Opening Day Starting Pitchers | Fantasy Baseball Tiers for Every Team's Starter

MLB Opening Day (the real one) is nearly here, which means it’s time to start breaking things down. 

Today, I wanted to go over each team’s probable starting pitcher for the first day of the season, and then rank them from a fantasy perspective. Let’s get to it!

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Opening Day Starters

We’ll cover things in the order of games from Opening Day (March 28).

In the first game of the day, Milwaukee Brewers’ Freddy Peralta will take the hill and square off with New York Mets’ Jose Quintana.

The Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies matchup will feature Atlanta’s Spencer Strider up against Zack Wheeler. That might be my favorite pitching matchup of the day.

Corbin Burnes will make his Baltimore Orioles’ regular season debut against Patrick Sandoval of the Los Angeles Angels. Minnesota Twins’ Pablo Lopez and Kansas City Royals’ Cole Ragans will matchup in another afternoon clash.

The Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers matchup likely won’t draw many headlines but each team has a unique starting pitcher. Tarik Skubal will open the game for Detroit, while Garrett Crochet will make his first career start for Chicago, which makes some history.

The Pittsburgh Pirates will send Mitch Keller to the mound against Jesus Luzardo of the Miami Marlins. Miles Mikolas will start for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Los Angeles started Tyler Glasnow in the first game of the Seoul Series and he could start against St. Louis on March 28 as well.

Washington Nationals’ Josiah Gray and Cincinnati Reds’ Frankie Montas will battle in another afternoon game. Jose Berrios of the Toronto Blue Jays and Zach Eflin of the Tampa Bay Rays will meet in their team’s matchup.

The New York Yankees and Houston Astros are one of the more intriguing opening series. Nestor Cortes will start for the Yanks, while Framber Valdez gets the nod for the Astros.

Logan Webb will start for the San Francisco Giants against the San Diego Padres, who were the other half of the Seoul Series. Yu Darvish started on March 20 and could be the starter on March 28 as well.

Another fun pitching matchup is Chicago Cubs’ Justin Steele against Texas Rangers’ Nathan Eovaldi. Cleveland Guardians’ Shane Bieber and Oakland Athletics’ Alex Wood meet in a late night game. 

The Boston Red Sox will start Brayan Bello in game one, while the Seattle Mariners counter with Luis Castillo. In another late game, Colorado Rockies’ Kyle Freeland will go up against Arizona Diamondbacks’ Zac Gallen.

 

Opening Day Starting Pitching Tiers

I’ve decided on three tiers - “Must Start, Solid Options and Not a Great Idea.” Remember, these are the team's No. 1 starting pitchers, so there’s not too many bad options out there. I’m viewing things with a standard points or roto league in mind - more complex-scoring leagues might move some of these pitchers around a bit.

Must Start

Strider, Wheeler, Burnes, Bieber and Gallen make this tier for me.

A lot of these guys are in here simply because they are elite fantasy starting pitchers, while some matchups bump up a couple guys.

Looking specifically at the Braves, Phillies matchup, both of those offenses are loaded, so I’m trying to avoid starting pitchers against them unless it’s an elite option. Strider and Wheeler are both elite, and you have to trust your high draft picks to get the job done.

Burnes is a high draft pick, and I like his matchup against the Angels. He’ll be looking to make a good impression with his new team, and I think he turns in a quality start.

Bieber is one of my bounceback candidates for 2024, and he gets a very favorable matchup against the Athletics to kick off the season - take advantage of it.

Gallen is a higher draft pick and has a pretty favorable matchup against the Rockies. If this was in Colorado, it’d be a different story.

Solid Options

Peralta, Quintana, Lopez, Ragans, Skubal, Keller, Luzardo, Glasnow, Montas, Berrios, Eflin, Valdez, Webb, Darvish, Steele, Eovaldi and Castillo all make this tier.

The Mets, Brewers matchup has some good hitters in it, but not enough to make me shy away from either Peralta or Quintana. 

I wanted to put Lopez in the top tier, but I just couldn’t get myself to do it in a road game against a division opponent. He might be the top fantasy option in this tier by the end of Opening Day though.

Ragans was really good in his short stint with the Royals last season and the Twins’ lineup isn’t too stacked, so I’d feel comfortable starting him.

Skubal is one of the top unknown arms to watch this season. He had a ton of draft hype after a strong finish to the 2023 season, and I like his matchup against the White Sox on Opening Day.

The Pirates, Marlins matchup has two pretty undervalued offenses going at it. I still think Keller and Luzardo post fine outings and are starting options for fantasy teams.

If Glasnow starts again for the Dodgers, I like that matchup against the Cardinals, but just not quite enough to move him into the top tier.

I’m really curious to see how Montas looks in the opener. He’s been sidelined for basically the past two seasons and now joins a new team for 2024. The Nationals have another sneaky good lineup, but I like Montas to keep them in check over five or six innings.

The Blue Jays, Rays matchup is another fun one. I really like Berrios and Eflin as fantasy assets this season, but the opposing offenses are a bit too good to stick them in the top tier.

The Yankees are a potent offense when everyone is healthy, and they should be for opening day. I still like Valdez to turn in a respectable outing though.

Division matchups on Opening Day are always fun, and the Giants, Padres matchup is definitely one to keep an eye on. Both offenses are good, but Webb was too high of a pick to not trust, and Darvish (if he starts) usually avoids blowup outings, so I’m fine with starting both guys.

The Rangers’ offense is no joke, but Steele is coming off a huge 2023 season and deserves your trust in the opener. Eovaldi didn’t get as much draft love as I expected, but I like the matchup against the Cubs, so I’m also good with starting him.

Castillo is another one I wanted to sneak into that top tier, but the Red Sox lineup is pretty strong at full health. I still think Castillo is able to post a quality start and should be started in almost every league.

Not a Great Idea

Sandoval, Crochet, Mikolas, Gray, Cortes, Wood, Bello and Freeland make up my final tier. It doesn’t mean they couldn’t turn in a strong outing, they are here because I wouldn’t feel really great about them going into the game.

Sandoval is a stream worthy pitcher to open the season, but a matchup against a strong Orioles’ lineup is not one I’d want to test right out of the gates.

Crochet’s story is neat, and he has some great numbers in spring training, but I simply don’t want to trust a first-time starter on the road Opening Day, even if the matchup is pretty favorable. 

Mikolas had a rough season in 2023, and things are tough to open 2024 with an absolutely stacked Dodgers’ lineup. He’s a streaming option, but not in this matchup.

Gray is another streaming option at the start of the season, but only in really favorable situations - this isn’t one of those times.

Cortes is coming off an injury-plagued season and has a brutal matchup against the Astros. I’d avoid Cortes if I could, but against most other teams, I’m fine with Cortes.

Wood’s matchup with the Guardians isn’t too bad, but it’s also not very favorable. I’m leaning against starting Wood in the opener.

The Mariners’ lineup is one I like quite a bit to start the season. Even though Bello was pretty good last season, sometimes a pitcher’s first nod on Opening Day can get away from them, and that’s what I envision happening here.

Freeland is another streaming option to kick off the season, but definitely not against a stacked Diamondbacks’ lineup.

Good luck as the fantasy baseball season kicks off!