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Just over a week until the Dodgers and Padres open the 2024 Major League season in Seoul, South Korea, the likely pitching matchups for that series are officially set:
Tyler Glasnow vs. Yu Darvish in Game 1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Joe Musgrove in Game 2.
Major League Baseball announced the matchups on Monday, and both teams are set to send their aces to the mound on March 20 and 21 at 6 a.m. ET on ESPN in the sport’s first regular-season games to be played in Korea. For the Dodgers, the series offers the first look at two of their prized offseason acquisitions, Glasnow via a trade with Tampa Bay and Yamamoto via the largest free-agent pitching contract in sports history.
Here’s a breakdown of the two matchups:
Game 1
Dodgers: LD Tyler Glasnow
Previous Opening Day Start: 2021 with Tampa Bay
2023 season: 10-7, 3.53 ERA, 162 strikeouts in 120 innings
To begin his first season with the Dodgers, Glasnow will make his second career Opening Day start. Glasnow, one of the Dodgers’ big acquisitions during their billion-dollar spending spree this winter, is fully healthy entering the season after battling injuries in recent seasons. That’s why the Dodgers believe the 6-foot-8 right-hander has the potential to be in contention to win the National League Cy Young Award this season.
So far this spring, Glasnow has impressed his new teammates and coaches. In his second Cactus League start, Glasnow struck out five in three hitless innings. He will be the Dodgers’ co-ace this season and it will all start in Seoul.
“It means everything,” Glasnow said. “Just signing here, everything being a reality feels crazy. Then when they told me he was the Opening Day starter, I definitely felt a lot of pride and excitement.”
Padres: LD Yu Darvish
Previous Start on Opening Day: 2017 with Texas, 2021 and 22 with San Diego
2023 season: 8-10, 4.56 ERA, 141 strikeouts in 136 1/3 innings
Darvish is coming off a disappointing 2023 campaign that ended in August when he suffered a stress reaction in his elbow. He was prevented from throwing for a couple of months, although he did not require surgery, and he was cleared for a full throwing program during the offseason in November.
Since then, Darvish said he adjusted his preparation for the season to account for the early start in Korea. It is not the first time that he will make a flight across the Pacific in mid-March. He did it just last year, pitching for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic.
Now, Darvish will pitch the sport’s first regular-season game in Korea. He never has been.
“I’m obviously very happy and honored by this,” Darvish said. “I had never been to Korea before, that makes it even more special. … Playing alone in Korea is something very important to me. But we also faced a very good team that made very good additions.”
Game 2
Dodgers: Yoshinobu Yamamoto
2023 season: 16-6, 1.21 ERA, 169 strikeouts in 164 innings (in Japan Pacific League)
Yamamoto dominated the offseason headlines this winter, becoming one of the highest-paid players in Major League Baseball history after signing a 12-year, $325 million contract with the Dodgers.
For years, scouts have highlighted Yamamoto’s elite talent and command. With the Orix Buffaloes in Nippon Professional Baseball, Yamamoto put together one of the most impressive careers overseas, winning three consecutive Eiji Sawamura Awards, the NPB equivalent of a Cy Young. In seven seasons in Japan, Yamamoto went 70-29 with a 1.82 ERA. He won the pitching Triple Crown three times in the process.
Throughout the season, Yamamoto will have to make adjustments in his first year in the big leagues. The ball is different and he will not throw once a week, as is the norm in Japan. But this spring, Yamamoto has impressed with a variety of pitches, particularly his signature splitter. His first start as a Dodger and in the Majors will come just hours from where he dominated for years.
“I’m not a complete pitcher yet,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “I am very happy to start my career in the Major Leagues.”
2024-03-13 04:16:36
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