With an opening day barrage following the pre-game fireworks in Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers captured Opening Day, 14-3. What Dodgers rumors does this cause us to entail?
It was another memorable Opening Day for the Dodgers, winners of seven straight season openers. On a typically beautiful Los Angeles afternoon with Sandy Koufax on hand, Tommy Lasorda and Wally Moon threw out ceremonial first pitches before Clayton Kershaw took the mound to face the Padres’,Manuel Margot. Margot would strike out swinging, setting the tone for the afternoon – another day that Kershaw would dominate.
Los Angeles was playing its generous neighbors to the south, a feeble Padres team with whose starting lineup combines for a lower payroll ($28.5 million) than Kershaw’s salary ($33 million). The Dodgers are a whopping 72-40 against the Padres since 2011, including a resounding season-opening series in 2016 that included three shutouts and L.A. outscoring San Diego 25-0 over the three games.
In such a lopsided matchup, the score was not a surprise. Though emphatic statements are easy to make after observing a matchup like this, we try to distill the game down into three main takeaways. Without further adieu, here they are.