MLB opening day is here, and it comes with lots of action gameplay and love and joy of the fan.
For the first time in history since 1968, All the teams will plat their first match on the day 1. So the 30 march is fully packed with unlimited Baseball action.
pitching calibre. The matchup will be better the greater the pitchers, right? Right.
Storylines. Is someone making their first start with a new team? Taking on his old squad? Etc.
Watchability. the most arbitrary variable. How fun is it to watch these men pitch?
For the first time since 2019, we had a complete spring training, which means that Opening Day games were not shortened by tight pitch counts. In light of that, the following are our evaluations. There are eight Cy Young winners and 11 overall Cy Young awards among this year's Opening Day starters.
1. RHP Max Scherzer, Mets vs. RHP Sandy Alcantara, Marlins
possibly the best right-handed pitcher of this generation and possibly the best right-handed pitcher in the sport right now. Scherzer possesses three Cy Youngs and three other top-three finishes in the voting, and he will head into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. The current NL Cy Young Award winner Alcantara topped baseball in innings played (by 23 2/3! ), batters faced (by 59!) and strikeouts (by 59!) last year. These two are throwback workhorses who go out expecting to finish what they initiate.
Despite being power pitchers, Scherzer and Alcantara have distinct stylistic philosophies. Every time Scherzer pitches, he records strikes and has the potential to record double-digit whiffs. Alcantara is more of a poor contact and ground ball pitcher. That only serves to highlight the fact that there are numerous paths to success in this game—MANY paths to success, in fact. Simply stated, Scherzer and Alcantara are two of the game's greatest pitchers, making their matchup on Opening Day a must-see event.
2. RHP Dylan Cease, White Sox vs. LHP Framber Valdez, Astros
On Opening Day, two of the sport's top pitchers will take the mound, albeit perhaps not the two biggest stars. Cease had a breakthrough season in which he posted a 2.20 ERA with 227 strikeouts in 184 innings, placing him as the runner-up for the AL Cy Young award the previous year. In 2022, Valdez confronted 827 batters; 560 of them either struck out or hit the ball on the ground, making him the premier strikeout/ground ball artist in the game. That's a respectable 68%, undoubtedly the highest rate among pitchers who met the qualifications. The often-control-challenged Cease might struggle against Houston's patient squad. Even so, the contest is a great one.
3. RHP Aaron Nola, Phillies vs. RHP Jacob deGrom, Rangers
In this case, deGrom is everything. The two-time Cy Young winner will make his first start with his new club on Opening Day after signing a five-year, $185 million contract that was panned a bit given his injury trouble the last few years. However, nobody is superior when they are fit. It is electric, featuring top-notch athletic equipment mixed with surgical precision.
Nola is certainly no pushover, and if anything, he still lacks recognition for being one of the best starts in the league. He never skips a start, and this year, too, he's throwing for a contract after he and the Phillies were unable to reach an extension this spring. DeGrom is making his team debut, while Nola will start the first year of his deal. This one has many excellent stories.
4. RHP Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks vs. LHP Julio Urías, Dodgers
One of my favourite baseball relievers is Gallen. It's actually more like 7-8 pitches because he can change the shape of his four offerings, making him a four-pitch pitcher. He had the seventh-longest scoreless run in history last season, which lasted 44 1/3 innings. I also believe he has more in him. Despite being only 26 years old, Uras seems to have been around for a very long time. Over the past two seasons, he has become a true star. Last year, he came in third in the NL Cy Young voting, while Gallen came in fifth. Day vs. Pitcher vs. Pitcher vs. Pitcher.
5. RHP Shane Bieber, Guardians vs. RHP Luis Castillo, Mariners
Two years ago, a shoulder injury prevented Justin Bieber from pitching at his peak, but he still had a 2.28 ERA and 198 strikes in 200 innings. He is still a top player. Castillo is one of those men who resembles a character from a video game. He has one of the best changeups in the league and throws a fastball in the high 90s. How do you strike that? The answer is no.
The majority of the nation will be asleep when this pitching matchup takes place because this is one of three 10 p.m. ET games on Opening Day. The next morning, thank heavens for shortened game videos.
6. RHP Logan Webb, Giants vs. RHP Gerrit Cole, Yankees
Every time I compile these standings, there is a pitching matchup I fear I have underrated. This year's contest is that one. Cole has been excellent for so long that it is almost monotonous. Never skips a start, consistently strikes out 240 batters annually, and gives up one of the lowest batting averages in the sport. Yawn. Despite being very different, Webb is just as successful. He throws ground balls that tyre out the infield. Decent chance I've underrated Cole vs. Webb and they give us Opening Day's finest pitchers' duel.
7. RHP Corbin Burnes, Brewers vs. RHP Marcus Stroman, Cubs
It's kind of remarkable that a pitcher can go 202 innings, have a 2.94 ERA, and lead his league with 243 strikeouts even though this is a down year for him. Given Burnes' impending free agency (after 2024) and his excellent performance in 2021 and 2022, trade rumours may start to circulate this summer. Stroman has been one of the league's most consistent and dependable starters for almost a decade, logging innings at a pace that is above average. Burnes chews up hitters with his cutter, and Stroman produces plenty of weak contact, both of which are intriguing.
8. RHP Shohei Ohtani, Angels vs. LHP Kyle Muller, Athletics
Ohtani is the best player in the game, so ranking him this low feels wrong, but we can thank the A's for that. Due to Paul Blackburn's finger injury, Oakland was compelled to substitute Muller. If Blackburn had played, I'm not sure how much higher I would have rated this matchup. At the very least, Muller is a highly anticipated prospect who has excelled in Triple-A and offers optimism for the future. His 12th MLB start will come on Opening Day, and after being acquired in the Sean Murphy three-team deal, it will be his first with the A's. The sport's best and most entertaining athlete is Ohtani, who is Ohtani. Based on him alone, I probably ought to have given this matchup a greater boost.
9. RHP Mitch Keller, Pirates vs. RHP Hunter Greene, Reds
This year's "two young pitchers hardcore baseball nerds love" matchup will take place, as it does every year. When he switched to a sinker at midseason last year, Keller quietly made a breakthrough. In his final 15 appearances, he pitched to a 2.71 ERA. The greatest speed demon in sports is Greene. The pitchers who threw the most strikes over 100 mph in 2022 are listed at the top of this list:
337 Hunter Greene
80 Jacob deGrom
The Nos. 2–7 pitchers on the chart combined had fewer 100 mph pitches than Greene did. Although velocity isn't everything, it is something, and Greene has more velocity than any other beginning pitcher in the competition. This season, the Pirates and Reds are most likely going to struggle.
10. RHP Alek Manoah, Blue Jays vs. RHP Miles Mikolas, Cardinals
As a result of Adam Wainwright's groyne injury, which will keep him out for a few weeks, Mikolas will receive the ball on Opening Day. With four different pitches and a lot of weak contact in the air, he is very effective in a somewhat monotonous manner. In his first full MLB season, Manoah placed third in the voting for the AL Cy Young Award. He is one of the many young starters who are revolutionising baseball. He is also a relic. Manoah pitched 196 2/3 innings in 2022, his 24th season, in a time when young pitchers are treated cautiously. The previous record for a pitcher 24 years old or younger was held by Alcantara (197 1/3) and Justin Bieber (214 1/3) in 2019.
11. RHP Pablo López, Twins vs. RHP Zack Greinke, Royals
Greinke is a grizzled veteran who joined the Royals last season after what appeared to be his final campaign in Kansas City. López is a fresh face in a new setting. These two are quite comparable. They are both highly perceptive, cerebral pitchers who focus more on dissecting hitters than anything else. The two most cunning veterans in the game are Greinke and Rich Hill, and it's not unusual to see Greinke pitch a curveball at 60 mph or a changeup in the low 80s. This Opening Day pitching duel is for the analytical type.
12. LHP Eduardo Rodriguez, Tigers vs. LHP Shane McClanahan, Rays
The hard work here is being done by McClanahan. He was a Cy Young contender, if not the front-runner, for the majority of last season before shoulder issues and a few setbacks towards the end of the campaign caused him to drop to sixth in the polling. Even so, when at his finest, McClanahan ranks among the best bat-missers in the history of the game. Although Rodriguez is more of a consistent innings man than a true dominator and lost time due to personal issues last season, innings guys are still important.
13. RHP Germán Márquez, Rockies vs. LHP Blake Snell, Padres
Snell will start on Opening Day for the Padres because Joe Musgrove is recovering from a toe injury and Yu Darvish's timetable was disrupted by the World Baseball Classic. The "watchability" of no pitcher, including past Cy Young winner Snell, seems to benefit from the pitch timer as much as Snell does. Sometimes, his beginnings are a slog. Márquez had a difficult season and his strikeout rate plummeted last year, but he has a strong career record away from Coors Field, and this Opening Day game will be contested in San Diego. Snell and Márquez's matchup outside of Coors Field with the pitch clock could be a fantastic one to watch.
14. LHP Max Fried, Braves vs. LHP Patrick Corbin, Nationals
Unquestionably, Fried is one of the finest pitchers in the league. He finished second in the NL Cy Young voting last year and there is every reason to think he will be in the running for the award this year. Corbin isn't going to. With 390 innings pitched and a 5.82 ERA since 2020, he has been among the worst pitchers in MLB over the past three seasons. Nevertheless, Corbin was essential to Washington's 2019 World Series victory, and flags flutter indefinitely. Corbin will start on Opening Day because the Nationals need someone to fill innings during their extensive reconstruction. But yes, he significantly detracts from this contest.
15. RHP Kyle Gibson, Orioles. vs. RHP Corey Kluber, Red Sox
It seems unfair to place a two-time Cy Young winner at the bottom of the list, but Gibson is an adequate but unremarkable big league starter, and Kluber is no longer the pitcher he once was. Both of these pitchers are excellent pitchers with successful careers, but this year, it's fairly simple to pick one of them to finish last in the rankings.
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