Does it get any better than this? I mean…in October, sure. But outside of that, not really. The start of any season in any sport is great—the rebirth aspect, the thrill of dreaming about what could be—but in baseball, for whatever reason, it just hits harder.
This, of course, is not exactly a normal Opening Day, though.
That’s because the Padres and Dodgers played their season opener eight days ago and about 6,500 miles away, over in Seoul, Korea.
So is it the home opener? I mean, not really, right? The first game against the Dodgers was technically a home game. Alright, so what do we call today?
That was the question I posed to Tony on our broadcast Tuesday afternoon (an exhibition, at Petco, which was assuredly not anything close to “Opening Day” in any form) and he came back with…
“The Petco Park Opener.”
Love it. So that’s what we’ll be rolling with on the radio this afternoon. Until I inevitably slip and refer to it as “Opening Day,” of course.
No matter the name, though, it’s a very special day. And I hope you all enjoy it, no matter how you take it in.
If You’ll Be There…
For those of you fortunate enough to have tickets to that Petco Park Opener, gates open at 11:00am and I can’t recommend enough getting there in time to check out the new Gallagher Square, which includes the new Tony Gwynn Terrace.
We had the grand opening/ribbon cutting on Monday, and the whole area is just…spectacular. Watching Tony and his mother Alicia take it all in for the first time was pretty emotional and they both said they were having some trouble finding the words to express how wowed they were.
That picture doesn’t do justice to the entire project, which is absolutely massive. There’s the new whiffle ball field, an incredible new playground, more open space, and of course, the Tony Gwynn Terrace, which includes his statue, tribute bricks, and a tunnel that has to be experienced in person. Walking through there is unlike anything I’ve ever seen at any ballpark.
Congrats to the hundreds of people (thousands?) at the Padres, the city, and on the ground who made this happen. Just remarkable.
And btw, if you are at the yard today, try and get to your seats by 12:30 for the pregame ceremonies.
For Peter
The passing of Padres chairman Peter Seidler has certainly been felt all Spring around the team. Whether it’s the gold heart with his initials that will be worn by the team, or the one now permanently affixed to the facing of the press box at Petco, or the one next to the bat rack in the Padres dugout, or the one mowed into the grass in center field.
Peter’s presence will continue to be with all of us for quite some time, of course, and on Saturday, family, friends and fans all had the opportunity to come together to publicly honor the man who was of course so much more than the owner of the baseball team.
It was a very, very special day. He was a very, very special man. He will be very, very missed. I know I’ll be thinking of him every game all season long when I open my scorebook up.
Korea!
Wee got back to San Diego last Thursday night and I gotta tell you…that trip feels like it was five years ago.
Just the nature of baseball season, I suppose. Time is a flat circle or something.
Regardless, even though that trip is in the rearview mirror and we’re full speed ahead, I did want to spend a brief moment here reminiscing on what was an absolutely incredible week.
First, the food. I ate way too much. Way, way, way too much. If any of you see me consuming red meat at any point in the next month or so, feel free to knock it out of my hands. But it was so good. No regrets.
The city. Seoul is a really world-class kind of place. And super interesting. Pretty much the primary observation every one of us made was that it was near-impossible to find a piece of trash anywhere on the streets. The kicker? Garbage cans were equally rare. When I asked someone local about it, it was explained that the idea there is that one’s garbage is one’s personal property. So bring it home, throw it away there. Not sure if that’s the entire story, but it’s what I was told.
The other thing is that for a place as densely populated as it is, it didn’t seem busy or crowded. Just a beautiful, fascinating, vibrant place.
Couple of random pictures because why not…
Scenes from Seoul
Meanwhile, from a baseball perspective, the games were really fun. The ballpark played big slash fair and it was fascinating to watch two different games, between the same two teams, in the same place, with the same lineups…go so differently.
BP in Seoul
The win in game two was obviously bonkers, and Manny’s dagger homer in the top of the 9th was a really fun and special moment.
Couple notes from 15-11…
The 15 runs were the most the Padres had ever scored in a game against the Dodgers
The 26 combined runs were the most-ever in a Padre/Dodger game
The Padres scored 5x in the 1st inning. Last year, they didn’t have a single 5-run inning until May 30th (!)
The night before, btw, Padre pitchers committed four pitch clock violations. That was something that had never happened before. That’s right, last year, there was not a single game in which one team had four violations from their pitchers. Baseball…
As For the Giants
Suppose we should spend a moment or two on this not-really-season-openingfour-game series against the Giants, right?
As you likely know, Bob Melvin is their new manager and Blake Snell is their newest addition. Blake is not expected to throw in this series, as he ramps up for the start of his season after missing basically all of Spring Training.
That said, Logan Webb, who finished second to Snell in NL Cy Young voting last year, will take the ball for the Giants, up against Yu Darvish. I know with that pitching matchup, it’ll certainly feel like Opening Day.
The Padre rotation the rest of the series is to be Joe Musgrove-Dylan Cease-Michael King (who’s finally getting the chance to throw in a regular season game at Petco—his only career outings here were the exhibition against Seattle this week and the 2020 ALDS vs. Snell’s Tampa Bay Rays).
Mother Nature, as always, though, will have a say.
With rain potentially in the forecast for both Saturday and Sunday, things could get jumbled. Of course, weather changes all the time, but a good reminder right off that bat that things never go as planned in baseball or in life.
Couple of my favorite Giants notes that I’ve prepped for tomorrow:
With Michael Conforto likely starting in LF for SF, the streak lives! The Giants have had a different Opening Day starter in left field every year since 2007. 2007! Barry Bonds was the guy in ‘07! 16 guys in 16 years since. How many can you name?1
Speaking of Barry…the Giants have not had a 30-homer guy since Bonds hit 45 back in 2004. Is this the year that changes? Their new DH Jorge Soler certainly hopes so (he hit 36 last year in Miami). Since Bonds had that 45-homer season, there have been 496 individual 30-home run seasons around Baseball. Every team has at least five. Except the Giants, that is.
As you know, both the Padres and Giants have new managers. They are two of the eight teams in that boat this year. More than half (16/30) of MLB managers were hired since October of 2021.
Lastly, a quick Logan Webb scouting report: ton of change-ups, ton of ground balls, don’t wait around for a walk. There ya are…now go hit, kid.
As you may know, I occasionally do Q&A type stuff in the newsletter. Button below to submit yours:
What you may NOT know, though, is that Tony and I answer a question every single game on the radio broadcast. You can submit yours right here and if you’re lucky enough, national icon Dave Marcus may select it to be read on the air!
From the Department of Scrambling…
Lastly, a wild story with a happy ending to get us going into the season.
My buddy Luke Epplin, who wrote a wonderful (wonderful!) baseball book entitled Our Team, recently became a dad. Big deal, of course.
Well, the story of Luke’s daughter being born is unlike any I’ve ever heard before and thankfully for us, he has the linguistic ability and sense of humor to relay it with precision and hilarity.
He wrote it out in a Twitter/X thread, but for convenience, I’ve copy/pasted it in full below.
Enjoy…
All right, here's my wild story of the birth of my daughter, Ava. My wife started going into labor on Friday, so we spent that night at a hospital in Upper Manhattan. I slept little that night and then not at all the next day. Finally, on Saturday night I dozed on a couch.
I was awoken at four in the morning today (Sunday) to active labor. I got on my feet, threw on my clothes, and then was thrust in the middle of the action. Whether because of exhaustion, lack of food, or having just gotten up, I don't remember anything else. I fainted.
When I woke up, I was on the floor, blood oozing from the back of my head. I'd hit my head on the edge of a metal table as I fell and cut a gash in it. It was serious. They called the EMTs, had a stretcher come up and whisked me to the emergency room.
Originally, they were going to give me a CT scan, which means that I would've missed the birth of Ava. Luckily, they checked me out, did some tests, treated the wound, and then plugged six staples into my skull. It took maybe an hour. I was then free to go.
This hospital was massive--more than a city block, connected by tunnels. We were on the opposite end. A nurse walked me down numerous hallways, through various departments, and then got called back for an emergency. She gave me some quick directions and sent me on my way.
I thought I followed them correctly, got an elevator to the 10th floor, and ended up in a bone marrow center. Granted, I'm in the clothes I slept in, with a massive white bandage wrapped around my head, like something you'd see in a World War I movie.
I flagged down a nurse and said rather frantically, "My wife is in labor! I need to find her!" She took one look at me and said, "I think you need to see security." I said I didn't have time, but she escorted me out and firmly but politely dropped me off with a guard.
I told him the same thing: "My wife is in labor!" Again, he looked at me, bandage and all, patient tag on my wrist, and said, "Sir, I'm gonna need to see some discharge papers." I had no ID, no visitor's badge, no cellphone, nothing. Suddenly, it dawned on me: I'm in trouble.
So I slowed down, tried to explain that I'd fainted while my wife went into labor, cut a gash into my head, got it treated, and then got lost. He was *very* skeptical. But he let me leave at least. On the street, no coat on, I rushed around until I found a parking valet.
This time, I didn't even try to explain. I simply asked where the maternity wing was, he said two blocks down, and I sprinted in my bandages and slippers. Again, my old nemesis greeted me: security. I'd learned at least that I had to explain everything first.
I told him my wife was in labor on the 10th floor, gave him her name, and he called up. They took a picture of me for a new badge and I'm staring wild-eyed into the camera with my head wrapped. My last name is spelled Epplyn. It was perfect.
I dashed into the maternity ward, the attendant looked at me, and said, "Oh, you're the guy everyone's talking about." I came back to my daughter not yet born. My wife asked how it went. I said, "I'll tell you later." An hour later, this photo was taken.
Absolute all-timer, right? Best wishes to Luke, his wife and baby Ava. And thanks for your attempts at avenging the Lusitania.
