Happy Opening Day!

Plus Madison Bumgarner getting better, and Brian Cashman on the Yankees' rebuild. [View this email in your browser]( Welcome Back, Baseball Happy Opening Day, part two! We've had a [live blog extravaganza]( up and running on the site this afternoon and will keep it going all night, plus our [staff predictions]( are up and all [thirty team preview podcasts]( have been collected in one handy place. In a break from indulging in all of today's excitement, we can look back on yesterday, when we were treated to not just one but two games with ninth-inning drama. For the Giants, this meant something that's sadly all too familiar after last season—a bullpen collapse. So how did yesterday's stack up to late-inning debacles of months past? The official criteria for a [meltdown]( is a WPA of -0.06 or less. By that standard, the Giants technically had two separate meltdowns yesterday—the first from [Derek Law]( giving up one run in the eighth inning to tie the game, and the second from [Mark Melancon]( giving up two in the bottom of the ninth to watch the team's win expectancy plummet from more than 94% to 0 and make the loss a done deal. It's only one game and all the usual opening day caveats, sure, but it's not the most inspiring way to start the season after the team's [much-discussed bullpen troubles]( last year. But rest assured, any Giants fans who may have erased their mind of bullpen agony after signing Melancon this winter—it could have been much, much worse. Like this [June game against the A's]( where four separate relievers crossed the statistical threshold for a meltdown ([Santiago Casilla]( [Javier Lopez]( [George Kontos]( and [Cory Gearrin]( as a three-run lead disappeared in the eighth and a comeback attempt was rendered useless by more bullpen trouble in the ninth. Or this [September game against the Rockies]( which similarly saw four relievers meltdown (Casilla, [Sergio Romo]( [Josh Osich]( and [Joe Nathan]( while managing to get just two outs between them. So, yes, it could have been worse. But it can also be much better, as there's an awful lot of baseball left to play. [FanGraphs produces over 400 articles each month, in addition to our ever-growing database of stats and graphs. Support our efforts today!]( Today on FanGraphs: Opening Day Pitching Analysis After a modestly encouraging first start of the year for the Diamondbacks, Jeff Sullivan argues that [Zack Greinke]( isn't close to being [out of the woods]( yet. Meanwhile, Dave Cameron tackles Greinke's opponent from yesterday and notes that [Madison Bumgarner]( offers reason to believe that he's [getting better](. [Subscribe to our Podcasts!]( Catch up on past newsletters or pass along to a friend [here](. Data Visualization of the Day: [How Brian Cashman Sold the Yankees' Rebuild]( The Yankees are not a team with a history of rebuilding, but they're working to come off one of the quickest turnarounds in baseball's recent memory. Travis Sawchik talks to general manager Brian Cashman today about how they made it work. Excerpt from ["The Day That Sustains Us"]( by Jason Linden "It is comfort we feel, isn’t it? Comfort instead of resentment. Resentment would be justified. I am here always and you come only for the spectacle. But that’s not what we feel on Opening Day. What we feel is a kind of comfort. That we are seen by others. That others understand at least a little." [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2017 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 1200 N Hartford St. Apt 312 Arlington, Va 22201 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](