Take a deep breath, baseball fans. We finally made it to the end of an arduous offseason, one full of twists and turns we never could have imagined. The marquee free agents have signed, the TV deals are (mostly) straightened out and as we speak, and the fields are being freshly painted with those glorious Opening Day logos.
So on this great holiday, Opening Day Eve, let's turn the clocks ahead and anticipate all the best nuggets Thursday's full slate of games promises to bring. These are the five must-watch storylines to follow on Opening Day 2024.
The battle for NL East supremacy between Braves, Phillies gets underway
With balanced schedules in effect, divisional foes now get just 13 opportunities to square off throughout the season, meaning every matchup between teams fighting for a division crown is even more crucial. And while we will now have to wait until Friday after their Thursday contest got postponed due to heavy rain in the forecast, the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies, the two presumed powerhouses of the NL East, will play the first of three of those games when their seasons eventually get underway.
Spencer Strider vs. Zach Wheeler. Ronald Acuña Jr., Austin Riley and Matt Olson vs. Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper. At Citizens Bank Park, where the Philly faithful are sure to bring the intensity from the very first pitch. It may be hyperbole to say any game in the month of March already feels like October, but given the way the past two seasons have ended for the Braves, it's never too early to throw the opening salvo in this clash of titans.
The MLB's new generation makes its opening statement
It's always a beautiful thing, especially in the era of service time shenanigans, when a highly touted prospect debuts with his big league club on Opening Day. These are the players giving their fans hope that their teams can one day build a dynasty, even if that day still appears multiple years away. And this year, the Opening Day debutantes are a stacked lineup.
Baseball's No. 2 overall prospect (per MLBPipeline), Jackson Chourio, will debut for the Milwaukee Brewers at just 20 years old. Not to be outdone by his namesake, No. 12 prospect Jackson Merrill will man center field for the San Diego Padres. Wyatt Langford, who has laid waste to both college and professional pitching and nearly made the Texas Rangers' World Series roster, adds even more anticipation to a day where the Rangers will unfurl their first championship banner.
Of course, we all would have been even more excited if No. 1 overall prospect Jackson Holliday (wow, there are so many Jacksons!) were joining those names on the lineup card. He's sure to be on the Baltimore Orioles major league roster soon enough, but even in his absence, the youth movement is in excellent hands as the games get underway.
Unexpected players will steal the spotlight
One of the best annual Opening Day traditions is some obscure name mashing a home run or two and parlaying it into a “Linsanity” run to open the season. Last season, C.J. Cron briefly led the entire league in home runs when he walloped two balls out of Petco Park. In 2021, Yermín Mercedes parlayed a five-hit first game into a Rookie of the Month performance before running afoul of his own manager Tony LaRussa for breaking the “unwritten rules of the game.” And way back in 2010, top prospect Jason Heyward hit a 471-foot home run on the first swing he ever took for the Braves.
All this is to say that for all the prognostication we can attempt to do, there's going to be a player who accomplishes a jaw-dropping feat on Opening Day that nobody saw coming. And that, in and of itself, is reason enough to tune in to all the games we can cram onto our screens at once.
Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes headline superstars on new teams
One of the absolute best things about Opening Day for fans is seeing the players their favorite teams signed make their first official appearances in their new uniforms. Whether a team is expected to win 50 games or 110, the sight of a new face that has a chance to impact the future direction of the franchise is the ultimate source of optimism.
And this season, there is a fantastic crop of debuts to get excited about. Juan Soto, entering the walk year to end all walk years, debuts for the New York Yankees down in Houston. Corbin Burnes, the marquee ace Orioles fans were dreaming of, takes the hill in Camden Yards against the Los Angeles Angels. The entire new core of the San Francisco Giants, from Jung-hoo Lee to Matt Chapman to Jorge Soler, takes on the Padres at Petco Park. None of this is to mention Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, who will also make their impacts on that loaded NL West soon enough.
It's all going to be fresh, new, and thrilling. And yet, of all the debuts, there is one that stands out clearly above all the rest…
Shohei Ohtani finally makes his long-awaited home debut with the Dodgers
After all the chaos of the past week, Shohei Ohtani will finally get to do what he and Los Angeles Dodgers fans have been longing for since the day he inked his massive deal with them in free agency: suit up for the Dodgers for the first time in Chavez Ravine.
There is no escaping the fact that developments in the ongoing investigations into the illegal bookmaking scandal involving Ohtani and former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara will spill over into the season, perhaps causing distractions from the Dodgers' play on the field. But on Thursday, none of that matters. Baseball's brightest star, fresh off signing a $700 million contract, will take to the diamond for one of the sport's true signature franchises.
Don't be surprised, by the way, if Ohtani goes berserk and hits 15 home runs in April. Oftentimes when superstars are going through off-the-field drama, they find peace between the white lines of the playing field. No one knows what the future holds for Ohtani in regards to the situation at hand, but one thing is for certain: when he's in the batter's box, we'll all be watching.
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