Mar 27, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Philadelphia Phillies first base Bryce Harper (3) reacts after scoring a run during the tenth inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images
When J.T. Realmuto crouched behind home plate to catch Zack Wheeler's warmup pitches in the first inning, he knew batting was going to be a challenge for a while on Opening Day.
Wheeler was tossing in his warmup pitches and Realmuto was having a hard time seeing the ball coming in.
"I know when I'm catching and it's hard to see the ball, I know it's pretty bad," Realmuto said. "Today was one of those days."
The 4:05 start time resulted in shadows creeping over home plate and a nasty glare coming off the batter's eye. Making matters worse, two advertisements just to the left of the batter's eye - one for Geico and one for BetMGM have white lettering, and a left-handed pitcher like Washington starter Mackenzie Gore was delivering the baseball right through those letters.
It’s probably beating a dead horse — and obviously MacKenzie Gore coming out played a factor — but Phillies got on the board the inning the shadows moved almost out of the infield. https://t.co/iMO9CAopAH pic.twitter.com/0nNgqskYxt
"I was almost getting in my head and thinking I took too many days off," said Max Kepler. "I thought it was me, personally. Once I got back to the dugout, everyone was saying how tough it is to see, so it was definitely advantage pitcher today."
For six innings, at least.
The teams combined for one run and three hits in six innings while striking out 21 times.
From the seventh inning onward, with the shadows and the glare gone, the teams combined for nine runs and 10 hits in what was a 10-inning, 7-3 win for the Phillies.
Gore and the Phillies Zack Wheeler pitched superbly, and their stuff was aided even further by the fact that the hitters were flailing away at pitches.
"I think the shadows were playing a part in today's game," manager Rob Thomson said. "It was tough for the guys to see. It's not an excuse, but we saw a lot of swings and misses. I don't think we got out of the zone a lot, but there were a lot of swings and misses."
Between the Phillies and Nationals, of the first 15 batters in the game, 12 of them struck out. Gore threw six innings and struck out a career high 13 batters. The Phillies mustered one measly single off of him. It was the most ever by a Nationals/Montreal Expos pitcher ever on Opening Day.
Zack Wheeler explains how shadows factor into the mindset of a pitcher. Interesting stuff…
(Via @TimKellySports) pic.twitter.com/jVoGCvSXw5
Meanwhile, the Nationals struggled against Zack Wheeler as well, striking out eight times and getting a lot of weak contact through six innings. Only Keibert Ruiz was able to get a hold of a 3-2 pitch off of Wheeler and hit a solo homer in the bottom of fifth.
"You try to make quick innings and take advantage of those shadows," Wheeler said. "It was the same thing I was thinking in the playoffs last year."
Realmuto added that it impacts the gameplan a little bit with knowing it's going to be harder for guys to see the ball.
"You use certain pitches differently," Realmuto said. "You really try to attack the strike zone because you know they're not seeing the ball well. You're more aggressive in the zone. It gives you a little more confidence to just go right at them."
Zack Wheeler's 5Ks thru 3. pic.twitter.com/v68K18ut2j
The two teams combined to strikeout 32 times in the game. The Phillies set a franchise record for most times striking out in an Opening Day game all-time with 19.
They also became the first team in major league history to strike out 19 times on Opening Day and still win, so there's that.
In the seventh inning, things changed. Yeah, Gore came out of the game and the Phillies got into the Nats' bullpen, so that helped. But by the seventh inning, the hitters could finally see the ball coming at them.
Bryce Harper hit a one out homer off Lucas Sims to dead centerfield. Two batters later, Kyle Schwarber followed with a solo homer to right off Jose Ferrer.
In the eighth, Kepler doubled off Ferrer and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
In the 10th, Alec Bohm doubled to the gap off of Colin Poche, scoring two runs. Later, Realmuto plated two more with an opposite field triple.
It made the old adage "See ball, hit ball" seem so appropriate.
The Phillies may have to endure this again on Saturday as the second game of the season is also slated for a 4:05 start time in the nation's capital.
Can they do anything to prepare for it after experiencing it in the opener?
"Yeah, hope for it to be overcast on Saturday," Kepler said.
