SEOUL – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Major League Baseball’s regular season begins Wednesday in Seoul, South Korea, and Tuesday the league announced the starting pitchers for that game and the 15 Opening Day games that will be played March 28.
No fewer than 20 of the 30 pitchers named are All-Stars, and four of the Opening Day starters will be appearing with a new team.
Those staff aces making their debuts for their new teams are Corbin Burnes of the Baltimore Orioles, Tyler Glasnow of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Frankie Montas of the Cincinnati Reds and Alex Wood of the Oakland Athletics.
In the Seoul Series opener, at 6:05 a.m. ET, Glasnow and the Dodgers meet Yu Darvish and the San Diego Padres with the teams playing again 24 hours later.
MLB Network will have all the preview material for Opening Day covered with nine studio shows airing March 27.
Highlighting the March 28 slate is the lone interleague matchup, ESPN’s national broadcast between last season’s World Series champion Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs in Arlington, Texas.
The Rangers will send right-hander Nathan Eovaldi against Cubs lefty Justin Steele.
The Dodgers, favorites to win the 2024 World Series, return from Seoul to host the St. Louis Cardinals March 28.
Prized free-agent acquisition Shohei Ohtani is expected to play his first home game for the Dodgers in that contest, an MLB Network-televised matchup against Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas.
A pair of leading American League contenders meet in Houston when the New York Yankees send Nestor Cortes against the Astros’ Framber Valdez.
There are also six divisional contests, highlighted by the Philadelphia Phillies’ visit to the Atlanta Braves in a rematch of the National League Division Series. The Phillies will send Zack Wheeler to the mound while ace Spencer Strider takes the bump for the Braves.
The Braves and Phillies combined to win 194 games last season.
–Field Level Media