JotCast | FanGraphs 2026 Opening Day Chat

FanGraphs 2026 Opening Day Chat

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Davy Andrews

2:50

I guess I would've thought that if anybody knew the answer to that question, it would've been someone who wrote one of the Gospels.

David Laurila

2:49

On the FG pitching question, I would have been on the short list up until about 10 years ago (at which point I was already north of 50 years old). I pitched in high school and retained arm strength for a good long while. Of course, nothing lasts forever.

ohtani

2:50

This reminds me of the game before they made the Ohtani rule where Judge robbed him and homered off of him and he didn't make it very far at all so they were without a DH

Jay Jaffe

2:50

Had to make it back to my desk for this but I was at that game and wrote about it for FanGraphs in 2021. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/ohtani-serves-up-a-dud-in-the-bronx-but-an...

Guest

2:50

ONEIL CRUZ MAKES A CATCH ALERT

johndarc

2:50

any of you ever been to one of those Japanese batting centers where they have the pitching minigame with the 9 squares?

Davy Andrews

2:50

Sounds fun.

Dan Szymborski

2:50

I have not

I've played it in the Yakuza games though!

2:51

The Shinada baseball storyline in Yakuza 5 was fun. Baseball duels were the best fighting

Guest

2:51

This is a dumb thing, but watching this Orioles orange carpet thing...I'm really wondering how the players decide how fast they're gonna jog. Do they get self-conscious about it? You don't want to go too fast and look like a prick, you don't want to go too slow and do the weird fast-walk thing.

2:52

I mean really that carpet is very long! Too long, I think.

Dan Szymborski

2:52

Go really weird with it. Start the orange carpet at the water taxi downtown and have them jog up to the stadium

Guardian of the Ephemeral

2:52

In all honesty, how long can Pittsburgh run Cruz out to CF with a team build predicated on dominant SP owning the first 5-7 IP of a game? He could easily be pushed to a corner and Mangum is right there waiting to get Skenes out of that inning with minimal damage.

Davy Andrews

2:52

I hear you, but I'm not sure the solution is making him learn another position.

Guest

2:53

Make the orange carpet one of those moving walkways from the airport and have them move incredulously slow

Insert Witty Name Here

2:53

Best mascot in the game?

Davy Andrews

2:54

This handsome gentleman.

Jay Jaffe

2:55

Gonna go with my daughter's favorites, the Brooklyn Cyclones' Sandy the Seagull and his junior colleague Pee Wee

Dan Szymborski

2:54

make it go all the way up from the airport. YOu can slowly follow the Orioles up I-95 starting 24 hours in advance

War2D2

2:54

there's the Phanatic and then everyone else (non-Appleman category of course)

Davy Andrews

2:55

I know this is the chalky answer, but it's hard to argue with it.

Jay Jaffe

2:56

The Phanatic is great but isn't even the best mascot in Philadelphia. That honor belongs to Gritty.

Dan Szymborski

2:55

Writers for large publications have told me at winter meetings that they're jealous how much David feeds us

Guest

2:55

Anybody watching Cubs/Nats? Cavalli seems to be throwing well

Joey Baggadonuts

2:56

Raise your hand if you had Cade Cavalli with more k's than Paul Skenes today... anyone?

Dan Szymborski

2:56

I've kinda committeed to the Mets-Pirates game

young guns

2:56

what are they feeding these 17-18 yo pitchers where they're firing off 102 mph fastballs?

Davy Andrews

2:56

Squats.

David Laurila

2:57

With Brandon Lowe coming to the dish, it bears noting that Garrett Jones was the last Pirate to hit two runs on Opening Day. He did so in 2010.

The Actor for Al Pacino

2:57

Most likely FanGraphs staff to be able to make it on live TV?

Davy Andrews

2:58

With all that podcasting experience, it's got to be Meg.

Well-Beered Englishman

2:58

"How could Oneil Cruz' day get worse?"
"He could K and throw the bat away"

TKDC

3:01

Chris Sale will start opening day multiple times for his third different team. Is there a way to determine if anyone has ever done that?

Jay Jaffe

3:03

Many guys on the upper end of the Opening Day starts leaderboard (see https://www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tiny/Q6N6V) had the honor for three team (Seaver, Morris, Clemens, Randy Johnson) but I just looked and Bert Blyleven did it for 5 teams: Angels, Cleveland, Pirates, Rangers, Twins. Not sure if that's a record but it's pretty wild.

Reds Enjoyer

3:01

I'd encourage everyone in the chat to consume some Cincinnati Opening Day-related content! Growing up in Cincy I assumed every city had a massive opening day celebration, but I now know it's not really a thing anywhere else (at least not to the level we do it). Which makes me wonder: Why? Why isn't every home team throwing a massive party in the streets of their city today?

Don Caglianone

3:01

now 3/3 on ABS challenges for Quero lol

Stu

3:01

Edgar Quero is 3-for-3 on ABS challenges.

Guest

3:01

Edgar Quero picking up all these extra challenge strikes because he's a bad framer is going to be a subplot this season

Tacoby Bellsbury

3:01

Edgar Quero 3-for-3 on catcher's challenges so far.