Opening Day!
Baseball Season is (almost) Here
Let’s Do This
Tomorrow is the start of what I think it’s fair to say is the most anticipated season in Padres history. How will it end? I have no idea. But I know it begins—weather permitting—tomorrow against the Rockies with Blake Snell making his second career Opening Day start.
I love Opening Day. So much.
I think it’s important, though—this year in particular—to point out that two things can be true: Opening Day is one of the best days of the year. It is magical. It is special. But…it’s also just one of 162 regular season games.
So let’s focus on that piece of it—there will be no Joe Musgrove tomorrow. No Yu Darvish. No Fernando Tatis Jr. Just a couple of days ago it seemed that Juan Soto and Austin Nola might also be missing, though there’s been good news on both those fronts.
The lineup that Bob Melvin pencils in will maybe not be the exact one you dreamed of. And that’s OK! It’s still going to be really good.
There’s no doubt that being in the lineup (or on the roster) for Opening Day is a special thing for players, but I would argue that this year in particular—when the expectations for this team are literally as high as possible—we should zoom out and step back as often as possible and keep the big picture in mind. My mantra for 2023: The Ring is the Thing.
Great Expectations
And now a very easy transition to this:
MLB posted this little piece of click bait yesterday. Not only are their panel of "experts"1 picking the Pads to win the NL West…but also the whole thing, taking down the defending champion Astros in the World Series.
Now, knowing baseball fans as I do (and being one myself!) I am fully aware that there’s a (probably large) segment of you who absolutely HATE this. And I get that. I really do. But for me, I think it’s time to lean into expectations and have some fun with it all. Better to be picked first than last, right? Buckle up. And hold on tight.
AccuJesse 5000
This will be my 10th season with the Padres and I swear I remember absolutely perfect weather for the first game at Petco every year since I’ve been here. So what did I do? I went back and looked, of course. Below, find the game-time temps for the first home game of the season every year from 2014-2022.
2014*: 67
2015: 67
2016: 72
2017: 69
2018: 69
2019: 68
2020**: 73
2021: 85
2022***: 65
*night game
**July 24th (COVID)
***April 14th (lockout)
San Diego weather, amirite?
Well, tomorrow appears like it’s going to buck the trend. Continuing a weirdly cold and wet winter, temps will likely be in the upper-50’s around 1:10 and beyond that, there’s rain in the forecast all morning and into the early afternoon. Will it be coming down hard enough to delay the game? We shall see. If so, it looks like clearer skies by later in the afternoon, so that’s good.
These things are imprecise, of course, and the forecast could definitely change from the time I’m writing this on Tuesday night to tomorrow afternoon, but as of now, be ready for a lil weather.
Of course, the last time we were all together for a rainy game at Petco, it may have been the greatest night in the history of the ballpark2.
Big Scorebook Guy
Behold, Joe Musgrove's no-hitter (4/9/21):
One of the main ways geeky baseball fans define ourselves as geeky baseball fans is by our ability and enjoyment when it comes to keeping score. As broadcasters, this is a critical way we follow along the game and for me, my scorebook is my bible during the season.
I literally can’t count the number of times I reference back to a previous game while I’m prepping during the day or broadcasting at night. It’s constant. So for all manner of reasons, I take my scorebook very, very seriously.
So much so that some years ago, I designed my own pages in Excel, to perfectly fit my own needs. I’ve tweaked here and there as time has gone on, but the main skeleton has remained pretty much the same.
I often post pictures of my scorebook during the season and with shocking regularity, people will ask me for a copy of the sheets I use. So I figured no time like the present. Here are the two sides of the inside of my scorebook, for you to use in your personal lives:
One final note on the Musgrove no-no: The whole night was obviously pretty wild. We were still broadcasting games remotely and after Tony and I called history off a television from 1,300 miles away, we got locked inside Petco for a bit before finally navigating our way out to the parking lot.
On the way home, I received a call from my friend and colleague, the Hall-of-Fame voice of the Rangers, Eric Nadel. Eric was obviously at the game and got to call it live, but he couldn’t wait to check in and ask me how it was for us. We talked for most of my drive home—probably a half hour or so—and I can just remember how genuinely excited he was for the Padres, for me and for Tony.
Eric has been behind the mic for the Rangers since 1979 and has seen more than his fair share of history (and no-hitters—thanks Nolan), and is one of the absolute most kind and interesting people in our little world.
He’s also struggling right now. Last week, he made public that he would be missing at least the start of this season, citing anxiety, insomnia and depression.
Let this be yet another reminder for all of us that we never quite know what’s happening behind the eyes of our friends, family and colleagues and to try and take that into account whenever we can.
He is a wonderful man…I missed seeing him this Spring…and I hope he finds whatever he needs as soon as possible.
Season Finale
Our last episode of “Padres in Peoria” dropped this week and if you missed it, you can check it out below. Mic’d up Nabil Crismatt is about as good as it gets and Josh Hader and I had a wonderful chat looking back on 2022 and forward to this season. Enjoy!
Tuning In
As a reminder, Tony and I will have radio coverage all season long and are obviously both extremely amped up for this year.
Locally, games can be heard on 97.3 FM as well as the Audacy app for free—if you’re geo-located in San Diego county.
I do, though, want to point out one other option that works in SD, around the rest of the US and in fact across the globe: the MLB app.
I never like to tell people how to spend their money, but if it fits your budget, the MLB audio subscription might be the best deal in baseball.
For $29.99, you get blackout-free listening to every radio broadcast of every game of every team all season long. That’s $30…for the year. And all with great digital quality. Details here if that interests you.3
Instant Replay to be More…Instant?
With all the talk of the major rule changes for 2023, there’s apparently been a much less discussed adjustment that MLB is pushing through: managers will now have much less time to decide whether or not to ask for a replay review.
Details emerged on Monday, thanks to Jayson Stark of The Athletic, who passed along the following info:
• Managers now need to hold up their hands immediately after a play to signal to the umpires that they’re thinking about challenging. The previous rule gave them 10 seconds before they even had to decide whether to give the signal, but it was rarely enforced.
• Once their hand goes up this year, the umpire starts a 15-second replay clock. But if the manager wants to challenge, he has to decide before the clock hits zero. MLB told all 30 managers, in a video conference meeting Friday, that the allotted time will be strictly enforced. Once the timer reaches zero, all challenge requests will be denied. What could go wrong there?
• The previous rule gave managers 20 seconds to decide whether to challenge. But again, that was almost never enforced, because on many occasions, after the 20 seconds, the umpire would approach the dugout and literally ask the manager, “Do you want to review this or not?” Now the umpires will remain on the field. So there will be no more conversations and no more wiggle room.
• After that, the replay system works generally the same as it has since it was introduced in 2014. Each team still gets one challenge per game, but keeps its challenge every time a call gets overturned.
This is (at least to me) pretty fascinating info and something to keep an eye on. If you read the whole story (highly recommended), Stark goes on to quote a couple of managers who have basically said they’ll plan to hold their hands up on every close play just to give themselves a moment to see what’s up. Others have shrugged their shoulders at the changes.
Either way, something to keep an eye on and an article worth reading for sure.
A Salute to You
Quick shoutout to the fans who came through Peoria this Spring. It’s been amazing seeing how many people have attended the workouts and the games. I know it’s not super easy or cheap to get there and that not everyone can make it work, but the sheer number of people who were there was so energizing and so, so neat to see.
Question of the Day
This is very meta, but I received a newsletter question about our Question of the Day feature on Padres Radio. Specifically, it came from Em in Ventura, who wanted to know if Tony and I would be fielding nightly queries again in 2023 and I am happy to say: yes. Yes we are.
So now you have two ways to pick my brain: newsletter questions can be e-mailed and if you want the chance to have your question answered on the radio, just head to 973thefansd.com/question.
And Lastly…
I never thought I’d be writing anything about college basketball in this newsletter—certainly not on the eve of Opening Day—but! Here we are.
With San Diego State and my alma mater (Miami) both in the Final 4, this is now a thing.
First off, congrats to the Aztecs. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed going to many of their games in my time living here and to see them get over the hump and reach this point is really special. After they beat Creighton on Sunday, Tony said he thought that this would have brought his dad to tears. And that nearly brought me to tears.
Beyond that, I couldn’t be more thrilled for Uncle Ted Leitner, who is along for the ride as the Voice of the Aztecs.
A couple of hours after the Aztecs cut down the nets, Tony and I were still in the booth in Peoria, the Padre game long over, watching the ‘Canes take down Texas to join the Aztecs in the Final 4. Just incredible.
It still feels like something of a long shot…but if both teams win in the semis, the NCAA basketball title will be Tony vs. Jesse while we are broadcasting the Padres/D-backs game on Monday night. Could be quite a scene.
What a time.
Talk soon…we’'ll be on the air tomorrow at 1 🤎💛
I did not bother looking into who exactly made up this group of experts, and I honestly don’t care.
If you just clicked and that and watched the entire thing, I’m guessing you feel like you could run through a concrete wall right about now.
This is a PSA, not an ad, haha. I am receiving nothing from MLB for promoting this, I just think it’s something not enough people are aware of.