MLB begins highly anticipated new season

Owen McDaniel Contributing Writer

If the 2023-2024 MLB season is anything like its predecessor, fans are in for a wild ride. The 2022 season had a plethora of captivating storylines, including but not limited to Aaron Judge’s record-breaking power supply, the Atlanta Braves overcoming a 10.5 game deficit to snatch the National League East division out of the New York Mets’ hands and the Philadelphia Phillies’ Cinderella run from last Wild Card team to National League champions.

If you are planning on following the MLB this year, here are some equally exciting storylines that you should keep an eye on.

The Baltimore Orioles have one of the highest ceilings of any team in the MLB this season. They are powered by an exciting, young core made up of guys like rising star Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson, the betting favorite to win American League Rookie of the Year. That young core is balanced out by some seasoned veterans, such as second baseman Adam Frazier and starting pitcher Kyle Gibson, who is in his 12th year of MLB service. The O’s narrowly missed their first postseason berth since 2017 last season, so do not be surprised if that is the fuel they need to not only make the playoffs but even give some much higher payroll teams a little trouble.

Shohei Ohtani, one of baseball’s most entertaining players, will become a free agent after the 2023-2024 season concludes. If the Angels are unable to make the playoffs for the eighth straight year, despite arguably having the two best players on Earth in Ohtani and co-star Mike Trout, it is highly probable that “Sho-Time” will become “Sho-Tired” of the Angels and seek employment elsewhere. The ensuing courtship of the 2023 World Baseball Classic winner will be nothing short of a “The Bachelor” finale, likely culminating in a record-breakingly lucrative contract for Ohtani, who is the favorite to win his second career MVP award this season.

On March 6, 2022, the MLB and MLB Players Association agreed on multiple rule changes, resulting in one of the most controversial transformations of the game to date. The most notable of those changes are the implementation of a 15-second pitch clock, which increases to 20 seconds with runners on base.

The pitch clock implementation, in particular, is aimed at shortening games, which reached an all-time high in average length in 2021, at 3 hours and 11 minutes. However, as GC baseball senior third baseman Ben Tuten argues, that change was profoundly unnecessary.

“I can’t express in words how much I hate it,” Tuten said. “If you complain about baseball games being too long, you don’t like baseball games anyway.”

Tuten, along with many other MLB fans, believes that the pitch clock rules take away from the mental aspect of baseball and add to the already high levels of stress on the hitters.

On the other hand, fans like freshman business major Travis Shields and freshman exercise science major Ryan Kloss can see the pros of the pitch clock but also believe it has drawbacks.

“I think the pitch clock is good and bad,” Shields said. “It speeds up the game, but I don’t think you should be able to get called out on strike three because of that.”

“It gets more people watching baseball, but it doesn’t get more people engaged in baseball,” Kloss said.

Given the difference in opinions across the MLB’s fanbase, it will certainly be intriguing to observe how those opinions fluctuate throughout the season.

The beginning of a new season always brings out a myriad of opinions relating to players that will have breakout seasons, MVP candidates and World Series predictions.

“I think Bobby Witt Jr. from the Royals will have a breakout year,” Tuten said. “I think Jarred Kelenic for the Mariners is going to have a breakout year.”

Tuten also predicts that former MVP and newly relocated center fielder Cody Bellinger will benefit from a fresh start with the Chicago Cubs.

“I think Bellinger bounces back this year,” Tuten said. “Maybe not MVP form, but I think he plays well.”

As far as World Series predictions go, Tuten, Shields and Kloss all agreed on one thing: The Atlanta Braves will be playing on baseball’s biggest stage once again this October.

Although there may be some hometown team bias involved in those picks, the Braves certainly look like a World Series contender through the first week of games, taking two games out of three from the Washington Nationals and sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals.

Ronald Acuña Jr., who both Tuten and Shields predict to earn the National League MVP award, is fully healthy following a gruesome ACL tear in the 2021 season.

“I felt like I let the fans down, let the city down, just everybody basically,” said third baseman Austin Riley about the Braves’ 2022 postseason exit in an article he wrote for The Players’ Tribune.

However, he puts his focus on moving forward.

“The only thing that matters now is how we work and get better and do everything in our