MLB Opening Day: The 3 Finest Pitching Matchups to Watch

MLB Opening Day is scheduled for tomorrow, which implies there are some big pitching matchups on the docket as groups toss their aces trying to get their seasons began with a win. 

Plenty of aces will not be on the market tomorrow, as New York Yankee hurler Gerrit Cole, Tampa Bay Ray Shane McClanahan, and newly-minted Los Angeles Dodger Shohei Ohtani are all both out damage or injured of their capability as pitchers solely in Ohtani’s case.

While meaning three of baseball’s 10 finest pitchers will not be on the market tomorrow, there’s nonetheless a ton of expertise to tune in to see. 

Here are the three finest pitching matchups followers will likely be handled to on Thursday.

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MLB Opening Day: Spencer Strider (Atlanta) vs. Zack Wheeler (Philadelphia)

The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies are set to resume their rivalry on Thursday afternoon, they usually’ll do it with very arguably the 2 finest pitchers in the entire National League on the bump.

The Braves will likely be on the lookout for payback because the Phillies have knocked them out of the playoffs two years in a row, whereas the Phillies will attempt to make a dent in Atlanta’s common season dominance over the National League East.

Spencer Strider is coming off of a Spring Training during which he went 3-1 with a 0.79 ERA and struck out 35 batters in 22.2 innings pitched. Much has been made about his new curveball that appears like a plus providing, and if that pans out because the case, hitters are in for an absolute nightmare towards Strider this yr, because the younger righty already contains a top-of-the-line fastball and slider.

Zach Wheeler, on the opposite finish, has anchored Philadelphia’s robust rotation since he joined the Phillies as a free agent a number of years in the past. He completed within the high 12 in Cy Young voting in three of his 4 years in crimson, and he was excellent in 2022, the yr he did not.

There could also be no starter within the league extra of a certain factor to be at the least superb than Wheeler, who has confirmed to be a sturdy power within the common season and one of the crucial fearsome hurlers within the playoffs. 

This sport is about pretty much as good because it will get for opening day.

MLB Opening Day: Yu Darvish (San Diego) vs. Logan Webb (San Francisco)

If the National League Cy Young winner this season does not come from the final matchup, it very effectively is perhaps Logan Webb who takes house that {hardware} this yr. 

Though he is coming off of a tough Spring Training, Webb was dominant in 2023, racking up 194 strikeouts, topping the 200-inning mark, and pitching to a 3.25 ERA. 

Logan Webb is effectively entrenched as one of many elite pitchers within the sport at this level, and the matchup towards the Padres and Yu Darvish will likely be an indication of issues to return for him in 2024.

For Darvish then again, that is really his second outing of the common season after he pitched within the worldwide sequence video games towards the Dodgers in South Korea. 

That outing didn’t go very effectively, however there are mountains of proof to counsel that Yu Darvish will proceed to be a robust top-of-the-rotation pitcher this yr, even at 37 years of age. 

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MLB Opening Day: Cole Ragans (Kansas City) vs. Pablo Lopez (Minnesota)

The inclusion of this matchup could shock some readers, however there’s maybe no pitcher extra attention-grabbing this season than Cole Ragans, whom the Royals acquired from the Texas Rangers in change for Aroldis Chapman previous to final yr’s commerce deadline. 

The Royals, not generally known as a pitching manufacturing unit, discovered one thing in Ragans that empowered him to strike out 10.59 batters per 9 innings whereas placing up a 3.47 ERA in 2023.

In 2022 with the Rangers, he struck out simply over 6 batters per 9 and allowed a 4.95 ERA. There was nothing fluky about his efficiency with the Royals final season both, the query isn’t whether or not he can keep away from pure regression however whether or not he can replicate the elite degree he discovered final yr. 

Minnesota has its personal ace acquired by way of commerce too, in Pablo Lopez, gotten from the Marlins final season in change for Luis Arraez. Lopez offered stability on the high of the rotation that Twins followers had been lacking since Johan Santana left for New York 17 years in the past. 

Pablo Lopez began 32 video games to the tune of a 3.66 ERA final yr, and there is cause to imagine he can proceed to get even higher. The Royals lineup presents considerably of a positive matchup to get issues began for the 28-year-old in 2024.

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