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MLB Opening Day: Highlighting the best pitching matchups

By Nate Thompson |
TAMPA, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 24: Gerrit Cole #45 of the New York Yankees warms up before the spring training game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Steinbrenner Field on February 24, 2020 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 24: Gerrit Cole #45 of the New York Yankees warms up before the spring training game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Steinbrenner Field on February 24, 2020 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)

With MLB’s Opening Day kicking off today, which pitching matchups are the most intriguing?

There are quite a few great pitching matchups on MLB‘s Opening Day . Let’s start off with the very best matchup:

New York Yankees vs Washington Nationals

Gerrit Cole vs Max Scherzer

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It doesn’t get much better than these two facing off in the very first game to kick off the MLB season.

Gerrit Cole was 1st in fWAR among pitchers at 7.4 last year, Scherzer was 4th at 6.5. Cole was first in K/9 at a historic mark of 13.82 and Scherzer was 2nd at 12.69. Cole’s 2.50 ERA ranked 3rd among all starters and Scherzer’s at 2.92 ranked 8th.

These two are clearly two of the very best pitchers in the league and will make for quite the fun opening night. Whether they will go long into the game will be interesting to see because of the long layoff. Either way, this is definitely the best and most intriguing Opening Day pitching matchup.

Atlanta Braves vs New York Mets

Mike Soroka vs Jacob deGrom

The Mets will be sending out the back to back NL Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, who I believe is the best pitcher in the MLB. From 2018-19 he leads all MLB starting pitchers in:

  • fWAR (16.0)
  • ERA (2.05)
  • FIP (2.32)
  • HR/9 (0.62)

Not to mention that he’s 2nd in WHIP, 4th in K/9, and all over the top in any statistical categories the past 2 seasons. The best pitcher in the MLB going against a very young up and coming ace in Mike Soroka is very intriguing.

Soroka’s 2.68 ERA ranked 5th in the entire MLB in 2019. At just 22 years old it will be interesting to see how he builds off the amazing 2019 campaign. Especially with it coming against Jacob deGrom.

Toronto Blue Jays vs Tampa Bay Rays

Hyun Jin Ryu vs Charlie Morton

Ryu will be making his first start as a Blue Jay and he’s coming off an amazing season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 2019 he posted an MLB best 2.32 ERA and 1.18 BB/9 to go along with a stellar 1.01 WHIP.

Charlie Morton is also coming off his best season in which he posted a 3.05 ERA, 2.81 FIP, and 11.1 K/9. He was dominant in his first year with the Tampa Bay Rays and it will be interesting to see how builds off that at the age of 36.

Watching the superb control pitcher in Ryu against the contrasting style of strikeout machine Morton will be a very intriguing Opening Day matchup.

Next. Dodgers optioning Gavin Lux not a surprise. dark

Minnesota Twins vs Chicago White Sox

Jose Berrios vs Lucas Giolito

Two of the best young pitchers in the game will matchup in this AL Central Opening Day matchup. Both of these guys are very young and both have some of the nastiest pitches in the entire MLB.

Berrios posted a 3.68 ERA with an 8.76 K/9 in 2019. Giolitio posted a 3.41 ERA with an outstanding 11.62 K/9. Both pitchers are just 26 years old and both are atop their team’s rotation. It will certainly be fun to see how they both do especially against two lineups which both made major improvements in the off-season.

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