LEADING OFF: Dominant pitching, Buffalo in big leagues

A look at what’s happening around the majors today:

ACES HIGH

There was a ton of great pitching Friday on the second day of this strange 60-game season: Shane Bieber struck out 14 in six innings for the Indians, Jacob deGrom threw five shutout innings for the Mets and Kyle Hendricks threw a complete-game shutout for the Cubs.

Don't be surprised if that trend continues. There are plenty of fresh arms to go around.

The Miami Marlins and Seattle Mariners carried a record 17 pitchers each on their opening day rosters, which were expanded to 30 players for the beginning of this coronavirus-delayed season.

Many teams have opted for pitching-heavy rosters as they try to ease their starting pitchers into the 60-game season. Pitchers usually get at least six weeks in spring training to build up their arm strength but got half that during July’s three-week summer camp.

EYES ON BASEBALL

Baseball's got the sports world largely to itself for the next week and a lot of people are watching.

The pandemic-delayed MLB opener was a hit on television. The Nationals-Yankees game on ESPN was the most-watched regular season game in baseball on any network in nine years. It averaged 4 million viewers according to Nielsen fast national ratings and peaked at 8:30 p.m. EDT with 4.48 million viewers.

No regular season game had been viewed by that many since 4.7 million watched Boston beat the Yankees 3-2 in 10 innings on Aug. 7, 2011. That game was also on ESPN.

BUFFALO BLUE JAYS

The nomadic Blue Jays earned a win on Friday to start their season. They also found a place to call home for a few months.

Toronto finally learned where they'll play home games this season on Friday, settling for a Triple-A stadium in Buffalo, New York, after being denied use of big league stadiums in Canada and...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/LEADING-OFF-Dominant-pitching-Buffalo-in-big-15433508.php