Opening Day history: 13 jaw-dropping facts and stats

Opening Day is always special. But sometimes, it simply leaves you breathless after an exciting and eventful Day 1 of the MLB regular season. Thursday’s season openers did just that, with history being made, a thrilling comeback and a walk-off victory, just to name some of the highlights as the 2024 campaign got under way.

• Top moments from Opening Day

Here’s a look at 13 fascinating facts and stats from Opening Day 2024:

D-backs drub Rockies with historic offensive outburst
D-backs 16, Rockies 1

Entering the bottom of the third inning at Chase Field, the defending NL champion D-backs held a 2-1 lead over the Rockies. Then came an outburst of historic proportions by Arizona -- the D-backs scored 14 runs on 13 hits, sending 18 men to the plate. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 14 runs are the most scored in a single inning on Opening Day in the Modern Era (since 1900), and the fourth-most scored in a single inning of any game over that span.

That third-inning barrage also rewrote the franchise record books for Arizona. The 14 runs represent the largest single inning in D-backs history, eclipsing a 13-run fourth inning in a 15-6 victory over the Pirates at Chase Field on April 11, 2010.

Overall, Arizona’s 16 runs on Opening Day tied for the fifth-most since 1900. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had three hits in the contest, including a homer. His five RBIs set a franchise record for Opening Day, surpassing Jake Lamb’s four driven in on March 29, 2018, also against the Rockies.

On the flip side, the 14 runs the Rockies surrendered in the third inning on Thursday set a franchise record. The 16 total runs allowed in the contest is also an Opening Day record for Colorado, surpassing the 12 runs the Rockies gave up against the Phillies on April 4, 1994.

Yanks complete largest Opening Day comeback win since 1950
Yankees 5, Astros 4

The first few innings of the Yankees’ season did not go smoothly. Nestor Cortes coughed up four runs in the first two frames against an Astros team that has had the Yankees’ number in recent years. The Yanks were resilient, though, and scored five unanswered runs while not allowing a run the rest of the game. Juan Soto made his much-anticipated Yankees debut, delivering an RBI single and throwing out the potential tying run at the plate in the ninth inning. By erasing a four-run deficit, the Yankees completed their largest comeback win on Opening Day since they overcame a nine-run deficit against the Red Sox in 1950.

O’Neill muscles up, again
Red Sox 6, Mariners 4

Each season from 2020-23, Tyler O’Neill homered on Opening Day for the Cardinals. St. Louis traded him to Boston over the offseason, but even in a different uniform, O’Neill maintained the tradition. His opposite-field solo shot in the eighth inning at Seattle not only extended the Red Sox’s lead to two runs but also set a Major League record for O’Neill. Per Elias, O’Neill is the first player to go deep in five straight season openers, breaking a tie with Hall of Famers Yogi Berra (1955-58) and Gary Carter (1977-80) as well as Todd Hundley (1994-97).

Dodgers’ Big Three come up big
Dodgers 7, Cardinals 1

This wasn’t Opening Day for the Dodgers -- who went 1-1 against the Padres in last week’s Seoul Series -- but it was the regular-season Dodger Stadium debut for the team’s Big Three of Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman. The trio of MVP Award winners, batting first, second and third in the lineup, did not disappoint.

Each of the three reached base safely three times in a romp against St. Louis, going a combined 5-for-8 with four walks. There were just two games in all of 2023 that the Dodgers’ 1-2-3 spots produced at least nine times on base, six runs scored, two homers and four RBIs -- thresholds Betts, Ohtani and Freeman combined to reach in just their third game together.

Mr. Burnes’ excellent O’s debut
Orioles 11, Angels 3

Corbin Burnes struck out 11 hitters in his Orioles debut on Opening Day. That is tied with Mike Mussina (1998) for the second-most strikeouts by an O’s pitcher in an Opening Day start. Only Dave McNally (13 in 1970) struck out more in an Orioles season opener. This was the 14th game of 11-plus strikeouts for Burnes, who has reeled off three straight 200-strikeout seasons, so Orioles fans can get used to this type of performance from their ace.

Burnes also did not walk a batter, becoming the fifth pitcher since 1900 -- and first since Madison Bumgarner in 2014 -- to pair 11-plus K’s with zero free passes in an Opening Day outing. Burnes is the first of those five to also surrender no more than one hit.

Honorable mention goes to Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman, who singled in his first two trips to the plate after going 5-for-5 with a walk in his first Opening Day game last year. According to Elias, Rutschman is the first player to reach base safely in at least his first eight career Opening Day plate appearances since Joe Lahoud from 1968-72.

Trout sets another Angels record
Orioles 11, Angels 3

Mike Trout set another Angels record, you say? Yes, believe it or not -- the three-time MVP launched MLB’s first home run of the season with a solo shot off Burnes in the first inning at Camden Yards, marking his fourth career Opening Day homer to surpass Tim Salmon and Joe Rudi for most in franchise history.

Rangers open title defense with rare Opening Day walk-off win
Rangers 4, Cubs 3 (10 innings)

In a thriller, the defending World Series champion Rangers opened the season with a walk-off victory thanks to a Jonah Heim single to beat the Cubs in the 10th inning at Globe Life Field. It marked just the fifth Opening Day walk-off win in franchise history, the second in the last 44 years, and first since April 5, 2010, when Texas opened up with a 5-4 win over the Blue Jays.

Start with a Martini (or two)
Reds 8, Nationals 2

Sometimes, Opening Day heroes are the names you expect. Other times, they are delightfully unexpected. Such was the case in Cincinnati on Thursday, where journeyman outfielder Nick Martini started as the team’s DH after winning a job in Spring Training, in part due to injuries elsewhere on the Reds’ roster. The 33-year-old, making his first career Opening Day start, had big league stints with the A’s, Padres and Cubs between 2018-21, spent 2022 in Korea, then returned stateside last year, playing well for the Reds down the stretch.

That run included Martini’s first two-homer game in MLB (last Aug. 25 at Arizona), and he repeated the feat on Thursday, bashing a two-run shot in the second and a three-run shot in the third off Josiah Gray. Martini joined Adam Dunn (2005 and ‘07) and Frank McCormick (1941) as the only Reds with a multi-homer effort on Opening Day.

Bieber is Mr. K on Opening Day
Guardians 8, A’s 0

This was Guardians right-hander Shane Bieber’s fifth straight Opening Day start on the mound, the longest active streak at his position. And Bieber delivered once again, allowing just four hits and one walk over six scoreless innings to drop his ERA in those five outings to 0.94. He also struck out 11, joining a star-studded list of pitchers to reach double digits at least three times in openers: Bob Gibson, Pedro Martinez, Felix Hernandez, Max Scherzer and Randy Johnson (who holds the record of four).

South Side shutout
Tigers 1, White Sox 0

Southpaws Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet dueled on the South Side of Chicago, each going six strong innings. But Skubal’s six frames for Detroit were scoreless on three hits and six strikeouts, whereas Crochet -- making his first Major League start -- yielded the only run of the contest on an Andy Ibáñez sacrifice fly in the third inning. Overall, Crochet scattered five hits and struck out eight. Neither left-hander walked a batter.

The 1-0 Tigers victory was the club’s first shutout on Opening Day since 2019, and just its fourth Opening Day shutout since 1970.

Foley brings the heat
Tigers 1, White Sox 0

Tigers reliever Jason Foley established himself as a solid bullpen arm with a 2.61 ERA in 69 innings last season. Foley was already armed with a big fastball -- his sinker averaged 97.2 mph in 2023 -- but he showed an even better version of that pitch in the season opener. After topping out with a career-best 100.3 mph fastball last season, Foley blew a 101.3 mph sinker and a 100.7 mph sinker past Luis Robert Jr. to complete the Tigers’ shutout.

A forgettable first for Arraez
Pirates 6, Marlins 5 (12 innings)

Luis Arraez spent much of last season flirting with the mythical .400 batting average, eventually winning his second consecutive batting title by hitting .354 to lead the Majors. But his first game in 2024 is one he’d like to forget -- Arraez went hitless in six at-bats for the first time in his career and his Marlins were 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position during an extra-inning loss to the Pirates.

Fish fan 17 Bucs in loss
Pirates 6, Marlins 5 (12 innings)

Though they lost to the Pirates in extra innings, Marlins pitchers set an Opening Day franchise record with 17 strikeouts. The 17 strikeouts were also an Opening Day record for Pirates hitters (since 1900). Prior to Thursday’s season opener, the Marlins had only lost a game in which their pitchers struck out 17 or more batters three times, and the Pirates had only won a game in which their batters had 17 or more strikeouts nine times over the previous 123 years. The 12-inning game was the longest on Opening Day since MLB adopted the “ghost runner” rule in 2020.