Opening Day starters for every MLB team

Nearly every MLB team has announced their Opening Day starter for the 2020 season, which begins on Thursday, July 23. Join us as we quickly preview all 30 presumptive starters below (non-official starters are denoted with a *).

Arizona Diamondbacks: Madison Bumgarner*

Madison Bumgarner has made five Opening Day starts in his career, all for the division-rival Giants. Now the 30-year-old veteran will presumably get the ball in Game 1 of 60 for the D-backs (at Padres), who inked him to a five-year, $85 million deal this offseason.

Atlanta Braves: Mike Soroka

NL Rookie of the Year runner-up Mike Soroka will make his first Opening Day start for the Braves at Citi Field against the Mets, a team that hit .299 against him in three starts last season.

Baltimore Orioles: John Means

John Means turned in a fine season on a bad team, going 12-11 with a 3.60 ERA en route to a runner-up finish in the AL Rookie of the Year race. Opening Day honors (at Red Sox) are well-deserved.

Boston Red Sox: Nathan Eovaldi

Chris Sale, the 2019 Opening Day starter for the Red Sox, is out for the year, and Eduardo Rodriguez is still getting back to full strength after contracting COVID-19, so Nathan Eovaldi (5.99 ERA in 2019) defaults into Opening Day duties against the Orioles.

Chicago White Sox: Lucas Giolito

Lucas Giolito had an incredible bounce-back year in 2019, going 14-9 with a 3.41 ERA after stumbling through 2018 (10-13, 6.13 ERA). He’ll face a Twins team that hit just .172 against him last season (four games).

Chicago Cubs: Kyle Hendricks

Jon Lester had started three straight Opening Day games for the Cubs, but newly-minted manager David Ross opted to shake things up by going with Kyle Hendricks for Game 1 against the Brewers. Hendricks, apparently, is the starter that can go deepest the earliest for Chicago.

Cincinnati Reds: Sonny Gray

Sonny Gray makes his third career Opening Day start and his first since 2015, back when he was with the Athletics. He’ll face a Tigers lineup that was 29th in OPS (.684) in 2019.

Cleveland Indians: Shane Bieber

Shane Bieber, who posted an AL-best 1.7 walks per nine innings in his sophomore season, gets the nod from Indians skipper Terry Francona to be the Opening Day starter against the Royals.

Colorado Rockies: German Marquez*

Rockies manager Bud Black has not made it official yet, but German Marquez would appear to be in line to start on Opening Day against the Rangers in Texas’ brand-new Globe Life Field. Marquez was a demonstrably better pitcher away from Coors Field last year, producing a 3.67 ERA and 0.944 WHIP compared to a 6.26 ERA and 1.555 WHIP in Colorado.

Detroit Tigers: Matthew Boyd

Matthew Boyd had a respectable 3.87 ERA before the All-Star break last year, but that number crept up to 4.56 by season’s end. He’ll make his first Opening Day start against the Reds and their promising new lineup.

Houston Astros: Justin Verlander

Reigning AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander will make his 12th career Opening Day start, which will tie him with Hall of Famers Grover Cleveland Alexander and Bert Blyleven for the eighth-most all-time. His opponent is a moribund Seattle squad.

Kansas City Royals: Danny Duffy

Danny Duffy will make his third Opening Day start as a Royal. He’ll face a team that’s given him all kinds of trouble over the years in the Indians. Duffy is just 3-11 all-time against Cleveland (21 games) with a 5.48 ERA.

Los Angeles Angels: Andrew Heaney

The Angels’ dearth of starting pitching was brought to light when Andrew Heaney, who’s thrown just 438 innings over a stop-and-start six-year career and had a 4.91 ERA in 2019 (95 innings), was named Opening Day starter against the A’s.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw

Clayton Kershaw will make his ninth career Opening Day start for the Dodgers when they host the Giants on July 23. His previous Opening Day starts have been stupendous, as he’s gone 5-1 with a 1.05 ERA. 

Miami Marlins: Sandy Alcantara

The Marlins’ lone All-Star in 2019, Sandy Alcantara will make his first career Opening Day start against the Phillies, whom he’s 3-1 against (four starts) with a 2.81 ERA.

Milwaukee Brewers: Brandon Woodruff

Brandon Woodruff, off a season in which he went 11-3 with a 3.62 ERA, has become the Brewers’ ace, so he’ll get the ball on Opening Day against the Cubs.

Minnesota Twins: Jose Berrios

Jose Berrios turned heads in his first Opening Day start last year when he struck out 10 Indians over 7 2/3 scoreless innings. He’ll try to replicate that against the White Sox.

New York Yankees: Gerrit Cole

The Yankees gave Gerrit Cole a nine-year, $324 million contract so he could be their staff ace for the foreseeable future. He’ll have to bring his A-game as he faces Max Scherzer and the Nationals in Thursday’s season-opening game (7:00 p.m., ESPN).

New York Mets: Jacob deGrom*

Back-to-back NL Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom is on track to pitch Opening Day against the Braves despite a hiccup during MLB Summer Camp.

Oakland Athletics: Frankie Montas

Frankie Montas got out of the gate strongly in 2019, going 9-2 with a 2.63 ERA, but a failed drug test derailed him. His A’s host the Angels on Opening Day.

Philadelphia Phillies: Aaron Nola*

It’s not official yet, but Aaron Nola is "on track" to make his third straight Opening Day start for the Phillies (vs. Marlins). He didn’t pitch deep into either of those previous efforts against the Braves, but he held them to two earned runs over 11 1/3 innings.

Pittsburgh Pirates: Joe Musgrove

Joe Musgrove was Pittsburgh’s most reliable pitcher in 2019, tossing the most innings (170 1/3) while recording the lowest ERA of any Pirates starter (4.44), so he’ll be rewarded with his first Opening Day start (at Cardinals).

San Diego Padres: Chris Paddack*

Promising Padres starter Chris Paddack (9-7, 3.33 ERA in 2019) is likely to get the Opening Day nod against the Diamondbacks.

San Francisco Giants: Johnny Cueto

Johnny Cueto made four straight Opening Day starts for the Reds from 2012-15, but that feels like forever ago for this once-reliable veteran. He’ll face one of the best lineups in baseball as the Dodgers play host. 

Seattle Mariners: Marco Gonzales

Marco Gonzales, the Mariners’ leader in innings pitched (203) and strikeouts (147) a year ago, makes his second straight Opening Day start (at Astros).

St. Louis Cardinals: Jack Flaherty

The future is now for the Cardinals as Jack Flaherty will take the hill on Opening Day against the Pirates, a team he’s dominated since debuting in 2017 (4-1, 1.84 ERA over seven starts).

Tampa Bay Rays: Charlie Morton

Charlie Morton has aged like a fine wine, as he’ll make his first career Opening Day start (vs. Blue Jays) at age 36. "Ground Chuck" tallied career-bests in wins (16), ERA (3.05), WHIP (1.084) and innings pitched (194 2/3) in 2019.

Texas Rangers: Lance Lynn

Lance Lynn will keep a dubious streak alive for the Rangers, who haven’t had a pitcher make consecutive Opening Day starts since 2009 (Kevin Millwood). Though he was a rock for Texas in 2019 (16-11, 3.67 ERA), Lynn also led the majors in wild pitches with 18 after never throwing more than seven in a season. He'll face the Rockies.

Toronto Blue Jays: Hyun-Jin Ryu

The Blue Jays broke open the piggy bank for Ryu (four years, $80 million), so it’s not surprising that they’ll call his number on Opening Day (at Rays). Ryu allowed just one earned run over six frames while striking out eight D-backs on Opening Day of 2019.

Washington Nationals: Max Scherzer

Max Scherzer makes his fifth Opening Day start in six years for the defending champion Nationals on Thursday (vs. Yankees). He has a 1.27 ERA over his previous four Opening Day outings.

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