Angels-Orioles Opening Day starting pitchers: Sandoval vs. Burnes

The 2023 American League East champion Orioles will begin their title defense on Opening Day on March 28 at Camden Yards, where they’ll host the Angels, who are entering a new era under manager Ron Washington.

While Baltimore will send new ace Corbin Burnes to the mound, Los Angeles will give the ball to left-hander Patrick Sandoval for his first career Opening Day start.

The 29-year-old Burnes, who won the 2021 National League Cy Young Award, was acquired by the O’s in one of the biggest blockbuster deals of the offseason, coming over from the Brewers on Feb. 1. Sandoval, 27, is coming off a bit of a down ‘23 season in which he posted a 4.11 ERA in 28 starts. But the southpaw had a 2.91 ERA in 27 starts in ‘22, and he shined for Team Mexico in last year's World Baseball Classic.

The Orioles (101-61 in 2023) are entering the ‘24 season among the AL frontrunners, hoping to make a World Series run after getting eliminated by the eventual champion Rangers in last year’s AL Division Series. The Halos are aiming for improvement after going 73-89 and finishing fourth in the AL West last season.

LHP Patrick Sandoval
Previous Opening Day starts: None
2023 season: 7-13, 4.11 ERA in 28 starts

The Angels will turn to Sandoval for his first Opening Day start, as the team is starting a new era without Shohei Ohtani. The two-way star was the club’s Opening Day starter in both 2022 and ‘23, but he left in free agency, signing with the Dodgers this past offseason.

Sandoval is one of the club’s longest-tenured players, making his debut in 2019 after being acquired in a trade with the Astros for catcher Martín Maldonado at the ‘18 Trade Deadline. Sandoval has a career 3.83 ERA with 448 strikeouts in 456 1/3 innings over five seasons in the Majors. He's a local product who grew up near Anaheim in Mission Viejo, Calif., and remains under team control through 2026.

Sandoval pairs his 93 mph fastball with his 87 mph slider, 83 mph changeup and 77 mph curveball. He’s adept at limiting hard contact and inducing grounders, but he’s working on channeling his emotions better to avoid big innings. Right-hander Griffin Canning was also under consideration to start the opener, but the Angels went with Sandoval.

RHP Corbin Burnes
Previous Opening Day starts: 2022 and ‘23
2023 season: 10-8, 3.39 ERA in 32 starts

The O’s are expecting a big year from Burnes, who has developed into one of baseball’s elite pitchers in recent years. The right-hander has a 2.94 ERA in 93 starts over the past three seasons, recording at least 200 strikeouts each of those years. He led the NL with 243 strikeouts in 2022 and recorded an NL-best 1.07 WHIP in ‘23.

Now Burnes (who is in the final year of his contract) has joined a Baltimore roster overflowing with young talent to serve as the staff ace the team lacked last season.

“There’s a lot of excitement just around the team in general,” Burnes said. “A team that won 101 games last year, won the AL East, a lot of expectations coming into the season. So I’m coming in just to join that group and add what I can to it. This is a great group of guys, a great group of young players that play a heck of good baseball.”

This will be the first year the Orioles have had an Opening Day starter who was a former Cy Young winner at the time of the outing since 2001, when Pat Hentgen got the assignment.

Burnes has made only one previous start at Camden Yards. On April 13, 2022, he tossed seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts against Baltimore.