The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham news and links for Thursday, April 7

Good morning and Happy Opening Day, hoddlers!

Yes, yes! It’s Opening Day, finally! There are two things I love. One: MLB’s Opening Day and Two: Alienating half my audience writing about a sport they don’t care about!

But for the other half: How excited are you? Are you as excited as I am?

If today’s header image isn’t a dead giveaway, your hoddler-in-chief is an Angels fan. My childhood hometown neighbours Anaheim, and I love watching the Angels play.

But know who I really love watching play baseball? Shohei Ohtani. The Sho. It’s Shotime! I was lucky enough to watch him twice when I lived in Southern California. Once when he was pulled in the second inning against the Red Sox because of a blister. But the second time he hit a home run off of Corey Kluber, who was just coming off his AL Cy Young Award.

There’s no player in baseball as exciting as Ohtani. The man has literally changed the game. Who knows what the Angels’ season has in store. This team has been mediocre for over a decade now - even with the best player the modern game has ever seen.

But Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon healthy, Ohtani is coming off one of the greatest seasons in history, Jared Walsh is coming off a breakout season and the Angels picked up Noah Syndergaard while keeping Raisel Iglesias.

Most predictions I look at forecast the Angels to finish with 81-84 wins and maybe sneaking into the third Wild Card spot. That seems fair, honestly.

Let’s be honest, though: the postseason would be exponentially more fun with Ohtani and Trout.

Notable games today (all times ET):

Astros at Angels - 9:38 pm

Mets at Nationals - 7:05 pm

Reds at Braves - 8 pm

Fitzie’s track of the day: White Gloves, by Khruangbin

And now for your links:

Tales of Ohtani’s greatness show why Angels believe he can repeat magical season

Why Harry Kane’s World Cup dream could be good news for Tottenham

Everton given terrifying glimpse of future after following defeat to Burnley

Manchester United reportedly set to finalise Erik Ten Hag appointment

Ronald Koeman to replace Louis van Gaal as Netherlands boss after World Cup