2018 MLB Projection Season Highlights (Mar 30th - April 4th)

I haven't posted in awhile, but been meaning to post the 2018 MLB Projection Season highlights so far, so here they are in chronological order by date...

By the way, I play with real-life injuries & trade acquisitions while I play with custom-made cards for players like Shohei Ohtani (Angels), Gleyber Torres (Yankees) & many others...



March 29th (Opening Day)

• The Philadelphia Phillies launch 4 solo home runs in a 4-0 victory over Atlanta; Two of those HR were by Maikel Franco.

• The Detroit Tigers' Mikie Mahtook hits 2 HR (including a lead-off HR in the 1st) on opening day (both off of Ivan Nova) against the Pirates, as Tigers win 6-1. 

• The Milwaukee Brewers launch 13 runs & 17 hits against the San Diego Padres, including an excellent 4-for-5 performance by right fielder Domingo Santana with 2 HR, 2B & 7 RBI. Ryan Braun, playing first base, went 2-for-5, HR, 2B & 4 RBI.

• The New York Yankees score 5 runs in the first, including a solo HR by Aaron Judge & a three-run HR by Greg Bird; Yankees win 6-2 on 10 K's by Luis Severino.

• Welington Castillo in his new White Sox digs, hits 2 home runs against Kansas City, leading the White Sox to a 9-6 victory.

• The Cardinals' Carlos E. Martinez pitches five-hit complete-game shutout with 9 K's against the New York Mets, winning 5-0.

• The Miami Marlins actually came out to play against the Cubbies, but lose a close one, 7-5. Lewis Brinson goes 2-for-2, HR, 2 RBI & 2 walks while Starlin Castro goes 3-for-5, HR, 3B & 2 RBI in their Marlins debuts.

• Justin Turner joins a handful of other MLB players with 2 HR on opening day, helping the Dodgers defeat the Giants, 8-4. 

March 30th

• Rafael Devers leads the charge with a 2-for-4 day that including a two-run HR, while Christian Vazquez went 3-for-4, solo HR & 2 runs, along with solo HR by Mookie Betts. Red Sox win against the Rays (7-2) on 8 K's by David Price (2 ER / 6.1 IP).

• Shohei Ohtani allows only 3 hits & one earned run in 7.2 innings, defeating Oakland, 4-2 (Mike Trout - 2-Run HR). 

• Bryce Harper hits two 2-Run home runs, as Washington defeats Cincinnati, 8-7; The Nationals' pen almost blown the game, allowing 4 runs (including a three-run pinch-hit HR by Patrick Kivelahan); Stephen Strasburg (WAS): 7 IP, 4 H , 2 ER, 8 K & BB.

• Two 2-Run HRs by Todd Frazier of the Mets, as Mets win 5-1 over St. Louis.

• The Miami Marlins blow a 6-2 lead (after 4 innings), as the Chicago Cubs rake in 7 runs during the 6th-8th innings, including 2 HRs by Kyle Schwarber & a three-run HR by Anthony Rizzo during the 7th.

• Brandon Crawford brings his HR total to 3 (through 2 games) with 2 HR against the Los Angeles Dodgers, as the Giants win 7-1.

• The Colorado Rockies' Kyle Freeland pitches a two-hit shutout with 7 K & 3 walks against the Arizona Diamondbacks; Charlie Blackmon: 2-Run HR. 

March 31st

• Down 3-1 against the Minnesota Twins, the Baltimore Orioles win with Chris Davis' walk-off three-run HR off of Fernando Rodney. 

• Tampa Bay wins big, 12-5 over Boston, led by Carlos Gomez (3-for-3, HR, 2B, HBP, SF, 2 runs & 3 RBI) and Mallex Smith (3-for-3, 3B, RBI, 2 runs & 2 stolen bases). 

• Both Kyle Hendricks (Chicago Cubs) and Adam Conley (Miami Marlins) each pitches 9 innings, while collecting 10 strikeouts -- both left with 0-0 tie through 9 innings; Jason Heyward's two-run single during the top of the 15th (against the Marlins' Jarlin Garcia) leads Cubs to 2-0 victory.

• Newly-acquired Wade Davis (Colorado Rockies) blows save & loses game as Arizona's David Peralta hits a walk-off two-run HR. 

• The Los Angeles Dodgers' Alex Wood pitches a four-hit shutout (including 5 K & 2 walks) against the San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers' three runs came off Yasiel Puig's three-run HR in the 1st Inning.

April 1st

• The Detroit Tigers' Francisco Liriano pitches a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he struck out 6, while walking 4 batters; The Tigers' Mikie Mahtook hits his 3rd HR of the season (He only had 12 HR in 348 at-bats during 2017), while Tigers complete 3-game sweep of Pittsburgh.

• The New York Yankees' CC Sabathia was brilliant with two-hit, 1 ER, complete-game victory (9-1) over the Toronto Blue Jays, completing a 4-game sweep. Didi Gregorius hits his 2nd HR of season, following a 3-for-5, HR, 2 2B & 3-RBI performance the day before, while Aaron Judge hits his 3rd HR of the season. The Yankees hit 12 HR that series.

• The Angels' Shohei Ohtani stole 3rd base on Jonathan Lucroy of Oakland.

• Michael Conforto (Mets) goes 3-for-3, HR, 2B, single with a BB & 3 RBI, leading the Mets to a 6-4 victory over the Cardinals.

• The Chicago Cubs complete a hard-fought 4-game sweep of the Miami Marlins, every game was decided by 3-runs or less.

April 2nd 

• The Yankees' Aaron Judge hits his 4th HR of the season, while Aaron Hicks adds a two-run HR of his own, to help the Yankees win 4-2 over Tampa Bay. 

• New San Francisco Giants veteran additions - Andrew McCutchen (2-Run HR) and Evan Longoria (3-for-4, HR, RBI) lead the Giants to a 5-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners; The Giants' Ty Blach (Grade D-RZ) pitched 6 strong innings, while allowing only 2 hits & one earned run, while striking out 5 M's. 

• With the Boston Red Sox having numerous starting pitchers hurt, I had to turn to Brandon Workman (who has started in the past for Boston) to start against the Marlins; Workman pitches 6 innings of two-hit ball, while allowing no runs or walks, with 8 K's... winning 1-0 on a 8th Inning RBI double by Rafael Devers. The Marlins lose yet another close game, as they fall to 0-5 (all games decided by 3 runs or less).

• Charlie Morton of the Houston Astros pitches 6 strong innings, allowing only two hits & one earned run, while striking out 7 batters. Carlos Correa's solo HR in the 3rd inning was the difference maker.

• The Chicago Cubs outpaced the Cincinnati Reds in their series opener, 9-5. Ian Happ's 6th Inning Grand Slam capped off a 6-run inning, while the Reds' Scooter Gennett goes 4-for-5, with 3 home runs, 2B, 4 runs & 4 RBI for the day. 

• The Washington Nationals (improving to 3-1) win in extras, due to Micheal A Taylor's two-run 11th inning homer off of Atlanta's Luke Jackson; Ryan Zimmerman went 3-for-5, HR, 2B & 3 RBI for the night.

• The St. Louis Cardinals' Luke Weaver pitches the Cardinals' 2nd shutout already in this young season, with 4-hit performance that included 10 K & 3 BB, defeating Milwaukee 3-0.

• The Chicago White Sox defeat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-1 on timely hitting and a strong pitching performance from Miguel Gonzalez (8.1 IP, 4 H, ER, 7 K & 2 BB). Jose Abreu (3-for-4, HR, 2B & 3 RBI), Welington Castillo (3rd HR of the season), Tim Anderson (2-Run HR) & Nicky Delmonico (solo HR) all lead the charge at the plate -- handing the Blue Jays their 5th straight loss to start the season. 

• The Cleveland Indians (4-0) defeat the Los Angeles Angels, 10-3. Micheal Brantley's 3-Run HR (in the 5th) & Jose Ramirez's 3-hit, 3-RBI day were the huge highlights for the tribe, while the Angels' Ian Kinsler fell a triple short of the cycle, while collecting 3 of the 4 Angels' hits.

• The Colorado Rockies win (8-6) on back-to-back solo home runs during the top of the 10th, by catcher Chris Iannetta & pinch-hitter Gerardo Parra. Wade Davis collects his 1st save; 25 total hits by both teams combined. 

April 3rd

• The combination of Giancarlo Stanton (5th Inning Grand Slam) & Aaron Judge's 2 home runs was too much for the Rays to overcome, as the Yankees win 10-5. Judge now has 6 HR for the season in as many games, while Aaron Hicks and Adam Lind each added solo shots. 

• The San Francisco Giants' Austin Slater (after good pinch-hitting performances) gets his first start of the season in right & takes full advantage of it -- going 4-for-5, with 2 HR, 2 doubles, 2 RBI, while scoring 4 runs. Teammate Joe Panik also collects 4 hits, to go along with 3 RBI; Giants defeat Seattle, 11-5 (on 17 hits).

• Boston's Chris Sale pitches a spectacular one-hit shutout that included 15 strikeouts, while the Red Sox defeat the Marlins, 4-0 with help from Andrew Benintendi (2 doubles, 2 RBI) & Sandy Leon (solo HR).

• The Toronto Blue Jays finally win in a big way, trailing 5-1 after 6 innings, the Jays rally back with 5 runs during the final three innings, capped off with Russell Martin's walk-off two-run homer in the Rogers Centre off of the Chicago White Sox' reliever Juan Minaya; Martin had 2 home runs for the day (which included 4 hits & 3 runs).

• Justin Verlander (Houston) improves to 2-0 with 7 strong innings, allowing 3 hits, 1 run & 1 walk while striking out 10 Orioles; Houston improves to 5-1. 

• The Chicago Cubs (5-1) lose their 1st game, losing 6-5 to the Reds. Scott Schebler of Cincy, goes 3-for-4 with HR, 2 doubles & 3 RBI. Although the Cubs lost, they did make a highlight of their own by hitting back-to-back-to-back home runs in the 2nd inning with Ian Happ, pitcher Jon Lester & Ben Zobrist. 

• Paul Goldschmidt (Arizona) goes 3-for-4, with 2 HR & 6 RBI for the day, as the D-Backs edge the Dodgers, 8-5.

• Youngster Amed Rosario went 4-for-5, HR, 3B, RBI & 2 runs in a losing cause for the New York Mets, as they lose to Philadelphia, 7-5. 

• Jason Kipnis' 2nd HR of the day proves to be a big one, a 2-run go-ahead homer in the 10th (off of Cam Bedrosian), to give the Indians a 4-3 win; The Angels' Luis Valbuena hits solo HR during bottom of 10th with 2 outs, but the team could not tie it up. 

• The Oakland Athletics' Kendall Graveman pitches a one-hit, 12 K shutout performance against the Texas Rangers (no-no was broken up during top of the 6th, by Robinson Chirinos with no outs); Jed Lowrie (2 doubles, 4 RBI) & Dustin Fowler (2-Run HR) helped Graveman to victory.

April 4th

• The Arizona Diamondbacks' Zack Greinke made a strong bid for 20 strikeouts in a game... but fell short with 17, pitching a two-hit shutout, allowing only 2 walks. Greinke had 10 K's after 5 innings & 16 K's after 7 innings at certain points. The D-Backs' Ketel Marte (0-for-17) broke out of his slump by going 4-for-5, with a HR, double & 6 RBI; Arizona wins 12-0 over the Dodgers. 

• Mike Trout's two home runs (3 RBI) was literally the difference in a 3-0 victory of the Cleveland Indians, while Shohei Ohtani again shines with two-hit, shutout with 5 strikouts; Corey Kluber was no slouch in a losing cause, allowing only 2 hits, 1 run (but 3 walks) in 7.1 innings, that included 10 strikeouts.

• The Tigers' Mikie Mahtook continues to surprise while hitting his 4th HR of the season (6 games in), while John Hicks has a huge day at DH, going 3-for-4, HR, 2B & 2 RBI, as the Tigers win 7-1, improving to 5-1 for the season. 

• Michael Conforto of the New York Mets goes 3-for-4 with 2 HR, a double & 3 RBI, while Yoenis Cespedes (2-for-3, 3B, 3 RBI, BB) also provided help as the Mets defeat Philadelphia, 7-1; The Mets' starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard improved to 1-1, allowing only 4 hits & one run in 7.1 innings of work, striking out 11 batters. 

• The Toronto Blue Jays win their series against the White Sox, 2-1, as the Jays improve to 2-5 thanks to Curtis Granderson's 6th inning Grand Slam which capped off a 6-run inning.

• The Colorado Rockies win on a go-ahead RBI single during the top of the 10th by Nolan Arenado, defeating San Diego, 4-3; Charlie Blackmon goes 3-for-5, HR, two doubles, RBI & 3 runs.