Ranking all 15 Opening Day starting pitcher faceoffs

Ranking all 15 Opening Day starting pitcher faceoffs

March 28th, 2024

Like us, maybe you got up early last week to watch the Dodgers and Padres officially begin the 2024 season in the Seoul Series. But as fun as that was, there is something perfect about an Opening Day with nearly every team playing, as we’ll have on Thursday.

And there is no honor quite like your team handing you the ball to take the mound on Opening Day. Rain may have pushed back two games to Friday, but we’re going ahead with a ranking of all 15 matchups (all times ET), in order of how compelling they are. And even No. 15 is pretty compelling: It’s Opening Day, after all.

1. Braves at Phillies, Friday, 3:05 p.m.
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As if it weren’t exciting enough to see all the position-player stars in this game — including two of the last three NL MVPs — we also get an absolute scorcher of a pitching matchup, one featuring two of the top six finishers in 2023 NL Cy Young Award voting. Strider comes in as the young ace who, if he can stay healthy, might be the current favorite to win the award this year. He’ll face Wheeler, who’s fresh off a massive contract extension that ensures he’ll be around for at least two more Opening Days to come after this one. It wouldn’t be the least bit surprising not only to see these two battling it out for the Cy Young again this year, but battling each other come October as well.

2. Blue Jays at Rays, 4:10 p.m.
José Berríos vs.
Who would have thought a few years ago, when he was in Philadelphia, that Eflin would be an ace? As usual, the Rays know exactly what they’re doing with pitchers, transforming an effective but still somewhat middling pitcher into a late bloomer, and the 16-game winner now gets to make his first Opening Day start. Berríos has done this before, two years ago with the Blue Jays and twice before that with the Twins. This feels like a titanic early-season battle between two teams that are going to be fighting it out with each other in this division all year.

3. Giants at Padres, 4:10 p.m.
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All right, so this would have been even better if new Giant Blake Snell was built up enough to make the start, but either way, it’s a fun one between two absolutely fascinating teams in the NL West this year. Webb is perpetually underappreciated, though not by the Giants, who have slated him to start the opener three straight years now. This is Darvish’s second Opening Day start, after the one he made for the Rangers in 2017, though, of course, if you wanted to (and the history books probably will) be specific this isn’t actually an Opening Day start. Last Wednesday in Seoul was.

4. Angels at Orioles, 3:05 p.m.
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The big headliner here is seeing Burnes in an Orioles uniform for the first time, though it’s his third straight Opening Day gig. No team was more proactive in bringing in a new starter for Opening Day — it was just four years ago that Tommy Milone was your Game 1 starter for this team — and the Orioles would love to cash in on that excitement. As for Sandoval, well, unlike the Opening Day starter the last two seasons for the Angels, no one expects him to hit.

5. Yankees at Astros, 4:10 p.m.
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In a perfect world, this could have been an all-timer, with Gerrit Cole facing off against former teammate and fellow Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander but, alas, we do not live in that perfect world. It’s still not a half-bad matchup, with Valdez a sleeper Cy Young pick himself. While the Yankees would certainly prefer Cole, it shouldn’t be glossed over how unlikely and impressive it is that Cortes is now an Opening Day starter. He has gone from getting knocked around as a reliever for the Mariners during the Covid-shortened 2020 season to making an All-Star Game, receiving Cy Young votes and now taking the mound on Opening Day for the New York Yankees in a very short amount of time. Cortes remains a great baseball story.

6. Twins at Royals, 4:10 p.m.
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These are two pitchers who were both involved in big, important trades last season, for entirely different reasons. López came over in the Luis Arraez trade that both teams turned out happy with, and, well, did anyone think when the Royals traded Aroldis Chapman last year, they were getting their 2024 Opening Day starter? This would be a terrific opportunity for the Royals to establish themselves as challengers in this division.

7. Red Sox at Mariners, 10:10 p.m.
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If the news earlier this month that the Red Sox had signed Bello to a $55 million contract extension didn’t make it clear how much they value him, the fact that Alex Cora named him his Opening Day starter will do it. Bello is the youngest Red Sox Opening Day starting pitcher since Aaron Sele in 1995. (Sele is now 53 years old.) This is nothing new for Castillo, who is making his fourth Opening Day start, his second with the Mariners.

8. Cubs at Rangers, 7:35 p.m.
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Eovaldi may be one of the best postseason pitchers ever — and seriously, last year further solidified his case as one of the top 10; look it up — and while you would think this would be his first Opening Day start, it is in fact his fourth; he did it three straight years for the Red Sox from 2020-22. Steele was quietly one of the better pitchers in the sport last year and has more than earned his spot for the Cubs, who look primed to be the NL Central favorites this year.

9. Rockies at D-backs, 10:10 p.m.
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Gallen was one of the biggest success stories of the 2023 season, the culmination of a year-by-year progression that ended up with him finishing third in NL Cy Young voting and making two starts in the World Series. Can he take yet another step forward in 2024? You could say Freeland is the default Rockies Opening Day starter, but if you do, be aware that you are probably repeating yourself: You could have said the same thing in 2019 and ‘22, when he also did it.

10. Cardinals at Dodgers, 4:10 p.m.
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For all the big names you’ll see in this matchup — three MVPs, 17 World Series titles, two signature MLB franchises — the pitching matchup itself isn’t quite what it could have been. Glasnow was the logical pick for the Dodgers following the Seoul Series, but next year, fair to say, it’ll almost certainly be someone else, either Shohei Ohtani or Yoshinobu Yamamoto or even Clayton Kershaw. Meanwhile, Mikolas is here mostly by default. With Sonny Gray hurt, and Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson new to the team, Mikolas is as close to a veteran rotation piece as the Cardinals have. Facing this lineup in front of a roaring Dodger Stadium crowd ready to welcome Ohtani to town is an, uh, unenviable task.

11. Pirates at Marlins, 4:10 p.m.
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The five-year contract extension Keller earned from the Pirates last month gives him real comfort with this organization, with which he has already gone on quite a journey. He seems in an even more solid spot atop this rotation than when he made the Opening Day start last year, though we’re surely going to see Paul Skenes here soon, perhaps as soon as next year. Luzardo is a reasonable choice for the Marlins, but they’d love to see Sandy Alcantara back here next year.

12. Brewers at Mets, Friday, 1:40 p.m.
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It says a lot about how the last 12 months have gone for the Mets that of all the big starters they brought in before the 2023 season, it’s Quintana who gets the Opening Day nod in 2024. Freddy Peralta increasingly looks like the last starter standing in Milwaukee; he was the only real reasonable choice here.

13. Guardians at Athletics, 10:07 p.m.
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The Guardians, for all their roster turnover over the last decade, have been remarkably consistent with their Opening Day starting pitchers: Between Bieber and Corey Kluber, they’ve given only two guys the honor since 2014. (The pitcher who made their three Opening Day starts from 2012-14? Would you believe Justin Masterson?) Alex Wood is the sort of veteran who has never quite risen to Opening Day duty status but can come to Oakland and be the obvious pick, a nice late-career achievement for him.

14. Nationals at Reds, 4:10 p.m.
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Montas might have seemed like a bit of a surprise as the Reds’ top starter — he just got here, and he threw exactly 1 1/3 innings last year — but this isn’t his first go-round: He made two Opening Day starts when he was with the A’s. Gray gets the honor over Patrick Corbin and is looking to build on a positive 2023 campaign in which he reached his first All-Star Game.

15. Tigers at White Sox, 4:10 p.m.
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Is the Skubal we saw in the second half last year — the one who might have been one of the best pitchers in baseball — the real deal? If he is, this Tigers team may have some real plucky potential in this division. The White Sox? Well, maybe not so much. But at least Crochet — moving to a starting role after throwing 73 Major League relief innings since 2020 — will always be able to say he was an Opening Day starter.