Three overreactions from the first week of MLB action

Across the Major Leagues during the Opening Week of the season, we’ve seen some players and teams off to torrid starts, and multiple stars and playoff-hopeful squads who have gone cold coming out of the gate.

As with all small sample sizes, you can’t draw too many conclusions this early. However, all of these games count the same whether it’s the first game of the season or the last, so it’s worth looking into whether these brief trends will continue as we begin the month of April.

Rafael Devers has fallen off

It’s hard to get off to much worse of a start than that of the Red Sox designated hitter Rafael Devers. Through the hulking lefty’s first five games and 19 at bats, he has not yet managed a hit. Slow starts happen all the time, as Francisco Lindor, for example, was hitting just .197 at the end of April.

The alarming issue that separates Devers, however, is that he’s struck out in 15 of those 19 at-bats. That mark is second in the league to Seiya Suzuki’s mark of 16. Devers has basically done nothing to help the team, and as a slow-footed DH, virtually all of his productivity comes in the form of his bat.

His average bat speed has fallen from 72.5 miles per hour last season to 70.6 miles per hour in 2025. His batting stance has changed, as he’s now holding his hands lower and a bit further away from his body. His swing, in turn, looks much more wristy, and he’s been unable to activate his lower half.

At the end of the season, we’ll likely be able to look back at this slump and laugh, as a hitter with the pedigree and raw talent of Devers doesn’t just forget how to play out of nowhere, but for now, the Red Sox need him to wake up in a big way.

Kyle Tucker will be the National League MVP

In contrast to Devers, Kyle Tucker is off to a scorching-hot start in 2025. His OPS is an otherworldly mark of 1.303, coupled with a .353 batting average that ranks third in the majors. Tucker already has five doubles and four home runs among his league-leading 12 hits.

Tucker has always been a tremendous talent and has perenially been somewhat overlooked on loaded Houston Astros teams. He finished fifth in MVP voting in 2023 and would have been in the running for the award last season had he not gotten injured and played only 78 regular-season games.

After the offseason trade to the Chicago Cubs, he’s looking to be even better in his contract year so that he can set himself up handsomely for his impending free agency, where he figures to command a massive payday.

Tucker is far and away the best hitter on the Cubs. If he manages to maintain any semblance of this hot start throughout the summer, he can help to push his team back over the hump and into the playoffs. If he can do that, there’s no doubt that he can get plenty of MVP attention.

The Atlanta Braves’ Run of Dominance is Over

The Braves have made it into the postseason in each of the last seven years, including a World Series victory in 2021. Last season represented a bit of a step back by their standards, as they eked their way into the playoffs in the final game of the regular season and got swept by the Padres in the Wild Card series.

However, there was plenty of reason for optimism entering this year. Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuna are on their way back and should be huge boosts for both their starting rotation and lineup. But for the time being, this team has floundered to start this year in their absence.

They have yet to win a game, as they’ve dropped each of their first six so far. Not one member of their starting lineup has a batting average higher than .214. That powerful lineup has managed just four home runs. Simply, it probably comes down to everyone hitting a rough spot at the same time. They’re going to need every single player to hit much better if they want to dig themselves out of this early-season hole.

Their pitching hasn’t been too bad, as they have allowed just over four runs per game as a staff, but Reynaldo Lopez has already gone down with a shoulder problem to further thin out this already injury-riddled group.

Still, the Mets started out last season 0-5 and made the playoffs, for example, so it’s not unheard of for a team to put their early struggles in the rearview mirror and hit a hot streak.

Dominick Pizzelanti is a second-year student dual-majoring in broadcast journalism and Spanish. To contact him, email dqp5565@psu.edu.