Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning during the regular season you’ll get a fresh, topical story to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
When Cody Bellinger stepped to the plate in the seventh inning of Sunday’s game against the Padres, he had already done more than his part for the cause. The Dodgers’ center fielder had hit safely in each of the first two games of the series—both wins—and homered in the third inning of the finale to stake Los Angeles to an early lead.