2023 Opening Day Schedule and Opening Day Starters

With every passing day, we get just a little bit closer to 2023 Opening Day–and I just can’t wait. For the first time in over 40 years, each of the 30 Major League teams will be participating in Opening Day, which means we’ve got 15 games coming up.

I can hardly keep track of one game, let alone 15–so I’m going to be proactive here and cover all of our collective behinds. Here in this story, you can find the COMPLETE 2023 MLB Opening Day schedule, as well as the projected starts for each team. 

When Opening day gets closer, you’ll be able to place bets on any of the 15 games through these online casinos. You still have time to get in your 2023 MLB World Series Future Bets too–but the clock is ticking on those.

So, without further to do, here is the complete opening day schedule with the announced opening day starters.

2023 Opening Day Schedule and Starters

Thursday, March 30th, 2023

1:00 PM EST–Atlanta Braves (Max Fried) vs Washington Nationals (Patrick Corbin)

1:05 PM EST–San Fransisco Giants (Logan Webb) vs New York Yankees (Gerrit Cole)

2:10 PM EST–Baltimore Orioles (Kyle Gibson) vs Boston Red Sox (Corey Kluber)

2:20 PM EST–Milwaukee Brewers (Corbin Burnes) vs Chicago Cubs (Marcus Stroman)

3:10 PM EST–Detroit Tigers (Eduardo Rodriguez) vs Tamba Bay Rays (Shane McClanahan)

4:05 PM EST–Philadelphia Phillies (Aaron Nola) vs Texas Rangers (Jacob deGrom)

4:10 PM EST–Pittsburgh Pirates (Mitch Keller) vs Cincinnati Reds (Hunter Greene)

4:10 PM EST–Colorado Rockies (German Marquez) vs San Diego Padres (Blake Snell)

4:10 PM EST–Toronto Bluejays (Alek Manoah) vs St. Louis Cardinals (Miles Mikolas)

4:10 PM EST–Minnesota Twins (Pablo Lopez) vs Kansas City Royals (Zack Greinke)

4:10 PM EST–New York Mets (Max Scherzer) vs Miami Marlins (Sandy Alcantara)

7:08 PM EST–Chicago White Sox (Dylan Cease) vs Houston Astros (Framber Valdez)

10:07 PM EST–Los Angeles Angels (Shohei Ohtani) vs Oakland Athletics (Kyle Muller)

10:10 PM EST–Arizona Diamondbacks (Zac Gallen) vs Los Angeles Dodgers (Julio Urias)

10:10 PM EST–Cleveland Guardians (Shane Bieber) vs Seattle Mariners (Luis Castillo)

Marquee Opening Day Pitching Matchups

We’re being blessed by the pitching gods on opening day with some incredible matchups–so here are a few marquee duals to keep an eye on.

Aaron Nola vs Jacob deGrom

We’re being gifted a gem here on opening day, and there are a few storylines behind this one that make it an absolute must-watch. Jacob deGrom will obviously be making his first start for the Texas Rangers, but it will be against a familiar foe. DeGrom has faced off against the Phillies 20 times and holds a record of 9-1. Across those twenty game he’s only given up 29 runs against the Phillies, with only nine of those runs coming in his last 11 appearances. So, it’s fair to say that deGrom has their number–but will that success translate over to Texas? Only time will tell.

Max Scherzer vs Sandy Alcantara

It’ll be a battle between Cy Young Award winners in this one, as Scherzer and his three Cy Young Awards take on Alcantara and his one. Scherzer has made 26 appearances against the Marlins and holds a career record of 15-5. His 2.94 ERA and 189 career strikeouts against the fins should keep Mets fans confidence at a high level, but it should be noted that he has never faced off against Miami for the New York Mets. 

Alcantara, last year’s Cy Young Award winner, has done well across his career against the Mets–but lately, it’s been rough. In his last six games against the Mets, Alcantara has given up 4 or more runs in three of them, holding a record of just 1-1 in that span. 

Dylan Cease vs Framber Valdez

We’ve got two of the new-wave aces facing off in this matchup, as Cease and Valdez were really disregarded just two years ago, but are now two of the best pitchers in the league. Cease especially has pronounced himself as one of the biggest strikeout maestros in the game, holding a 12.3 K/9 rate in 2021 and an 11.1 K/9 rate in 2022. 

However, unfortunately for Cease, the Astros seem to have his number. Cease has faced off against the Astros only four times, but is 0-3 in those matchups. He holds a 6.30 ERA against Houston, and only has 20 strikeouts across those four games. It will be interesting to see if he can break the mold here, or if he will continue to struggle against the Astros.

Framber Valdez, on the other hand, has found recent success against the White Sox. In four starts against the Sox, Valdez is 3-1 with  3.41 ERA. He’s had modest strikeout numbers in his last two against Chicago, striking out 13 hitters in his last two, and has made it out of the sixth inning in each of his last four starts.