There's not too much insight to provide after Day 1, but one important note is Xander Bogaerts batting 5th in the Red Sox lineup. He went 3-for-4 on the day. We like Xander to have a great bounceback year, and there was some concern over how far down in the order he would go - which also remains to be seen once Dustin Pedroia comes back. But for now, he is slotted in the 5 slot which will only help his projections.
Shohei Ohtani started on opening day - as a batter mind you - batting 8th for the Angels. He went 1-for-5 in a lackluster debut. He's tough to own given the sporadic playing time, but could be worth a roster spot in daily leagues if he can put together a decent stretch of at-bats. That's very much to be determined at this point as we have very little to project from.
We ear-marked Giancarlo Stanton for a great season given his move from a not so friendly hitters park to a very friendly HR hitter park. It took less than one game for Stanton to impress, as he hit two home runs yesterday. I will spare you the statistics of his current pace for a full season, but will state the obvious anyway: Stanton could be headed for a very special season in New York.
Chris Sale was dominant yesterday, going 6 IP with nine strikeouts and just 1 hit with 0 ER against the Rays. Sale was removed after just 92 pitches, which is a good thing in my mind. The story on Sale is that he is over-worked for the first three-quarters of the season and flames out at the end, notably towards playoff time last year for the Sox. I would anticipate a handful of starts where Sale is taken out early, but that's for the best in H2H fantasy leagues if it keeps Sale fresh come playoff time.
Brad Brach nearly escaped a disastrous 9th yesterday before allowing 2 runs to score, giving him the BS. He walked two batters and allowed two hits in just 0.2 innings. Brach provided great value last year in the closer role, but the fact of the matter is that he wasn't all that dominant. The job is Britton's come second half, but I wouldn't be shocked if Brach loses closing duties before then anyway.
