FanGraphsLive: Dodgers at Cardinals on MLB The Show
Welcome to Virtual Opening Day 2.0! April 9 represents what would have been Opening Day after MLB’s initial delay to the start of the season.
By popular vote, today’s game, streamed live at 2 PM ET by Paul Sporer, Ben Clemens, and Dan Szymborski, will feature the Los Angeles Dodgers heading to St. Louis to take on Carlos Martínez and the Cardinals.
The Cardinals (7-5) are hoping to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Dodgers. After today’s game, the Red Birds start a nine-game road trip against the Cubs, Dodgers, and Rockies. In the NL Central’s early going, the Cincinnati Reds (10-1) are at the top of the division thanks to a nine-game winning streak. Carlos Martínez had a rough outing against the Reds in his season debut, but earned a no-decision after a quality start against the Orioles last week. C-Mart has yet to walk a batter this season.
The Dodgers (8-4) stand tied at the top of the NL West with the Colorado Rockies, who have gone on a five-game winning streak since benching Ian Desmond. Reigning National League MVP Cody Bellinger’s cold start continues and after 12 games, his line still stands at a rough .187/.264/.229 with no homers and -0.4 WAR. Corey Seager, on the other hand, is off to the hottest start of his career and currently ranks third in the National League in WAR among position players.
| Player | Team | WAR |
|---|---|---|
| Starling Marte | Arizona Diamondbacks | 1.4 |
| Eugenio Suárez | Cincinnati Reds | 1.1 |
| Corey Seager | Los Angeles Dodgers | 1.0 |
| Shogo Akiyama | Cincinnati Reds | 0.9 |
| Joey Votto | Cincinnati Reds | 0.8 |
| Nick Ahmed | Arizona Diamondbacks | 0.8 |
| Howie Kendrick | Washington Nationals | 0.7 |
| Ketel Marte | Arizona Diamondbacks | 0.6 |
| Kolten Wong | St. Louis Cardinals | 0.6 |
| Colin Moran | Pittsburgh Pirates | 0.6 |
Dan Szymborski is a senior writer for FanGraphs and the developer of the ZiPS projection system. He was a writer for ESPN.com from 2010-2018, a regular guest on a number of radio shows and podcasts, and a voting BBWAA member. He also maintains a terrible Twitter account at @DSzymborski.
You guys really have voices for print. However, I am still very entertained by this, so thanks!
Yeah, I wish I had a deeper voice!
The mumbling is more than I can hear myself in my ear a quarter-second after I say something because of the way the stream is set up, so I sometimes perplex myself mid sentence and can’t get a word out. Hopefully that reduces with practice.
Really enjoyed this w/o the in-game announcers. Your booth is like listening to baseball with only color-commentators and no play-by-play and it’s just the content/silliness I want out of this.