By David A. Avila

Published on June 16, 2021

Fans are back and the venue that leads Major League Baseball in attendance almost annually was filled to the brim.

Dodger Stadium was fully opened and more than 52,000 fans crowded into the hilltop baseball venue to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the visiting Philadelphia Phillies 5-3 on Tuesday June 15.

It was the first day that the state of California allowed full capacity.

The Dodgers won the World Series in 2020 without the Los Angeles fans in their home venue able to taste and experience the championship feeling. Though several thousand fans did travel to Arlington, Texas to watch the Dodgers defeat Tampa Bay Rays last October.

Every year since 2012 Dodger fans filled the stadium with more than 3.3 million fans and lead the Major League Baseball in attendance. In 2019 more than 3.9 million fans attended Dodger games.

Members of the Dodgers are aware of their fans desiring to see the team win it again and especially Betts after belting a homer to the left field pavilion. A female fan wearing a Mookie Betts Dodger jersey caught the ball.

“I’m thankful it finally happened. I definitely enjoyed it,” said Betts after a full capacity crowd at Dodger Stadium was allowed. “It was a great feeling hearing the fans cheer on my behalf since 2018. Obviously, it was a great feeling that we finally got this day.”

The 52,000 plus fans were the largest for a professional league event. However, the largest attended sports event was Mexico’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez who drew more than 72,000 fans to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas for his world title boxing clash with Billy Joe Saunders in May.

Ban on Pitching Ointments

MLB issued a ban on Tuesday June 15, that forbids all pitchers from using liquid substances or ointments for gripping purposes. Only rosin bags can be used by pitchers.

It also forbids anyone handing or giving pitchers substances. The penalty will be a 10-game suspension and mark as a cheater. Any team that has a pitcher suspended cannot substitute for a suspended player.

Since March 23, MLB through the umpire’s assistance have been gathering evidence and samples of balls that were thrown and exhibited suspicious movement. Even baseball caps were gathered to inspected by MLB to determine what substances were being used. Pitchers like Trevor Bauer, Gerrit Cole and Giovanny Gallegos were those pitchers suspected of using some kind of substance aid.

Tampa Bay ace Tyler Glasnow 5-2 with 2.66 ERA went down Monday with an injury and has been declared out for a substantial amount of time, perhaps for the entire season with a partial tear of the UCL elbow.

Glasnow was leading the team in many categories including strikeouts and the team currently leads the powerful AL East by two games. It’s a great loss for the team that played in the 2020 World Series.

The Tampa Bay pitcher blames the new MLB edict of eliminating substances on the ball as the primary reason for his injury. He claimed it caused him to grip the ball differently and led to an odd delivery and subsequently injury.

Reds Hitting

The Cincinnati Reds have two players in the top 10 in batting average. What gives?

Jesse Winker and Nick Castellanos have been battling back and forth for the lead in batting average for the first three months of season 2021.

Currently Castellanos leads the National League with a .351 average while Winker trails at .344 average.

When it comes to OPS - which combines slugging average with on-base-percentage - Winker leads the NL with a 1.048 OPS and Castellanos trails at 1.021 OPS. It’s a dynamic one-two punch that has kept the Cincy team competing for the NL Central despite a lack of pitching. The Reds trails Chicago Cubs by a mere three games.

Rookies to Watch

Tampa Bay’s Randy Arozarena may not seem like a rookie because of the headlines he made in last year’s MLB playoffs but in reality he is still a rookie. And what a rookie.

Arozarena has consistently shown to be his team’s most feared player and hits with power and can steal bases too. So far he is not a flash-in-the-pan as some projected. He’s a force on Tampa Bay’s team with a .264 batting average.

St. Louis Cardinal outfielder Dylan Carlson has shown consistency in both defense and offense and has a .265 batting average with .756 OPS.

Pitcher Trevor Rogers of the Miami Marlins has proven to be a top southpaw and sports a 1.98 ERA that leads all rookie pitchers in MLB. His consistency and dominance have made him the top rookie pitcher up to now. He has 95 strikeouts in 81 2/3 innings.

Atlanta Brave pitcher Ian Anderson is another player who spent time in the playoffs and has continued his excellence this season. The tall right-hander has a 1.18 WHIP in 66 innings of pitching.