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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.
Over the past few years, one way to watch the future of baseball has been to watch the present of the Rays. It was nuts when manager Joe Maddon used Ben Zobrist everywhere but pitcher and catcher in 2009. This year 10 players have logged at least five games at both second base and right field, and eight of them have played at least two other positions. It was dumb when Tampa Bay began shifting its infielders twice as much as anyone else in ’10. Now the shift is so popular MLB is considering banning it. It was bizarre when manager Kevin Cash deployed reliever Sergio Romo to throw a one-inning start in ’18. Last season Atlanta used openers in two World Series games.
