The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres have the eyes of the entire baseball world on them, including an expanded international audience, as they kick off the 2024 MLB season with the Seoul Series at Gocheok Sky Dome.
While the matchup has drawn heightened interest because of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Ha-Seong Kim, Tyler Glasnow makes his Dodgers debut in the first game of the season.
The Opening Day start is Glasnow’s second of his career. Glasnow is the sixth different Opening Day starter for the Dodgers since 2011, and it’s an opportunity he is not taking lightly.
Glasnow allowed just one run in 10 innings while striking out 14 batters during Cactus League play in his first Spring Training with the Dodgers.
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Yu Darvish is on the bump for the Padres, making his third Opening Day start for the team. Darvish is one of the most respected pitchers in all of baseball — and a friend of Glasnow’s — but is coming off one of the worst statistical seasons in his MLB career.
However, Darvish was pretty effective against the Dodgers last year, with only three runs given up in 13.2 innings to go along with 10 strikeouts.
“Darvish certainly has withstood the test of time. He’s a great pitcher. The thing that makes Yu so effective is his ability to make everything look the same,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said this week.
“Half of his pitches are secondary pitches, half of them are fastballs. He throws a lot of balls that appear to be strikes, and they’re balls. So to be able to control the strike zone against Yu certainly is easier said than done. I think he’s definitely had his way with us, uses both sides of the plate.
“But I think for him, like most really good pitchers, you’ve got to try to get something up in the zone, wait for mistakes, and when you do get a mistake, you’ve got to capitalize.”
The Dodgers are 37-29 on Opening Day since 1958 and 12-3 in their last 15. Moreover, they 7-3 against the Padres on Opening Day and have won five such matchups in a row.
At 20 years and 336 days old, Jackson Merrill is the fifth-youngest Opening Day starting center fielder in the Divisional Era (started in 1969).
Dodgers lineup
SS: Mookie Betts
DH: Shohei Ohtani
1B: Freddie Freeman
C: Will Smith
3B: Max Muncy
LF: Teoscar Hernández
CF: James Outman
RF: Jason Heyward
2B: Gavin Lux
Padres lineup
2B: Xander Bogaerts
RF: Fernando Tatis Jr.
1B: Jake Cronenworth
DH: Manny Machado
SS: Ha-Seong Kim
LF: Jurickson Profar
C: Luis Campusano
3B: Tyler Wade
CF: Jackson Merrill
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