White Sox: Reflecting on the home runs of Opening Day 2018

Well, that was fun. The latest version of the Chicago White Sox came to play yesterday and quickly racked up 14 runs against their division rival, the Kansas City Royals.

Of course, the most notable player on Opening Day was White Sox Matt Davidson, who put himself in the record books with his three home runs.

But, he wasn’t the only story of the game. And, he wasn’t the only story of the day that should be a National Holiday in the United States.

Impressive, but not an MLB record

Davidson’s three home runs were impressive, but unfortunately, he didn’t set a new MLB record. According to MLB.com, he is the fourth player to hit three on Opening Day. Davidson was, however, the first player of the 2018 season to have a multi-homer game.

Here they all are again:

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The other players who have accomplished this feat include:

Blue Jays George Bell who did it against the Royals in 1988
Cubs Tuffy Rhodes who did it against the Mets in 1994
Tigers Dmitri Young who did it against the Royals in 2005

There must be something about Royals pitching on Opening Day that encourages the ball to fly out of the park.

Several players with multiple homers

Davidson wasn’t the only White Sox with multiple home runs on the day. Tim Anderson went deep twice. Jose Abreu also went yard, but just once.

And, to no one’s surprise, Giancarlo Stanton also hit two home runs. He had the hardest hit home run of the day, as his first had an exit velocity of 117.3 MPH according to MLB.com. One of Davidson’s dingers was close as it left the park at 115.1 MPH.

The first pitch of the season resulted in a home run as Ian Happ of the Cubs took Jose Urena deep in Marlins Park.

The most athletic home run of Opening Day

However impressive these long balls are, the most athletic home run came from Eduardo Nunez of the Boston Red Sox. His in-the-park home run was achieved by his lightning speed around the bases. It only took him 15.87 seconds to round all of the bases according to Statcast.