Back to the Future in Tampa Bay
ALSO: OPENING DAY IS A SPECIAL OCCASION
Pregame Pepper
Cy What? Pittsburgh ace Paul Skenes is the first defending Cy Young Award winner knocked in the first inning of his first start the next year . . .
Brian Snitker, who spent 49 years in the Braves organization and is still there as a special advisor, gave the team 811 managerial wins, 6 straight division titles, and a World Series crown. Now he’ll be inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame April 25 when the Braves host the Phillies at Truist Park . . .
Maikel Garcia, MVP of the World Baseball Classic, and cousin Ronald Acuna, Jr. will face each other on Opening Night tonight in Atlanta when the visiting Kansas City Royals play the Atlanta Braves . . .
Left-handed hitters Matt Olson and Mike Yastrzemski of the Braves each pounded six home runs during exhibition play . . .
Another slugger, Milwaukee’s Jackson Chourio, will miss most of April with a broken hand . . .
Ex-Dodger Walker Buehler locked in a $1.5 million base salary by breaking camp with the Padres. His deal also includes up to $2.5MM in active roster bonuses. Buehler and German Marquez round out a San Diego rotation that also includes Nick Pivetta, Michael King, and Randy Vasquez — with Joe Musgrove and Griffin Canning on the IL and Yu Darvish out for the year after elbow surgery . . .
Also in Southern California, the Angels opened with five players on the 15-day IL: Vaughn Grissom (wrist), Ben Joyce and Grayson Rodriguez (shoulder), Alek Manoah (finger), and Kirby Yates (knee) . . .
The Cubs replaced outfielders Kyle Tucker (free agent) and Seiya Suzuki (injured) with Michael Conforto and Dylan Carlson . . .
The Orioles pulled a major surprise when they sent erstwhile ace Dean Kremer to the minors after he returned from a stint with Team Israel in the WBC.
Leading Off
No Place Like Home: Rays Return to Tropicana Field
By Allen Settle
The phrase “There’s no place like home,” first delivered in The Wizard of Oz, has become iconic. For the Tampa Bay Rays, it will carry new meaning as they return to their longtime home, Tropicana Field.
Few venues in sports blend history, uniqueness, and nostalgia like a major-league ballpark. Tropicana Field has always stood apart, featuring MLB’s only fixed (non-retractable) roof, year-round climate and weather control, and a 35-foot, 10,000-gallon touch tank in right-center field where fans could interact with live cow-nose rays during games.
That home was significantly damaged during Hurricane Milton in 2024. An estimated 90 per cent of the roof was destroyed, with repairs exceeding $50 million. As a result, the Rays spent the entire 2025 season at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the New York Yankees’ spring training home.
After opening this season on the road against the St. Louis Cardinals and playing nine times on the road, the Rays will make their long-awaited return to “The Trop” on Monday, April 6, hosting the Chicago Cubs.
Now equipped with a new roof and upgraded premium seating, Tropicana Field will host its first major-league game since September 22, 2024. Outfielder Johnny DeLuca recently reflected, “It was nice being back in the Trop. Last year was kind of weird, but it was fun to be back there.” Other players have echoed similar sentiments.
Several young Rays, including Chandler Simpson, Carson Williams, and Ian Seymour, will have a unique experience: playing their first games in their home park despite already making their MLB debuts last season.
On the field, the Trop has recently favored pitchers, ranking as the second most pitcher-friendly park in baseball in 2024 (behind Seattle’s famously stingy T-Mobile Park). This will be an extreme shift from their offense-boosting substitute home in 2025. Arms like Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, and Joe Boyle could benefit from the environment, while hitters such as Junior Caminero will look to overcome its challenging dimensions. This will allow Tampa Bay to return to the pitching-heavy identity that allowed them to make the post-season five of six seasons between 2019 and 2024.
Regardless of park factors, the return of Tropicana Field is a win for baseball. Opened in 1990 but joining the big-league ballpark fraternity on March 31, 1998, it is the 20th-oldest park in MLB — and once again ready to welcome fans.
If you have the chance, catch a game, take a tour, or simply stop by to see the newly- revitalized ballpark.
Allen Settle has never given up on his passion for the beautiful game of baseball! He is an IBWAA member who has worked as a contributor for the Fansided network, covering both the New York Mets and the Miami Marlins. Currently, Allen covers baseball prospects at Prospects1500.com. You can connect with him on X at @AllenSettleMLB.
Cleaning Up
Opening Day Has Always Been Special
By Dan Schlossberg
If the first day of spring is the date pitchers and catchers report, the first day of summer is when the baseball season starts for real.
Living in Northern New Jersey, I am close enough to enjoy both New York openers even though traffic can be a nightmare in both directions.
For years, I was the sighted escort who brought blind broadcaster Ed Lucas to the openers. Ed knew everyone and everything — even the best driving routes. Oh, did I mention he was blind since age 12?
Opening Day was more of a social event than anything else. It was a chance to mingle with media people and celebrities, all crowding the field before the game and wishing each other a “Happy New Year.”
Some of our paths crossed only once all year — going to Opening Day signaled to colleagues that we were still alive and kicking.
The fields look greener, the ballparks often wear fresh paint, and the patriotic bunting makes a festive occasion even more fun. A president or other prominent person might even throw out the first pitch.
Spending Opening Day with Ed Lucas and sometimes his son Chris or friends Allen Gross and Dr. David Fenster was fabulous. Ed knew more about baseball than anyone I ever met and also knew more one-liners — most of them unprintable here.
He went to a record 63 consecutive Yankee openers — 63! — and always had two seats in the press box: ED LUCAS PLUS ONE.
I was honored to be that One on many Opening Days.
Perhaps the best thing about Opening Day is the universal optimism. Every team starts with a record of 0-0 — no wins and no losses — plus the hope of a miracle season. Those miracles do happen, with the 1969 Miracle Mets a vivid example.
With only five teams in each of the six divisions, worst-to-first finishes can change a team’s fortune from one year to the next. The Toronto Blue Jays, who came within a whisker of winning the World Series, did it just last year.
In fact, the very first worst-to-first seasons occurred simultaneously in 1991, when both the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins vaulted from last in their divisions the year before to the top of the heap.
When they met in the World Series, they gave baseball fans arguably the best Fall Classic of all time, with a 10-inning, 1-0 Game 7 finale following a week of one-run decisions.
I’ve been to Opening Day in Philadelphia, Washington, and other places — with each a highlight of my game-going life, both as a writer and as a fan.
To me, baseball is the best of all sports, easy to play and easy to follow. Plus it is synonymous with the warm, happy, lazy season of summer. There’s even been a book about it: The Boys of Summer.
It all begins on Opening Day.
HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for forbes.com, Memories & Dreams, USA Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, and other outlets. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Extra Innings: Eight Men Might Hit 50 Homers
Four players finished with 50-homer seasons in 2025 but more may join them this year. That would be a record, since MLB has never had more than four 50-homer hitters in a single season . . .
Aaron Judge has already tied the record for most 50-homer seasons (4) so would be in a league of his own if he hits 50 again . . .
He’d also join Sammy Sosa as the only men to have three straight 50-homer seasons, though Shohei Ohtani could do that too in 2026 . . .
Sosa had a record four consecutive campaigns in which he hit 50 or more (1998-2001) …
The only teammates with simultaneous 50-homer seasons were Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, whose 115 for the 1961 Yankees set a high standard . . .
The Bronx Bombers are the only team with five different 50-homer men: Maris, Mantle, Babe Ruth, Alex Rodriguez, and Judge (current Yankee Giancarlo Stanton once hit 59 for the Marlins) . . .
In addition to 2025, the years four players topped 50 were 1998 (Mark McGwire, Greg Vaughn, Sammy Sosa, and Ken Griffey, Jr.) and 2001 (Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Luis Gonzalez, and Sosa) . . .
Candidates for 50-homer seasons in 2026 include four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani, three-time MVP Aaron Judge, one-time MVP Ronald Acuna, Jr., and MVP hopefuls Kyle Schwarber, Cal Raleigh, Juan Soto, Pete Alonso, and Nick Kurtz. All but Acuna, Kurtz, and Soto have already had 50-homer seasons.
Know Your Editors
Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [biggentleben@hotmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.