This isn’t the *best* match-up of the season’s opening series, but I think it’s the one that fans of both teams are most curious about. James Paxton’s transformation last year from frustrating, frequenty-injured enigma to fireballing potential ace was thrilling, but it didn’t erase the question marks surrounding his future – it merely expanded the range of possibilities. Peak Paxton looked a hell of a lot better, if you can get past the health issues or his own historic issues maintaining velocity. On the Houston side, Charlie Morton had been a reliably boring, pitch-to-contact groundball maven, but he had a brilliant month with Philadelphia as a strikeout pitcher throwing much harder than he ever had before.
Game 3: Mariners at Astros (And Iwakuma’s Performance Yesterday)
