Last night’s home away from home opener at TD Ballpark gave us a great game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Angels. The first regular-season game ever played in Dunedin featured fireworks right away, with four runs scored in the first inning including a 2-run Plakata from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. whose hot streak continues as he gave the Jays a 3-1 lead in the opening frame.

#PLAKATA 💥 pic.twitter.com/2Tc08k4i25

— MLB (@MLB) April 8, 2021

Unfortunately, this game didn’t end the way we would have liked as the Halos tied it up just an inning later and would eventually win it in the 11th inning by a 7-5 score. As a result, I’m not in the mood to talk Jays but instead, I’m here to show you the home run hit by Angels centerfielder Mike Trout, which he has had many of throughout his generational yet still very much unwritten career as he’s already proved to be one of the most spectacular baseball players we have ever seen. Like I feared, Trout filled up the box score, going 3-5 with 2 runs and an RBI ending the night a triple away from hitting for the cycle. His home run came in the fifth inning with two outs and no one on base to break a 3-3 tie, but the box score doesn’t do this dinger enough justice. Feel free to watch this as many times as you’d like, but I doubt anyone will have replayed this blast as many times as I have.

"This ones gone, noooooooooooo doubt about it folks. Mike Trout has just gone deep."

Perfect call from Jays broadcaster Buck Martinez on this Trout homer. pic.twitter.com/Pv6zgGeGSE

— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) April 9, 2021

Like my girlfriend when the 7th inning stretch comes around, that ball had no desire to be in the ballpark any longer than it already had been. That ball saw Trout’s bat as a one-way ticket to another postal code and packed its bags for the ride. I’ve watched an unhealthy amount of home runs throughout my time as a self-proclaimed baseball addict, but this one had me in a trance as I simply couldn’t believe how much vigour this ball had as it flew off his bat. It looked like Trout unlocked the Aluminum Bat Power-up from Atari’s Backyard Baseball for this at-bat, pulverizing that poor pitch like it was a dove passing through Randy Johnson’s peripherals.

Trout’s homer left the yard at an exit velocity of 110.6mph and traveled 444 feet, which are elite numbers yet they just don’t seem to be enough when you watch it. Its launch angle of 32 degrees is the best indicator of how badly Trout mashed this baseball, nearly breaking through the ozone layer on its way out of the premises. Not only did it leave the yard but it appears to have ended up all the way at the nearby elementary school, which probably isn’t an establishment you’d want within striking distance for guys getting paid $37 million a year to do that exact thing. It’s one of many reasons why the Blue Jays need to get back to the Rogers Centre as soon as possible.

Did the math … yes he did https://t.co/JOat7hBAV7 pic.twitter.com/6FkdJRlsgA

— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) April 9, 2021

There’s no doubt that Blue Jays’ starter Ross Stripling, who’s been owned by Mike Trout many times before, left this ball in the worst possible place, which might explain why the 31-year old former LA Dodger has allowed a .777 batting average to the 21st Century’s version of the Sultan of Swat. There’s only so much Stripling could have done to avoid Trout’s wrath as that blast marked his third consecutive game with a homer, a streak he’s replicated 11 times throughout his storied career. He nearly gave the Angels the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth (which they ended up getting in extras anyway) on a liner to centerfield, but Randal Grichuk made a stellar diving grab to end the inning, giving Blue Jays fans a commercial break to reminisce to a time when Kevin Pillar seemed to make such highway robberies on a nightly basis.

GOOD GRIEF 😱@RGrich15 did it AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/oeCP5JBbRU

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) April 9, 2021

Coincidentally, Grichuk and Trout were back-to-back first round picks by the Angels in the 2009 draft, coming up through the farm sysem together before Randal departed for St. Louis and now Toronto (or Dunedin). The Halos got the best of the Blue Jays in TD Ballpark’s home opener, propelled by Trout’s solo blast that seemed to defy the laws of physics, but fortunately there are still three games to decide the series and get the Jays back into the win column after having lost their last three bouts. Manager Charlie Montoyo hasn’t announced who will start on the mound Friday for the boys in blue at the time of writing, but let’s hope that whoever it is they can limit Mike Trout’s impact at the plate as he already leads the league in Wins Above Replacement a week into the season.