Opening day

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The issue of WORLD that our subscribers received last week had Cleveland Indians pitcher Justin Masterson on the cover-a thoughtful Christian pitcher poised for a breakout season. (See "Finding the strike zone," April 7.)

The MLB Network covered baseball's opening day Thursday and highlighted five extraordinary pitching performances. It left out Masterson's, though, so I need to report that he threw eight innings against Toronto and gave up only two hits. One of them was a home run to HR king Jose Bautista, but Masterson left with a 4-1 lead.

Oh, Masterson also struck out 10 and got 11 groundball outs. But the Cleveland closer gave up three runs in the ninth, and the Indians eventually lost 7-4 in 16 innings, the longest opening day game in major league history.

"Great job," Cleveland manager Manny Acta told Masterson. "Keep on going. Nothing here is forgotten."

Nor do Indian fans forget that if they Google "Cleveland Indians World Series winner," the last date that comes up is 1948.

Marvin Olasky

Marvin is the former editor in chief of WORLD, having retired in January 2022, and former dean of World Journalism Institute. He joined WORLD in 1992 and has been a university professor and provost. He has written more than 20 books, including Reforming Journalism.

@MarvinOlasky

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