The Lambda-CDM model is also very speculative. I'd call it out as proclaimed by priests because there is quite the religion in it.

The data should guide us, and to envision the beginning of matter the same as the beginning of time, space or energy is flat-out wrong.

So I agree with you that too many are highfaluting when it comes to the basic model of matter's origin.

I wrote an article how quarks are explaining the first occurrence of matter best.

Be forewarned that most folks needed to read the information three times. I am really coming from a structurally very deep perspective, and most people are not used to go this deep. Yet once they got it, then they could see how the original energized state would have produced the known results.

Various people have agreed that this model, a Big Bang improvement model, is indeed very plausible. One has to follow all structural clues, and then it is almost obvious that it had to have been this way.

'Quarks explain our universe best'

https://fred-rick.medium.com/quarks-explain-our-universe-best-e03b7ccf72c3