Greetings, friends. We’re back for another baseball season. More importantly, we have a fun new series this year.

Welcome to the Daily Opener.

Every morning, I’ll be with you to recap the previous day of baseball and talk about what stood out to me. We’ll find fun stats. We’ll lament some injuries. We’ll take a peek at the day ahead. And we’ll have a few laughs.

Have questions or just want to talk baseball? Feel free to reach out on Twitter @mikeMaher with questions or feedback anytime.

Top Stories

Headlines…

• TEX: Rangers manager Chris Woodward correctly calls Yankee Stadium a “little league ballpark” after the Gleyber Torres walk-off HR
• NYY: Gleyber Torres hits walk-off homer against Rangers
• NYY: Giancarlo Stanton swats two-run homer vs. Rangers
• NYY: Gerrit Cole whiffs 10 in no-decision vs. Rangers
• BOS: An adult gave a young Red Sox fan a foul ball at Fenway Park over the weekend. Why isn’t anyone talking about this? I thought these daily occurrences all go viral now? /sarcasm off. 
• SEA: George Kirby fires six scoreless in debut Sunday
• LAD: Cody Bellinger collects three hits in win Sunday
• LAD: Walker Buehler fans six in win over Cubs on Sunday
• BAL: Bruce Zimmermann whiffs five in win over Royals
• NYM: Pete Alonso blasts two homers in win over Phillies
• HOU: Jake Odorizzi combines on one-hitter vs. Tigers

Fun!

Lowest ERA in 1st 100 starts, pitchers to debut since mound lowered (1969):

Dwight Gooden: 2.28
Ron Guidry: 2.48
Vida Blue: 2.55
Walker Buehler: 2.70

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) May 9, 2022

Let’s do one more Walker Buehler tweet…

Lowest WHIP in 1st 100 career starts, since at least 1901:

Walker Buehler: 0.99
Addie Joss: 1.00
Ed Walsh: 1.02
Walter Johnson: 1.02

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) May 9, 2022

Studs and Duds

Here are some of the best and worst performances from yesterday.

Studs (Pitchers)

Pitching continued to dominate over the weekend…

• Luis Garcia – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 9 K
• Merrill Kelly – 8.2 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 8 K
• Josh Winder – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 8 K
• Eric Lauer – 6.1 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 8 K
• Chad Kuhl – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K
• Pablo Lopez – 8.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 5 K
• Eduardo Rodriguez – 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, 8 K
• Max Fried – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 8 K
• Zach Davies – 6.1 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K
• Nick Pivetta – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 8 K
• Gerrit Cole – 6.1 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 10 K
• Sean Manaea – 6 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 8 K
• Joe Musgrove – 7 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 8 K

Studs (Hitters)

• Manuel Margot – 4-for-7, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 1 SB
• Colin Moran – 3-for-11, 2 HR, 6 RBI
• Pete Alonso – 3-for-8, 2 HR, 5 RBI
• Mookie Betts – 5-for-14, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 1 BB, 1 2B
• Brandon Drury – 6-for-11, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 3 2B, 2 BB
• Dylan Carlson – 4-for-10, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 2B
  • Signs of life?
• Ronald Acuna Jr. – 5-for-11, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 2 SB
• Brandon Lowe – 3-for-9, 2 HR, 4 BB
• Jarred Kelenic – 3-for-8, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB
• Freddie Freeman – 6-for-12, 4 2B
• Rafael Devers – 6-for-11, 1 2B
• Franmil Reyes – 6-for-10, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 2B, 1 BB

Duds (Pitchers)

• Steven Matz – 2 IP, 8 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 K, 3 HR allowed
• Shane Bieber – 3.1 IP, 7 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, ZERO K
• Aaron Ashby – 4 IP, 6 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 3 K
• Diego Castillo – 0.0 IP, 5 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 0 K
• Mitch Keller – 4.1 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 3 K
• Michael Lorenzen – 4.2 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 7 K

Duds (Hitters)

If you think you had a rough weekend just know that Brett Phillips went 0-for-8 with 8 Ks this weekend

— mike Maher. (@mikeMaher) May 9, 2022

• Chris Taylor – 1-for-11 with 8 K
• Brett Phillips – 0-for-8 with 8 K
• Tyler Naquin – 1-for-10 with 7 K
• Trevor Story – 1-for-12 with 6 K
  • Through 24 games: .194 AVG, 0 HR, 1 SB, 33.3% K rate
• Nathaniel Lowe – 0-for-8 with 6 K
• Seiya Suzuki – 2-for-10 with 5 K
• Kyle Tucker – 1-for-9 with 5 K
• Tommy Edman – 1-for-13, 5 K, 1 SB
• Rowdy Tellez – 2-for-13, 3 K

From the News Desk

We have an incredible news desk at FantasyPros. Seriously, they crush it. If you don’t already, you should sync your teams with My Playbook and check out the Fantasy News and Scores app for updates about your players.

• Edward Olivares leaves Sunday’s game with apparent injury
• Marcus Stroman (no designation) placed on IL
• Chris Paddack exits start with injury
• Trevor Larnach (groin) placed on 10-day IL
• Michael Wacha (side soreness) scratched from Sunday’s start
• J.P. Crawford removed from Saturday’s game with back spasms

Check out all of our weekly fantasy baseball content

Today’s Starting Lineup

• No national games today, but Cubs vs. Padres is the ESPN+ game today.
• Luis Castillo makes his season debut today against the Brewers

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Mike Maher is an editor and content manager at FantasyPros and BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive, follow him on Twitter @MikeMaher, and visit his Philadelphia Eagles blog, The Birds Blitz.