7:08 PM ET Chicago White Sox – Dylan Cease @ Houston Astros – Framber Valdez
There are four-night games on Opening Day, starting with this one in Houston, where the Astros will start their defense of their 2022 World Series title. Dylan Cease will get the nod for the first time on Opening Day for the Chicago White Sox. Cease was good in 2021, but was phenomenal in 2022. He finished second in the AL Cy Young voting, and actually got a few votes for AL MVP, finishing 22nd. Cease needs to improve upon his walk rate (he led MLB with 78 walks) but other than that, he is solid. For him to be post a 2.20 ERA while leading the league in walks is crazy.
Framber Valdez was the number two pitcher for the Astros last season, but only because current Met Justin Verlander was winning the Cy Young as a member of the team. Valdez was no slouch though, as he finished fifth in the AL Cy Young voting. He started 31 games, had 201.1 innings pitched, struck out 194, had a 2.82 ERA, and a 1.157 WHIP. Valdez is a dynamic pitcher that is fun to watch.
10:07 PM ET Los Angeles Angels – Shohei Ohtani @ Oakland A’s – Kyle Muller
Three West Coast night games will wrap up the Opening Day festivities. This matchup is all about Shohei Ohtani. In his four years in MLB, Ohtani won the Rookie of the Year (’18), is a two time All-Star (’21 & ’22), has won the Silver Slugger (’21), and was American League MVP (’21). The funny thing is, that last season was his best and he actually won less awards, because of the outrageous performances by Justin Verlander and Aaron Judge. If that wasn’t enough, Ohtani is fresh off lifting the entire country of Japan on his shoulders and carrying them to the title in the World Baseball Classic. His pitching and hitting performances are storybook, but truthfully storybooks wouldn’t be so far-fetched. Baseball fans should make sure and soak up as much Ohtani viewing as possible, because we don’t know if there will ever be anyone to come along that resembles his makeup again in our lifetime.
Kyle Muller is the fifth-best prospect for the Oakland A’s, according to MLB.com. While Muller has struggled in his limited experience at the big-league level, his last two seasons at Triple-A have been really good. One of the issues that he had in 2021 was giving up too many walks, and Muller did much better in that category in 2022. In 2021, the tall (6-foot-7) lefty walked 42 in 79.2 innings pitched, but then in 2022 he walked 40 in 134.2 frames. Muller will look to improve upon his command at the big-league level this year.