Happy Opening Day! Prepare for an exciting breakdown of Major League Baseball’s matchups this week as all 30 teams take the field to open 2024.
Happy Opening Day to those who celebrate. Now that all 30 starting pitchers are known, it is time to break down each of Thursday’s matchups.
The list includes the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ Tyler Glasnow and the San Diego Padres‘ Yu Darvish, who made their regular-season debuts March 20 in Seoul, South Korea.
This year’s list includes 14 pitchers who will make their first Opening Day starts. The group also includes 20 pitchers who have been All-Stars and four who joined new teams this offseason.
Corbin Burnes (Baltimore) and Patrick Sandoval (Los Angeles) will get the ball for their respective teams. Burnes is in his first season with the Orioles since being acquired from Milwaukee in February. Sandoval is the first Angels pitcher to get the ball after Shohei Ohtani started the last two regular-season openers.
Pablo López (Minnesota) and Cole Ragans (Kansas City) get the ball in this American League Central showdown. López is starting on Opening Day for the second consecutive year, while Ragans is making his first Opening Day start. Ragans was acquired midseason from the Texas Rangers last year and is 14 years younger than the previous two years‘ starter, Zack Greinke.
Chicago has called on Garrett Crochet after trading Dylan Cease to the San Diego Padres. It will also be Crochet’s first start in any capacity, making him only the third pitcher in the last 80 years to make his first career start on Opening Day. He will face the Tigers‘ Tarik Skubal, who is also making his first career Opening Day start.
Mitch Keller will be the first Pirates pitcher to start consecutive Opening Days since Francisco Liriano started three straight from 2014-16.
