The Cycle, Spoke #4: What to Watch on Opening Day

A viewer's guide to Thursday's full slate of Opening Day games

Twenty-five of the thirty players above should make their regular-season debut with their new team (or, in one case, their return to their old team) on Thursday.

Opening Day of the 2023 Major League Baseball season is Thursday. With all 30 teams in action to open the season, I wanted to help you sort through the 15-game schedule with a guide to Thursday’s best matchups and notable debuts. Let’s get right into it.

With the pitch clock in place, the average game is likely to last well short of three hours this year, making it easier to stack your Opening Day schedule with games in the 1 pm, 4 pm, 7 pm, and 10 pm (Eastern) time slots. My recommendation starts with choosing a game in each of those windows to maximize your baseball intake (you’ll get Friday to rest a bit, as there are only six games on the schedule, none starting before 6:40 pm ET, effectively limiting even the most dedicated fans to just two full games).

The 1-4-7-10 plan does rule out the three games that start between 2:10 pm and 3:10 pm, which will obviously be a deal-breaker for fans of those six teams (the Orioles, Red Sox, Brewers, Cubs, Tigers, and Rays). Of course, everything in today’s issue comes with the obvious caveat that your favorite team’s Opening Day game will surely take precedence over my recommendations.

For what it’s worth, the best of those three ‘tweener games is the 2:20 pm ET tilt between the Brewers and Cubs, which pits Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes against the Cubbies’ Marcus Stroman at Wrigley Field. That’s both the best pitching matchup of the three and the most compelling matchup of teams. The 2:10 pm ET game between the Orioles and Red Sox takes second place and will see both starting pitchers make their debuts for their new teams (Kyle Gibson for Baltimore, Corey Kluber for Boston) and, far more compellingly, Masataka Yoshida make his major-league debut, but that’s not enough to best Burnes vs. Stroman in my book. Of course, my book has no space for any of those three games (3:10 pm, Tigers @ Rays, Eduardo Rodriguez vs. Shane McClanahan, being the third).

Already down to 12 games, here are my picks:

The One-O’Clock Game

1:05 pm: Giants @ Yankees (Logan Webb vs. Gerrit Cole) MLB Network¹ (except locally)

After eliminating the three ‘tweeners, there are only two early games to choose from, and this one easily trumps Atlanta @ Washington (Max Fried vs. Patrick Corbin, with Sean Murphy making his Braves debut). Most fans should be able to watch Giants @ Yankees on the MLB Network (with New York– and San Francisco–area fans getting it on their local regional sports networks and Atlanta @ Nats on MLBN). So, start off the season with one of the best pitchers in the game, New York’s Gerrit Cole, on his home mound in the Bronx facing off against another ace in the Giants’ Logan Webb.

Webb has posted a 138 ERA+ over the last two seasons and picked up some Cy Young votes last year. He has never faced the Yankees before. Cole, of course, has five top-five Cy Young finishes, was ninth in last year’s AL voting, is a five-time All-Star, and led the majors in strikeouts last year. That said, the three Giants that have faced him who are likely to be in Thursday’s lineup—lefty bats Brandon Crawford, Joc Pederson, and Michael Conforto—have all had (extremely small-sample) success against him.

Ex-Met Conforto should make his first regular-season appearance since 2021 in the top of the first, as he has been typically hitting second or third for the Giants this spring. Meanwhile, top Yankees prospect Anthony Volpe should be making his major-league debut as New York’s starting shortstop. Also, the late innings of every Giants game this year hold the promise of seeing identical-in-looks-but-not-pitching-style twins Tyler and Taylor Rogers come out of the bullpen for San Francisco. Tyler is the side-arming righty. Taylor is the conventional lefty. Good luck remembering that.

The Four-O’Clock Game

This is the toughest call of the day. There are six games that start in the four-o’clock hour, but two stand above the rest because they offer the two best pitching matchups of the entire day. Here’s my argument for each.

4:05 pm: Phillies @ Rangers (Aaron Nola vs. Jacob deGrom), MLB Network (except locally)

Watch this game to catch Jacob deGrom while he’s healthy, see him make his Rangers debut, and see him go up against a former division rival that knows him well. Also watch this game to see deGrom, ostensibly still the best pitcher in baseball when healthy, go up against another ace in Nola, who finished fourth in last year’s NL Cy Young voting. Also tune in to see Trea Turner’s Phillies debut and for the first indication of how Phillies first baseman Darick Hall and the Mets’ bullpen will respond to the season-erasing injuries suffered by Rhys Hoskins and Edwin Díaz, respectively.

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4:10 pm: Mets @ Marlins (Max Scherzer vs. Sandy Alcantara), MLB Network (except locally)

Skip the Phillies and Rangers because deGrom will likely be capped at about 70 pitches and the Rangers’ ballpark is among the least attractive in the game and stick with deGrom’s old team and a matchup of Cy Young award winners. You’re likely to get more mileage out of the starters in this one, as defending NL Cy Young award winner and major-league innings leader Sandy Alcantara faces off against three-time Cy Young winner (and eight-time top-five finisher) Max Scherzer, who draws the Opening Day start over former Tigers rotation-mate Justin Verlander (Verlander will make his Mets debut on Saturday). Scherzer threw seven innings in his penultimate spring start and six in his last. Alcantara got up to 5 2/3 in his penultimate spring start. This game also offers a first in-season look at Jazz Chisholm Jr. in center field and marks AL batting champion Luis Arraez’s Marlins debut, as well as Miami skipper Skip Schumaker’s managerial debut.

This will likely be a time-of-game decision for me, but I may have just talked myself into Mets @ Marlins.

Also in the four-o’clock hour:

• Cardinals top prospect Jordan Walker’s major-league debut, as well as Willson Contreras’s Cardinals debut (at home against Alek Manoh and the Blue Jays at 4:10 pm).

• Pablo López’s Twins debut (starting against Zack Greinke and the Royals in Kansas City at 4:10 pm).

• Xander Bogaerts’ Padres debut (at home against Germán Márquez and the Rockies at 4:10 pm).

• Andrew McCutchen’s return to the Pirates (but not yet Pittsburgh, Mitch Keller vs. Hunter Greene at 4:10 pm).

The Seven-O’Clock Game

7:08 pm: White Sox @ Astros (Dylan Cease vs. Framber Valdez), ESPN

This one’s easy, as there is only one game that starts between 4:11 and 10:06. MLB has chosen this as their prime-time showcase, primarily because of the presence of the defending champion Astros, who will don gold-trimmed uniforms, as has become the Opening Day tradition for defending champs. Given the lack of compelling intra-division matchups to open the season (the best of the nine on offer are Diamondbacks–Dodgers, Brewers–Cubs, and maybe Orioles–Red Sox, the latter two of which are stuck in the two-o’clock tweener hour), I can’t complain too much about this matchup of likely contenders.

On the mound will be two top-five finishers in last year’s AL Cy Young voting (Cease was the runner-up to winner Justin Verlander, Valdez was fifth). The White Sox disappointed both last year and during the offseason, but they’re relatively healthy heading into the season (with the significant exception of closer Liam Hendriks, who is battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma). They have a compelling rookie manager at the helm in 53-year-old, bilingual, Cuban-American former Royals’ bench coach Pedro Grifol. They also have a new set of corner outfielders in free-agent addition Andrew Benintendi and 24-year-old Cuban slugger Oscar Colas, who will make his major-league debut in this game, joining countrymen Luis Robert Jr. and Yoán Moncada in the Chicago lineup. Adding some personal intrigue to the matchup, former White Sox first baseman and de facto team captain José Abreu (another Cuban whom Colas is effectively replacing in the Chisox lineup) will make his Astros debut in this game.

The Ten-O’Clock Game

There are three games in the ten-o’clock hour, and all three are compelling in their own way, though Angels @ A’s at 10:07 is primarily so because Shohei Ohtani will be on the mound (against Kyle Muller’s A’s debut). If you did it right, you just watched Ohtani dominate in the WBC, and he’ll face better lineups in most of his starts this year, so you can skip him on this occasion (though I can’t think of may better reasons to watch the A’s this year than to watch Ohtani pitch against them).

That leaves two games, and your preference may just come down to whether or not you’re more of an NL or AL fan:

10:10 pm: Diamondbacks @ Dodgers (Zac Gallen vs. Julio Urías)

This is the best intra-division game on Opening Day. The Dodgers have fallen back into the pack a bit this year, and the Diamondbacks are hoping to take a big step forward thanks to a young lineup with a ton of potential. That could put these two teams second and third in the NL West behind the Padres, though I’m not convinced they’ll be all that close to one another in those positions.

Still, the pitching matchup is on point with two top-five finishers in last year’s NL Cy Young voting. Urías, who finished third and led the NL in ERA (2.16) and ERA+ (194), is the obvious ace of the Dodgers at this point, with Walker Buehler due to miss the year following Tommy John surgery and Clayton Kershaw, who will start against old foe Madison Bumgarner on Saturday, having topped out at 22 starts and 126 1/3 innings in the last two years (three if you count the abbreviated 2020 season). Gallen, who finished fifth in last year’s voting, rebounded from an off year in 2021 and has a 3.09 ERA (136 ERA+) across his four major-league seasons.

J.D. Martinez will make his Dodgers debut in this game. Gabriel Moreno is likely to make his D’backs debut behind the plate. With the lefty Urías on the mound, we may see Evan Longoria in the starting lineup for Arizona, as well.

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10:10 pm: Guardians @ Mariners (Shane Bieber vs. Luis Castillo), MLB Network (except locally)

This is another excellent pitching matchup, this one featuring two 2022 playoff teams and likely 2023 contenders. Bieber and Castillo both had rebound seasons last year, Bieber coming back from injury to finish seventh in the AL Cy Young voting, Castillo rebounding from a relative off year to make his second All-Star team then land with Seattle, finishing strong and turning in two excellent, seven-inning outings in the playoffs. Bieber will be throwing to former Mariners catcher Mike Zunino, making his Guardians debut along with switch-hitter Josh Bell. Castillo will be backed up by second baseman Kolten Wong and righty thumper Teoscar Hernández in their Mariners debuts.

I’m torn on this pairing, as well. The D’backs–Dodgers has Mookie Betts and Corbin Carroll. Guardians–Mariners has José Ramírez and Julio Rodríguez. I think I prefer the Bieber–Castillo pitching matchup, but I’m very curious to see the D’backs’ young lineup in action, though the lefty Urías could force one of the young lefty-hitting outfielders to the bench (most likely Jake McCarthy) in favor of righty Kyle Lewis. Arizona–L.A. has the divisional intrigue, but I’m also a bit skeptical about that, at least this early in the season.

The tiebreaker might be my preference for the Dodgers’ broadcasters. Orel Hershiser and Joe Davis are among the best in the business, while Dave Sims, whom I respect for his long career, is a gratuitous homer who can be difficult to listen to as a neutral fan. If the MLB Network carries the Mariners broadcast, I’ll probably go Diamondbacks–Dodgers.

However and whatever you chose to watch, it will be great to have major-league baseball back and to see the best players playing games that count toward this year’s playoff races. And if the announcers won’t stop talking about the new rules (the pitch clock, the shift and step-off limitations, the larger bases, the intended and unintended ramifications of all of those on other aspects of the game, etc.), hit mute and put on some music, or, if you have the ability, switch to ballpark sounds on MLB.tv. I just wish there was as elegant a solution to the advertising patches an increasing number of teams will be wearing on their camera-facing sleeves. Every year I have to work a little bit harder to see the game through the noise, but I’m still willing to do it.

Play Ball!

1. For the MLB Network games, it’s not clear which of those listed is the A-game (broadcast to all markets other than the local markets of the two teams involved) and which is the B-game (broadcast only in the markets of the A-game’s teams).