Baseball is back.
With the NFL season concluded and the NBA just finishing up its All-Star break, MLB fans were ready for some action when the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres officially opened the spring training season on Thursday afternoon.
Those fans got the action they wanted quickly—possibly too quickly—as the Dodgers ran up the score in the first inning, pushing the game into blowout territory in mere minutes.
The Padres opened the top of the first inning with one of the top pitchers in their rotation, Joe Musgrove, on the mound. It did not go well, with Musgrove giving up a walk, an infield single, and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases, and then conceded a two-run ground rule double to Teoscar Hernandez.
While winning is far from the top priority for teams as they go through spring training, Musgrove couldn’t have felt great after getting pulled before recording a single out.
Making the proceedings even more painful was the fact that to start the game, the ESPN broadcast was speaking with San Diego right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. as the onslaught was carried out. Between bad audio and the top of the first inning lasting far longer than expected, it was less than ideal.
ESPN with all that money and they can’t even get a good mic for Fernando Tatis Jr. during their live broadcast. #Padres https://t.co/HoogmbZjA0
— Mark Bartlett (@mark_a_bartlett) February 22, 2024
Tatis just made this face 😬
— Heather Linington-Noble (@AlainnFocail) February 22, 2024
lolol at having him mic’d up for that inning and talking to him for 50 minutes and there’s still only one out
I missed baseball so much.
Poor Tatis gonna end up doing an entire podcast at this point 😂
— chris, wrestling fan (@sportsbrain) February 22, 2024
ESPN tried to interview Tatis using a Jabra headset from 2005.
— Kevin, irritated Padres fan (@CornfedFriar) February 22, 2024
Tatis being semi-tortured with this 20-minute interview.
— Howard Cole (@Howard_Cole) February 22, 2024
We might get a 1 hour interview with Tatis the way the #Padres pitchers are getting shelled
— Nate Lunak (@Nate_Lunak) February 22, 2024
Things didn’t get better once Musgrove after pulled.
Pitcher Carter Loewen took over on the mound and quickly dug the Padres deeper into an 8–0 hole before getting pulled himself after Dodgers first baseman Kevin Padlo hit the first home run of the spring season.
Loewen at least recorded one out.
Nine batters, eight runs, five hits, two walks and two pitching changes later, the ESPN broadcast finally cut off their interview with Tatis.
The Dodgers’ rally would hold at eight runs in the first inning when the Padres were finally allowed to take a shot at the plate. They were retired in order.
Fans who had been hungry for baseball’s return, while enjoying the comedy of the blowout, were left to wait and hope that Friday’s spring training slate would be better.
So if you’re a padres fan do ya just try again next year? pic.twitter.com/1FN4IJgjnP
— DaddyDimmuTV (@DaddyDimmuTv) February 22, 2024
padres are on their third pitcher and it’s the first inning baseball is BACK
— todd bonzalez (@doinkpatrol) February 22, 2024
WE ARE COOKED https://t.co/AMApxqBi4a pic.twitter.com/bqaOKppses
— あ (@Oshimai2023) February 22, 2024
https://t.co/Fpig3MEY6M pic.twitter.com/M47Mg3Zrsw
— Javik Blake (@javblake8) February 22, 2024
San Diego Padres after the very first inning of Spring Training pic.twitter.com/wrU58UfoKI
— Bo (@BMaster30) February 22, 2024
Luckily for the Padres, they have the entire preseason to get things together before the games start counting.
