10 amazing things from MLB's Opening Week?

Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the past week in baseball (March 28-April 3).

Electric Elly: On Monday, Elly De La Cruz had four hits, including a double and two home runs, along with a stolen base and seven RBIs. It was De La Cruz’s third career game with at least three extra-base hits and a stolen base. That’s the most such games by any player before turning 24 since 1900, breaking a tie with Joe Morgan and Orlando Cepeda.

Just keep hitting: Luis Arraez started the season 0-for-16 before getting a hit on Monday. But here is why nobody should worry about him: It was the third time a reigning batting champ started at least 0-for-13 to begin a season since 1900, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The others were Ferris Fain in 1952 (0-for-21) and Arraez last season (0-for-13). Both of them went on to win another batting title that year.

GENO! On Tuesday, Eugenio Suárez hit a grand slam that had a hang time of 6.6 seconds, the most of any home run so far in this young season. Suárez joined Rob Deer (1992 Tigers) and Rodolfo Castro (2021 Pirates) as the only players whose first five hits of a season were homers, since 1900 per Elias. None of the streaks extended to six.

Sock-ing them: The White Sox opened the season with a 28-inning streak without their starters allowing an earned run. That’s the fourth-longest such streak by a team’s starters in the expansion era (1961), behind the 1963 Cardinals (32 IP), 1976 Brewers (31 2/3 IP) and 2015 Tigers (28 1/3 IP), per Elias.

High velocity: Hunter Greene threw 59 fastballs on Wednesday and averaged 100.0 mph on them. Greene is the only pitcher in the pitch-tracking era (2008) to throw 50+ 4-seamers/sinkers in a game and average 100.0+ mph on them. He’s now done it seven times.

Rocket Ramos: Heliot Ramos has an extra-base hit in six straight games to open 2025, tying Felipe Alou (1963) for the longest season-opening streak by a Giant. If you are curious entering the weekend, the longest streak to begin a season in the last 125 years is eight, done three times: 2021 J.D. Martinez, 2007 Alex Rodriguez and 1997 Sandy Alomar.

California dreaming: With the Padres at 7-0 and Dodgers at 8-0, this is the fifth season in MLB history where multiple teams started 7-0 or better. They joined the 2003 Royals (9-0) and Giants (7-0), 1982 Braves (13-0) and White Sox (8-0), 1962 Pirates (10-0) and Cardinals (7-0) and 1884 St. Louis Maroons (20-0) and New York Gothams (12-0).

What a start: The Dodgers are the first defending World Series champs to start a season 8-0 or better, surpassing the 1933 Yankees. This is also the third-best start to a season in Dodgers history, trailing 1955 (10-0) and 1940 (9-0).

Polar Pete: On Wednesday, Pete Alonso had three hits of at least 113 mph, including his game-tying home run in the eighth inning. Alonso became the sixth player with three base hits of at least 113 mph in a game under Statcast (2015), joining Oneil Cruz (May 21, 2024), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (June 15, 2022), Avisail Garcia (April 12, 2019), Nelson Cruz (April, 28, 2018) and Matt Davidson (March 29, 2018).

Current Ironman: Matt Olson has played 627 consecutive games entering Friday, dating to May 2, 2021. There have been only seven other streaks of at least 600 games to begin in the divisional era (1969), per Elias. They belong to 1982-98 Cal Ripken Jr (2,632 consecutive games), 1975-83 Steve Garvey (1,207), 2000-07 Miguel Tejada (1,152), 1978-83 Pete Rose (745), 1981-86 Dale Murphy (740), 1973-78 Rose (678) and 1969-73 Sandy Alomar Sr. (661).