One of the great things about opening day in Major League Baseball is that teams usually send out their best. Future Hall of Famer’s, reigning Cy Young winners (Sandy Alcantara) and promising youngsters are set to toe the rubber on Thursday and Friday. We take a look at five who should be in line for big 2023 seasons.
Max Scherzer (New York Mets)
Despite his advancing age, the 38-year old Scherzer is still one of the best pitchers in baseball. In his first season with the Mets, Scherzer went on the Injured List twice with oblique injuries. But when he was healthy he was dominant. He had a 2.29 ERA in 23 starts and 145.1 innings pitched. He struck out 10.7 batters per nine while walking only 1.5/9.
Mad Max continues to shove, like in this spring training game when he struck out 11 Tampa Bay Rays hitters:
Most strikeouts in a ST game since 2008:
Tyson Ross: 12 (2015)
MAX SCHERZER: 12 (2019)
Alex Cobb: 12 (2014)
Yu Darvish: 11 (2012)
Robbie Ray: 11 (2019)
Clayton Kershaw: 11 (2017)
Jonathan Sánchez: 11 (2010)
Dylan Cease: 11 (2021)
Trevor Cahill: 11 (2013)
MAX SCHERZER: 11 (today) https://t.co/T0stOCnv9Z— Mathew Brownstein (@MBrownstein89) March 24, 2023
Jacob deGrom (Texas Rangers)
deGrom has a new team and all reports are that the former New York Met is healthy now. He’ll take the ball on Opening Day against the Philadelphia Phillies. deGrom was still doing great work on the mound last season (when healthy), striking out 102 batters in 64.1 innings pitched (14.3 K/9). If he can stay off the injured list, deGrom will remind the baseball world how dominating he can be.
Julio Urias (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Rodney Dangerfield has nothing on him. The lack of respect for Urias is monumental. He’s the ace of the Dodgers staff and over the past two seasons has put up numbers that should have resulted in a Cy Young award. He was 17-7 with a 2.16 ERA in 31 starts and 175 innings pitched last season. Urias led the league in ERA and finished third in the NL Cy Young voting. The Mexican lefthander begins the season against another under the radar ace in Zac Gallen and the Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium.
Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels)
Ohtani was 15-9 last season and had a 2.33 ERA in 28 starts and 166 innings pitched last season. He led the league with an 11.9 K/9 while lowering his walks to 2.4/9. Ohtani faces a poor Oakland lineup in his first start of 2023.
He was the star of Japan’s World Baseball Classic title team. He clinched the tournament with a strikeout of Angels teammate Mike Trout of Team USA:
Trout vs Ohtani lived up to the HYPE! #WorldBaseballClassic pic.twitter.com/Z8aZAjpDRg
— World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) March 22, 2023
Sandy Alcantara- Miami Marlins
With all due respect to Scherzer, Ohtani, DeGrom and Urias, Alcantara is the top pitcher working on opening day. He’s the reigning NL Cy Young award (unanimous) after posting a 2.28 ERA in 32 starts and 228.2 innings pitched. Alcantara did it in maybe the toughest division in baseball the NL East.
He reminded teams of his dominance with this stellar spring training effort:
Sandy Alcantara started the game with 8 STRAIGHT strikeouts against the Houston Astros.pic.twitter.com/f8p6rW8vtk
— Baseball King (@BasebaIlKing) March 25, 2023
Alcantara will face the Mets and Scherzer at home on Opening Day.
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