After a weekend away from the site, I’m back with a new edition of Around the Horn. It’s been a busy week in the baseball world, and not all of the stories are good. As we round the bases, we’ll discuss relocation, electrifying young talent, a pair of teams off to a rough start and a family affair in Boston. Let’s dive in!

First Base

The Final Insult: The 2024 MLB season has not started without controversy. From Shohei Ohtani’s bizarre gambling story to the embarrassing uniforms, there is no shortage of headaches. But, at least for the moment, the story of the Oakland A’s trumps them all. I previously talked about their miserable owner John Fisher in my Athletics season preview. But he has truly outdone himself as it was announced last week that the team will be moving to Sacramento. The California capital’s Sutter Health Park (capacity 14,014) will be the club’s temporary home until their long-rumored move to Las Vegas takes place in 2028. They will simply be the A’s, with no city name attached to their branding and look forward to hosting stars like Aaron Judge…according to Fisher at least. This situation is an absolute disgrace, one that commissioner Rob Manfred should be ashamed of himself for allowing, as his athletes will play in a subpar facility while one of the league’s most historic franchise is desecrated in the name of pure greed. Fans everywhere deserve better.

Second Base

Elly Shows Off: On a brighter note, let’s talk about one of the games bright young stars and his exciting night. As mentioned last week, the Cincinatti Reds are loaded with blossoming young players and one of their potentially brightest stars is Elly De La Cruz. “EDLC” as he is referred to burst on the scene last year before struggling down the stretch to spoil his own fun. There was hope that 2024 would be a season where he plays a far more consistent game than last season and so far, the early returns are positive. Number 44 is hitting .297, with a pair of homers, five RBI’s and six stolen bases. He punctuated his solid start to the season with a memorable Monday night performance at home, thrilling the Cincy faithful with a long home run and then a mad dash around the bags for an inside the parker.

Third Base

Ugly Starts: We go from the exciting to the painfully bad as it is time to talk about two teams who have struggled mightily so far. At the time of writing this piece, the Marlins and White Sox share the dubious honor of being tied for last place in the league at 1-9. While the White Sox were expected to be here, it doesn’t lessen the blow at all, as they have played miserably so far, and star outfielder Luis Robert is going to be out for several months with an injury. On the other hand, the Marlins were not supposed to be this bad, especially after last year’s run to the playoffs. They can’t seem to get out of their own way through the first ten games and the season may be getting away from them if they don’t turn it around soon. If they fail to pull it together, they will be major sellers at the deadline as they have a number of pieces coveted by other clubs.

Home Plate

Fenway Family: As we head for home, we go to Fenway Park as the Red Sox home Tuesday opener (the latest in the league) saw an extremely special pregame ceremony take place. The 2024 season is the 20th anniversary of the Red Sox curse breaking 2004 championship and they kicked off their home schedule with a celebration of that team. The roster emerged from behind a World Series banner hung from “the Monstah” and escorted the children of Red Sox great, Tim Wakefield, who tragically passed away this past winter along with his wife. While the story is certainly sad, the moment was triumphant as the kids were flanked by their “extended family,” who cheered them as Wakefield’s daughter threw out the first pitch to her father’s former battery mate, Jason Varitek. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Before I wrap things up, I have to give a special shout out to the incomparable and TRUE home run king, “Hammerin” Hank Aaron as Monday marked a special anniversary for number 44. On April 8th, 1974, Aaron surpassed Babe Ruth for the top spot on the all-time home run list, as he clubbed number 715 off of Dodgers pitcher Al Downing. 50 years to the day, the Braves and baseball as a whole celebrated the accomplishment and the man Aaron was, with a series of celebrations and ceremonies. Check out the leagues wonderful tribute video below, featuring broadcasters Kurt Gowdy, Milo Hamilton (“he’s sitting on 714”), and Vin Scully who all took part in the telecast that night. Hamilton’s call will always be iconic, but Scully’s words are particularly resonant given the atmosphere at the time Aaron broke the record. Check it out below!

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