Guardians-Mariners Opening Day starting pitchers: Bieber vs. Castillo

Two postseason teams from last season will ride their aces when Shane Bieber leads the Guardians into Seattle on March 30 to face Luis Castillo and the Mariners.

The pitching matchup is objectively one of the best of the day, pitting a former Cy Young Award winner in Bieber against one of the handful of favorites to win the honor in 2023 in Castillo.

Castillo made consecutive starts against Cleveland after the Mariners acquired him at the Trade Deadline, surrendering just one run combined over 12 innings. Bieber made one start against the Mariners, in Seattle, going seven innings with nine strikeouts in a Guardians loss.

RHP Shane Bieber
Previous Opening Day starts: 2020, 2021, 2022
2022 Season: 13-8, 2.88 ERA in 31 starts

Once Bieber takes the ball, his four straight Opening Day starts will be just one shy of tying the longest such streak by a pitcher in Cleveland history, a record held by Corey Kluber (2015-19) and Stan Coveleski (1917-21).

"Whether there's a flyover or not, it's hard not to get emotional [pitching on Opening Day]," Bieber said. "For me, every time, I do look forward to it because I do get emotional. It just hits harder. ... No matter what, it's not something I'll ever take for granted."

Bieber spent most of the ’22 season playing catch-up. He missed the majority of the prior year due to shoulder problems and struggled to feel comfortable with his delivery, while so much attention went to his decreased velocity. He said it took him until the end of the year to start to feel better on the rubber, despite his continued success. Now that he’s said he feels stronger in his delivery this spring, he’ll look to settle in right away.

And, it's worth pointing out, his history of pitching on Opening Day has been nothing but positive:

2020: Six innings, four hits, zero earned runs, one walk, 14 strikeouts against the Royals after the delayed start to the season
2021: Six innings, five hits, three earned runs, three walks, 12 strikeouts in snow against the Tigers
2022: 4 2/3 innings (after a shortened spring), two hits, zero earned runs, four strikeouts against the Royals

If Bieber’s back on the right track going into ‘23, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic this trend will continue.

RHP Luis Castillo
Previous Opening Day starts: 2019, 2021
2022 Season: 8-6, 2.99 ERA in 25 starts (14 with Reds, 11 with Mariners)

Castillo arrived at Spring Training with some incredibly lofty goals, and he’ll check at least one of those off when he pitches in the regular-season opener for the third time in his career. "La Piedra" has been with the Mariners for just eight months but has already made such an imposing impression, having helped march them to the postseason before pitching like an as-advertised ace once they were there.

Entering the first year of a five-year, $108 million extension that he signed less than two months after the Trade Deadline blockbuster that brought him to Seattle, Castillo has had a slower build-up to the season than the rest of his rotation mates, but that’s by design. His fastball velocity has sat in the low-to-mid 90s and the polish on his secondary stuff is still progressing.

But when the lights are at their brightest -- like they will be on Opening Day -- Castillo is at his best.

"The way I’ve pitched, I feel like I'm close to ready and close to 100 percent,” Castillo said after his most recent Cactus League outing. "And I know that when I come out again, I'm going to have to just give it a little more just so we can be ready for the regular season.”