schedule was the World Series rematch of Mets v. Royals featuring basically the same cast of characters as last October's championship series. It was easily the most entertaining game of the day (all three were part of ESPN's opening day festivities) and came down to the best reliever in baseball (Wade Davis) versus an NL MVP candidate (Yoenis Cespedes) with a runner on third and two outs. Did I mention it was a rematch of last year's World Series? There probably won't be a more intense regular season matchup until game #162. Hosmer was the only batter to reach base three times and walk away victorious in this game and his RBI single was a major key to unlocking the win.

Monday: Dodgers SP Clayton Kershaw

Jake Roth - USA TODAY Sports

Why? (7 Innings Pitched, 1 Hit allowed, 0 Runs, 1 Walk, 9 K's)

Clayton Kershaw has been the best pitcher in the game for a full five year span now and Monday showed that nope, he is not slowing down. Even though the Padres offense opened their 2016 with the first ever opening series shutout in MLB history, it is still a major league offense that is capable of creating more than one hit (see: Friday's 13-run barrage of "proving we belong" runs). Kershaw could have easily held up on throwing his best pitches with a ridiculous 15-run cushion created by his offense but, he went out there and made Tyson Ross look like Rick Ankiel in comparison on national television. 

Tuesday: Tigers 2B Ian Kinsler

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Why? (3/6, 2 Runs, 4 RBI, Home Run, Game winning RBI-single)

One of the more under-appreciated names in baseball, Kinsler was the MVP of Tuesday by flashing his power as he is known to do. The Marlins took the Tigers eleven innings to eventually defeat and the biggest part of that 8-7 win for Detroit was Kinsler's responsibility for five of the eight runs. It was not the flashiest debut for Wei-Yin Chen, who was shaken up slightly after being hit by a line drive. Chen pitched five innings and discovered a new rival in Kinsler.

Wednesday: Rays RF Steven Souza Jr.

AP Photo/Chris O'Meara

Why? (4/4, Single, Double, 2 Homers, 4 RBI, 2 Runs, You don't get showered in Gatorade for striking out four times and forgetting which hat to wear)

J.A. Happ's return to the Toronto rotation was going so nicely until Souza Jr. decided to have the best game of his young career. The 26-year old Rays right fielder was all over the field in Wednesday's 5-4 win over the Blue Jays as he did something probably more impressive than your average, everyday cycle by instead making sure he touched home plate twice by taking both Happ and reliever Arnold Leon deep. The only other run for Souza's team was a Tim Beckham single that knocked in Desmond Jennings. Otherwise, this was the finest moment of his career since the first moment of his career.

Thursday: Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo

AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin

Why? (3/4, 1 Home Run, 6 RBI, 3 Runs and a walk in a day that only featured one super close game with no valuable candidates for the Daily MVP Award)

In the most bittersweet win of the Cubs' season (hopefully), Joe Maddon's team went off and chaos ensued in a 14-6 game that featured a freak injury (Schwarber), a freak inside-the-park home run (Jean Segura) and an overall freakish performance from their best player not named Jake Arrieta (Rizzo). Looking back, it's incredible to ponder that this NL MVP candidate was once dealt for Andrew "Costs too much" Cashner. Games like this 6-RBI performance show why the Cubs made the NLCS last season, why Theo Epstein is a Hall of Famer and why the Padres have been SO bad for SO long.

Friday: Pirates OF Starling Marte

Archie Carpenter/UPI

Why? (3/4, Stolen Base, Game-winning grand slam)

The Pirates had a surprisingly rough time against Reds' reclamation project Alfredo Simon, only scoring two runs over the first seven innings. Ross Ohlendorf came into the eighth against his old laundry-mates and proceeded to do the finest job of tanking the Reds were clearly not thinking about during their sweep of the Phillies. Ohlendorf managed to get pulled while the bases were loaded and Cincinnati's closer J.J. Hoover successfully ended up being the guy to BS (Blown Save) his way into a Reds loss by giving up the eventual game-winning grand slam to Starling Marte. A sneaky job well done to you, Cincinnati but more importantly, congratulations on the win, Starling Marte.

Unrelated Sports Note: As of Wednesday, I chose Brandt Snedeker and Father Todd (he's not a pastor, that's just how I refer to him occasionally) chose Bubba Watson as this year's Masters Champions. So far, Snedeker is at -1 and Watson +6 with two days left to rally behind Jordan Spieth's -4 as the azaleas are sure to be in full bloom while the grass is freshly trimmed at Augusta.

Coming up this week: A Coachella preview/rundown thing. 

Enjoy the baseball season because before you know it, it will be time for the NBA playoffs/draft and NFL draft and the MLB won't grab a headline until July's All-Star break!