MLB: Biggest surprises after first week of games

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Trevor Story, Mike Trout, the Orioles and Twins were all among the biggest surprises in the first week of the 2016 MLB season.

The first complete week of games for the 2016 MLB season has brought some surprising occurrences.

There have been rookies making history, two teams still winless, one team undefeated, a former Most Valuable Player not getting off to the best of starts at the plate, and one team who didn’t score a run in the first three games of the season.

The Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves are a combined 0-13 following Monday’s games, and Minnesota, though they’ve played some close games, had trouble taking advantage of having base runners at their disposal against the Chicago White Sox on Monday afternoon, resulting in a loss.

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Atlanta, well, they were expected to be a bad team, but winless after six games – that’s tough to predict for even one of the worst teams in the game. Even the Philadelphia Phillies have two wins, as do the Miami Marlins, and we all know both of them aren’t going to the postseason unless they have a ticket.

There was also the story of Ross Stripling, the Los Angeles Dodgers rookie starting pitcher who was pulled from the game as he was throwing a no-hitter due to his pitch count. It was the right move to remove him from the game to protect his arm, but it was surprising he was pitching that well in his MLB debut.

Though there have been many other moments that have occurred in the first week of the season, as there have already been some costly injuries to the Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks, and the New York Mets aren’t very good right now, here are five surprises for the first week of the 2016 MLB season.

Next: The 'Story' of a Rockies rookie

Trevor Story and his magic baseball swing

I’ll be completely honest … I watch a lot of baseball each season thanks to MLB.TV. I read about baseball all year long. I like to think I know a thing or two about the game after years of spending hours upon hours watching “America’s Pastime,” but where in the world did Colorado Rockies rookie Trevor Story sneak in from and who can we thank?

What a tale Story has put together in his first week at the MLB level. It is so unbelievable that even Disney probably would turn down this script if it were handed to them. This is actually happening, right?

In his first six MLB games, Story is batting .333 with nine hits, and seven of those being home runs, setting a new all-time record in that span of games to start an MLB career. He also has totaled 30 bases, collected 12 RBIs and in just 27 at-bats has a .357 on-base percentage and a 1.468 OPS.

His minor league career consists of a career .263 batting average in 537 games, with 70 home runs and 242 RBIs in a span of four seasons at the MiLB level.

Yes, this story won’t continue like it is for the Rockies rookie (not at this pace anyway), but darn this has been really fun to watch and keep tabs on, because we’ve all witnessed a little history to open this ’16 season, so what more could we ask for?

I hope this streak continues and let’s just enjoy how far it goes. This “Story” is like a baseball fairytale that even the Brothers Grimm wouldn’t imagine.

Next: Baltimore starts with 6 wins, no losses

Baltimore Orioles start season 6-0 and counting

What has Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter been putting in the O’s Gatorade bucket to start this season? Whatever it is, maybe he should share the wealth with some of the more underperforming teams in the majors one week into the season.

As the Orioles stand at 6-0 overall, they rank fourth in the majors in batting average (.291), fifth in home runs (10), 12th in RBIs (29), seventh in on-base percentage (.291) and second in slugging percentage (.505).

In the six wins by Baltimore all but one of their wins have been by two or fewer runs, as their biggest win of the season came on Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays by five runs. In their other five wins, four have been by two runs and their Opening Day victory over the Minnesota Twins was by a single run.

If there is anything we can say about the Orioles it is they have a knack for close wins, and when they need to win those close games they’ve finished the job thus far.

A lot of that has come with their pitching, with the team having the second best ERA in the majors after the first week at 2.50, trailing the Oakland Athletics’ pitchers who are at 2.39. Baltimore’s pitchers have gone 54 innings on the mound and are third in strikeouts with 62 in six games.

Eventually the O’s will have to win games by larger scores, because they aren’t going to continue to win all of the close ones, no team could, but right now their formula is working while playing in a pretty solid division. Keep your eyes on the Orioles, because they might be the surprise team in baseball for ’16.

Next: The Twins start 0-7

Minnesota Twins can’t buy a win, start season at 0-7

The Minnesota Twins have entered a group of teams they want no part of, that being starting the season at 0-7 and not making the postseason, because in over 140 years of baseball at the major league level no team has ever made the postseason with that start.

Even being a week into the season, the Twins might be the team to break that trend, and become the first team gaining a postseason spot with seven losses to open the year. Though it might not seem like it now, the Twins aren’t getting destroyed by their opponents, they are just the anti-Orioles, as they can’t get the clutch hits or win the close games.

Minnesota has three losses by a single run, two losses by two runs and one loss by three runs. Their worst loss came against the Kansas City Royals by seven runs on Saturday.

Again, I’m not saying the Twins are going to win the AL Central or even gain one of the two Wild Card spots, but it is very tough to lose seven straight games like they have to start the season.

Eventually we all know lady luck will be on their side, but if that luck never occurs, losing more games by these types of close deficits will be tough on the players, coaches and especially the ones who will be most vocal about it … their fans.

Next: Padres opening series of shutouts

The first three games of the San Diego Padres season

Though it was two series ago, it is very tough to forget just how bad the bats of the San Diego Padres were against the Los Angeles Dodgers, as no team in the history of baseball ever began their season by being shut out in three consecutive games.

Though San Diego came back in their next series to nearly double the runs they allowed against the Colorado Rockies, those first three games were most definitely a surprise to remember, and unwanted if you cheer for the Padres.

On Opening Day it was like the Padres forget the season began because they lost to the Dodgers by not just being shut out, but by surrendering 15 runs. The next night they lost by a 3-0 score, and the series ended with a 7-0 loss for a scoring differential of 25-0.

It should be noted that San Diego pitching allowed 34 runs in that opening series as well.

That type of play won’t cut it, even if the expectations are low to begin with, but wow, to get beat that badly should never happen to start a season.

The Padres eventually made up for that disastrous start by outscoring the Rockies in their next series, 32-15, gaining two wins by scores of 13-6 and 16-3.

Again, the Padres shouldn’t be that terrible in a series like that again, but with baseball you can never tell. Hopefully no team will ever surprise their fanbase with three games to start the season like that ever again.

Next: Trout off to slow start

A slow start for Mike Trout

The start to former AL MVP Mike Trout’s season hasn’t been up to his usual very high standards. The 24-year-old began the season with no hits with consecutive 0-for-4 days against the Chicago Cubs, before having two hits in a 2-for-4 game against the the same Cubs in game three.

From there he had two one-hit games and on Sunday his day was hitless with two walks. On Monday night against the Oakland Athletics, Trout went 1-for-3 with one run, two RBIs and one walk. It was his second consecutive game with two RBIs, and we can’t fail to mention Trout hit his first home run of the season, so maybe things will turn around.

It is very unusual for Trout to have those types of numbers, even if it is to start a season. As previously mentioned, he’s set the bar very high to be one of, if not the best baseball player in the majors. And he doesn’t turn 25 years old until August 7.

Trout, though batting .217 after seven games, will turn up his level of play, get the momentum and be the Trout that bats around .300 for a majority of the season.

Maybe Trout is beginning to turn things around, because take away the first two games of the season and he is 5-of-15 with five walks, four RBIs and one home run. He also has five strikeouts in that span as well.

More call to the pen: Opening Week MLB Power Rankings

Even though it is a big surprise he’s off to a slow start, remember he’s one of the best the game has to offer, and maybe he’s getting his slump out of the way early in the season, because each player will go through this type of stretch at some point.

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