The 2023 MLB season cannot start soon enough. Baseball has been gone for too long now, but the good news is it will be here in no time.
The Dodgers are primed to make another run at a World Series title this upcoming season, and they will need to face some serious talent in the regular season compared to years past.
This upcoming season will be the first time each team will face each other in at least one series in the 162-game schedule.
Some MLB superstars will be facing some teams and visiting ballparks they’ve never been to in their major league careers.
A handful of All-Stars will be visiting Dodger Stadium for the first time in 2023, and the list is quite impressive. MLB.com listed three players who will be making their Dodger Stadium debut.
“Dodgers (Dodger Stadium)
Shohei Ohtani, as a pitcher (July 7-8), Jeremy Peña (June 23-25), Alek Manoah (July 24-26)
Ohtani has, of course, played at Dodger Stadium as part of the Freeway Series, but he hasn’t yet pitched there. Peña, meanwhile, wasn’t around for the Astros-Dodgers battles of yesteryear, so the 2022 AL Championship Series and World Series MVP will be making his Dodger Stadium debut when Houston visits Chavez Ravine in June. And while Manoah technically has taken the mound at the venerable ballpark, that was at last year’s All-Star Game. If he starts when the Blue Jays are in town in late July, it’ll be his first in the regular season at Dodger Stadium.”
Anaheim’s two-way superstar, Shohei Ohtani, has played at Dodger Stadium, but he has never made a start at Chavez Ravine; and the Dodgers take on the Angels every season, one series in LA and the other in Orange County. Ohtani could likely be a Dodger in 2024 (or sooner), so why not get used to the hill at the Ravine already?
The 2022 AL Rookie of the Year, Jeremy Pena, will also make his Dodger Stadium debut this season. The Astros will come to Dodger Stadium for the second time in three seasons, and I’m sure their welcome will be pleasant (he said sarcastically). Pena won the ALCS and World Series MVP in 2022 and is set to be the Astros and MLB’s next rising star.
Toronto Blue Jay’s big righty, Alek Manoah, got a taste of Dodger Stadium when he pitched in the 2022 All-Star game, and he will only get better. The 25-year-old’s second major league season was one to remember, as he placed third in the AL Cy Young race. We’ll see if the stars align, and he is set to make his first regular-season start in Los Angeles.
It’ll be nice to see some new faces at Dodger Stadium, and we can’t wait to host them in the greatest baseball stadium ever.
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