Major League Baseball is a type of theater that can mentally tax fans with the amount of games that are played. Teams play a month of scrimmages, followed by six months of competitive regular season games, and then, if fans are lucky, they may get a month or two of postseason games.
It is a long season, so we're not always fully invested watching games all season long. However, at the beginning of a new year, fans hang on every pitch, taking in the good and the bad.
Does this mean we sometimes blow things out of proportion (looking at you torpedo bats)? Yea, but that's what fandom is all about.
So, let's examine some of the overreactions together. Here are a few of the storylines being discussed after the opening weekend of the 2025 season.
The New York Yankees are cheating with their torpedo bats
This topic is being talked about everywhere. A friend of mine is a Boston Red Sox fan, who is livid about the Yankees "cheating." When a team hits 15 home runs in three games, it will draw some opinions. It does not help that the Yankees are a team that fans either love or hate with little middle ground.
Major League Baseball has educated us on Rule 3.02, stating that bats cannot be more than 2.61 inches in diameter and 42 inches in length. So, the bat's design is odd, but it falls within these measurement perimeters.
There is not enough research to determine whether the bat helped the power barrage or whether it was the Brewers' dreadful pitching and wind blowing out.
However, if the Yankees continue to crush the ball, more teams will consider implementing this bat design. Elly De La Cruz used a torpedo bat Monday and hit his first two home runs on the season and added seven runs batted in. This feels like something MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred needs to take a more thorough look at.
Ladies and gentlemen, the ELECTRIC Elly De La Cruz ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/INdsMulrwp
— MLB (@MLB) April 1, 2025
Rafael Devers is playing bad on purpose so he can be traded
Fans follow this trend whenever an organization has drama, especially when the center of the drama plays badly. Devers has been brutal to start the season, going 0-19 with 15 strikeouts over the weekend versus the Texas Rangers and the first game of the second series against the Orioles, but trying to get traded is not the reason for the brutal start.
He dealt with a lingering shoulder injury in the offseason, limiting his spring training plate appearances to only 15. Then, he made a position change, switching to designated hitter. When you are used to playing in the field and being engaged the whole game, sitting and watching your team in the field is a significant mental change. Currently, his 162-game pace for strikeouts is 486, while the MLB record is 223 set by Mark Reynolds in 2009.
In 1995, Tony Gwynn had 15 strikeouts in 585 AB. In 2025, Rafael Devers has 15 strikeouts in 19 AB. pic.twitter.com/8DgDFE4dWZ
— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) March 31, 2025
Devers must find a way to keep himself mentally engaged throughout the game, whether it is hitting in the cages or learning how successful designated hitters operate between plate appearances. He may need to have a conversation with former Red Sox David Ortiz. It could even be a mechanics issue that needs to be tweaked. The beauty or ugliness of baseball, depending on how you look at it, is that there is no obvious reason for struggles... usually.
Brewers and Twins fans need to panic
Even though it is early, Brewers and Twins fans need to be a little worried. As of March 31, the two teams rank 29th and 30th in starter ERA, with both sporting marks over 11.00. The Brewers were outscored 36-14 and swept by the Yankees in a three-game series, then lost to the Kansas City Royals 11-1 in the first game of their next series.
Both are top-tier opponents, but the worrisome part is the starting pitchers have given up 11 home runs, including back-back-back home runs on three straight pitches from former Yankee Nester Cortes.
After Sunday's start, Aaron Civale joined five other starting pitchers on the injured list. More struggles may be ahead until some of these pitchers return to action including Brandon Woodruff, Aaron Ashby, DL Hall, and Tobias Myers, who could return in the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, the Twins were swept and outscored 19-6 by the St. Louis Cardinals, who spent most of the offseason trying to convince Nolan Arenado to void his no-trade clause and start a rebuild. If that is not bad enough, the Twins were beaten by the Chicago White Sox 9-0 in the series opener.
The pitching staff has been better than the Brewers, but not by much. They have allowed 27 hits, six home runs, and seven walks while only striking out 13 batters. Plus, the offense has been just as atrocious.
Only two batters are hitting above a .210 batting average (Willie Castro and Trevor Larnach), and Castro is the only player with wRC+ above 98. Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton, Ryan Jeffers, and Ty France each have a negative wRC+.
Both teams should be fine in the long run — better health will go a long way for both squads — but this is not the start that fans expected.