The Mariners and Athletics pick up right where they left off last season when they square off at T-Mobile Park for the March 27 regular-season opener to 2025.

These teams finished last season facing each other in the same venue, with the A’s seemingly on the rise and as a trendy breakout pick while the Mariners again fell just short of postseason expectations from themselves and just about everyone in the industry.

The American League West has mostly run through Texas for the past decade -- the Astros’ dominance atop the division and the Rangers’ World Series title in 2023 -- but the A’s and Mariners are hoping to bridge that gap in ’25, and it all starts on Opening Day on March 27 at 7:10 p.m. PT at T-Mobile Park.

Athletics: RHP Luis Severino
Previous Opening Days starts: 1
2024 season: 11-7, 3.91 ERA in 31 starts

Severino bounced back with the Mets in 2024 following a string of injury-riddled seasons with the Yankees, posting a 3.91 ERA in 31 starts with 161 strikeouts in 182 innings. While he showcased a four-seamer that averaged 96.2 mph in ’24, the nine-year Major League veteran is a much different pitcher from the young electric arm who finished third in AL Cy Young Award voting in 2017. This version of Severino is a lot more polished, having evolved from a hard-thrower to a true pitcher who relies more on soft contact than whiffs to get hitters out with an excellent sweeper against which opponents hit .139 last season.

“When I was younger, knowing I could throw hard, even if I knew a hitter was a good fastball hitter, I would still go in there trying to overpower him,” Severino said. “Now, I have more experience. I try to attack hitters a different way, and I think that helped me last year.”

Mariners: RHP Logan Gilbert
Previous Opening Days starts: 0
2024 season: 9-12, 3.23 ERA in 33 starts

Gilbert was one of the sport’s most consistent pitchers last year, leading MLB with 208 2/3 innings and becoming the first pitcher in Mariners history to do so. He also earned his first All-Star selection, making the totality of his resume the clearest choice for manager Dan Wilson, even with an assortment of riches within his rotation.

For Gilbert, too, there’s special meaning to the assignment. He’s long been a pitcher who appreciates the game’s great arms, and this nod shows that he’s now among them, if he wasn’t already.

“I think back to high school and college, and it felt like a holiday on Opening Day,” Gilbert said. “It's the first game of the year; all the best pitchers are out there. So to me -- and I'm an extreme baseball fan, so it's probably different -- but I felt like the world stopped for that day, and everybody just had their TV on and watched the best pitchers in the game go at it.”