Top 5 Moments of the First Quarter of the 2016 MLB Season

We’re about a quarter of the way into the 2016 Major League Baseball season so I came up with an idea to review the top 5 moments from each quarter.  And although the season is only 40 or so games young, a lot has already transpired.  This list is just based on my own opinion, so a lot of you may have other ideas. (Feel free to let me know!) Also, I know you’re probably thinking the Blue Jays/Rangers brawl would at least get a mention but I tried to keep this within the actual scope of the game. Enjoy!

5. Clayton Kershaw strikes out ten in six straight starts.

(USATSI)

Coming in at #5 is the most recent of these moments as Clayton Kershaw strikes out at least 10 hitters in his sixth consecutive game.  Only 4 other pitchers have done this since 1900—3 of which are already in the Hall of Fame.  Over the last 5-6 years, Kershaw has cemented himself as one of the best, if not the best, pitchers in all of Major League Baseball and rightfully so. Meanwhile he continues to back himself up and prove to everyone that he is as elite as they come.

4. Jake Arrieta throws his second career no-hitter.

While Kershaw has been the poster child of the 2010s, perhaps no pitcher has been on a more incredible run since the start of 2015 than Jake Arrieta.  After tossing his first career no hitter last August in the midst of a second half performance no one had ever really seen before, Arrieta followed it up with another in late April.  The 2015 Cy Young Award winner has backed up his breakout season with another strong start, highlighted by this performance against the Reds.

3. Trevor Story hits his seventh home run in first six games.

On April 10^th Story hammered his 7^th home run in just his sixth game, a new MLB rookie record.  His incredible run to open the season put his name on the map of the entire baseball world, not to be soon forgotten.  Too bad the Rockies will never get any decent pitching because their offense is very solid.  Absolute suicide for pitchers in that launching pad of a park.

2. Max Scherzer strikes out twenty.

Roger Clemens. Randy Johnson. Kerry Wood. That’s it. Those are the only pitchers in MLB history to strike out 20 hitters in a single game.  Well, that is until Max Scherzer joined the club last week against his former team in what was easily the best MLB pitching performance of the season.  Scherzer gave 21 a run in the ninth inning after striking out the first two hitters but a ground ball final out kept him from doing so.  Still, to join such an exclusive club has to be a highlight both for him and for fans like us who witnessed it.

1. Bartolo Colon hits his first MLB home run.

“The impossible has happened!!” – Mets play by play announcer Gary Cohen. What a time to be alive. On May 7^th Bartolo “Big Sexy” Colon drilled his first career home run to deep left field off of James Shields, and he pimped the SHIT out of it.  Carrying the bat halfway down the first base line was absolute gold, not to mention a 30+ second trot around the bases.  The 42 year old Dominican is always a spectacle to watch, but this had to have been one of the best moments (both for fans and himself) of his career.  Nonetheless, it comes in as the top moment of the 2016 Major League Baseball season so far.

Honorable Mentions:

Giancarlo Stanton hits a home run out of Marlins Park.

Jackie Bradley Jr.’s hit streak

Justin Verlander reaches 2,000 strikeouts.

My Five Takeaways from the 2016 Players Championship

Well another Players Championship has come and gone.  This is always one of my favorite tournaments of the season because in my opinion it’s the event that really kicks off the summer, and also hosts one of the best fields of the season.  Golf’s unofficial “fifth major” witnessed a lot over the course of the weekend, with storylines ranging from the course to the players themselves.  Here are my five big takeaways from the tournament.  Let’s roll.

5. Spieth fails to rebound.

(Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Jordan Spieth walked off of the 18^th green on Sunday at the Masters having blown a five shot lead, highlighted by an all-time collapse on the par-3 12^th hole.  Since then Jordan has been on a month long hiatus, during which we were all introduced to #SB2K16.  The Players Championship was his first scheduled event since the Masters and many of us were unsure of where his game would be.  As I previously blogged, Spieth was my pick to win the Players despite having missed the cut last year because I felt his methodical approach with his caddie would help them navigate around such a challenging course as TPC Sawgrass.  Spieth proceeded to miss his second straight cut at the event after finishing tied for fourth in 2014.  With his early exit this week, Spieth continues to raise questions but I’m not reading too much into this.  As I have also said in the past, Spieth can get red-hot at any moment and there is still a lot of golf to be played this season.  The Players Championship has not seen eye-to-eye with some of the best players in the world, and while Spieth has only played the event three times it may be an event that truly just doesn’t fit his game.

4. TPC Sawgrass: A tale of two courses.

(PGA)

It is always one of the most exciting (and most recognizable) courses in all of golf, with its signature three hole stretch (16 through 18) capping off an overall mentally challenging track.  That being said, it can yield low scores when the northeast Florida conditions settle and we saw just that on Thursday and Friday.  Jason Day (more on him in a bit) set the tone with a course record-tying 63 (-9) to open his Players Championship, but that was just the beginning.  The next day Colt Knost matched Day’s round with a 63 of his own, while Rory McIlroy flirted with the number as well.  However, a bogey on his final hole of the day limited Rory to a 64.  Overall the average score for the first two days of the tournament was 71.06—almost a full stroke under par.

Then Saturday came, and the average score shot up to 75.59.

The biggest factor contributing to MANY high scores on Saturday was the speed of the greens, rolling much faster than the previous two days.  With so many slopes on Sawgrass’ greens combined with lightning fast speed, players could simply not figure out how to make putts when they needed to.  If that’s not enough to convince you, just look at the record 149 three-putts recorded on Saturday by the 76 players who made the cut.  Jason Day, who shot a 75 on Saturday, called it “the toughest day I’ve ever had to play in my life.”  Sunday’s conditions were more feasible, but Saturday will go down as one of the toughest days in Players Championship history. 

3. Sunday drama? No thanks.

(24 Hour Sports)

Over the last several years, we’ve been treated to some awesome finishes to the Players Championship.  Last year especially.  But this year was a bit different as Jason Day had things on cruise control for pretty much the entire back nine, being challenged by virtually no one. His four-shot victory was the largest since 2009. I guess we were due for a drama-less finish one of these years though, but it honestly sucks that it came right after such an electric finish last year when Rickie owned the 17^th hole down the stretch.  While it was still great to see such a talented player like Day close out a victory there, I never felt any sort of real excitement like the Players has given us in the past.  Of course, there’s a great chance next year may return to a truly exciting finish. 

2. KEN DUKE.

(Golf Digest)

What a week for Ken Duke! Five missed cuts on the season and his best finish was a tie for 37^th. WHO CARES? Ken Duke is a great story to anyone that follows golf like I do (so probably no one).  He has been plagued by many injuries in the past and has only one career victory, but has still managed to continue playing on the PGA Tour.  Entering this week no one really thought anything would come out of Ken Duke.  That is until he shot 65 on Saturday at the 2016 Players Championship.  Are you kidding me?! He blitzed the scoring average by ten shots. TEN. He’s 47!  Ken Duke’s Saturday round, which launched him into the second to last group on Sunday, may very well be the round of the year—and one of the best rounds in recent golf history.  Seriously.  On a day where no one could do anything right, Duke came within two of tying the course record at 47 years old. He finished tied for 3rd, his best finish since that lone victory almost three years ago. Spectacular. 

What wasn’t spectacular? The missed birdie putt on 18 on Sunday.  Had it dropped, Duke would have made an additional $430,000.

1. Jason Day continues his dominance.

(Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

I think we’re really running out of things to say about Mr. Day at this point.  He now has 7 wins in his last 17 starts, 3 of which were wire-to-wire.  In the last 9 months, Day (among his other victories) has collected a major, two playoff wins, a world golf championship, and now a Players’ Championship. Not bad huh? Not once did Day look uncomfortable or phased this entire tournament, and his game may very well allow him to remain atop the World Golf Rankings for a significant amount of time.  No one on tour may ever be able to copy the type of player Tiger Woods was, but this run that Jason Day has been on (and the way his game looks) has to be drawing some comparisons at this point.  Hats off to him on a great victory.