Five pitchers from the Dominican Republic, two from Venezuela, one from Puerto Rico and another from Colombia have been designated to start on the opening day of the baseball regular season. Big leagues.
There will be a clearly Dominican duel when Luis Castillo from Seattle faces Bryan Bello from Boston andn the Mariners’ home, T-Mobile Park, on March 28. Castillo will open on opening day for the fourth time in his career and it will be Bello’s first opportunity.
At least half of the teams had already announced their opening day starters, including 15 games on March 28.
“Having your leader tell you that you are going to be the person to start the first game of the season is an honor,” said Colorado pitcher Kyle Freeland in a video the team published to announce the starter. “I definitely don’t take it lightly. It’s amazing knowing and that feeling that you accomplished something that only a handful of kids can do consistently.”
MLB begins Wednesday in Seoul, South Korea with Los Angeles Dodgers newcomer Tyler Glasnow facing San Diego’s Yu Darvish. Glasnow signed a five-year, $136.5 million deal with the Dodgers following a trade with Tampa Bay.
But perhaps the most notable duel is that of Philadelphia’s Zach Wheeler against Atlanta’s Spencer Strider at Citizens Bank Park. Corbin Burnes, the 2021 Cy Young winner with Milwaukee, will debut with Baltimore starting on a visit to the Los Angeles Angels.
Puerto Rican José Berríos will take the mound for Toronto at Tropicana Field for his fourth opening day start — and his second in three seasons with the Blue Jays when he faces Zach Eflin of Tampa Bay.
Pablo López and Jesús Luzardo will be the two Venezuelans who will open. López will do it for the second time in his career and second in a row with the Minnesota Twins against Cole Ragans of the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Luzardo will be baptized with the mission by starting at home for the Miami Marlins against Mitch Keller of Pittsburgh.
The Colombian José Quintana will start for the second time on an opening day, doing so for the New York Mets at Citi Field against the Dominican Freddy Peralta and the Milwaukee Brewers. A 35-year-old left-hander, Quintana started the Chicago White Sox’s opening game in 2017. Peralta will have the assignment for the first time in his career.
The other Dominicans who will open will be Framber Valdez from Houston and Frankie Montás from Cincinnati. Both will do it for the third time, with Valdez one after the other for the Astros. Montás’ previous two were with Oakland in 2020 and 2022.
The Chicago White Sox announced Monday that left-hander Garrett Crochet will make his first start on Opening Day. The 24-year-old will switch to the rotation this season after his previous 72 major league appearances were in relief.
Oakland gave the first-day assignment to Alex Wood, the 33-year-old left-hander who has never had a starting job.
Other opening day matchups include Burnes vs. Patrick Sandoval of the Angels; Montas vs. Josiah Gray of Washington; Valdez vs. Cuban Néstor Cortés of the Yankees; Crochet vs. Tarik Skubal of Detroit; Nathan Eovaldi of Texas vs. Justin Steele of the Chicago Cubs; Freeland against Arizona’s Zac Gallen; and Wood against Cleveland’s Shane Bieber.
Logan Webb received the call from San Francisco when the Giants open the season against the Padres and Mike Mikolas will pitch for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Dodgers.
Source: With information from AP
