Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres Announce Starting Pitchers For Seoul Series
Most teams' Opening Day isn't for another few weeks, but the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres are much closer to the start of their regular season.
The Dodgers and Padres are set to go head-to-head in the Seoul Series on March 20 and 21. They will be the first MLB teams to partake in regular season action in 2024, with their first game in South Korea just nine days out.
As a result, both teams announced their starting pitchers for the two-game set on Monday.
The Dodgers are going with offseason trade addition Tyler Glasnow in game one, while the Padres will turn to veteran Yu Darvish. In game two, Japanese free agent signing Yoshinobu Yamamoto will take the mound for Los Angeles and Joe Musgrove will toe the rubber for San Diego.
Los Angeles will have a sixth different Opening Day for the sixth straight year, coming off the back of eight consecutive Opening Day starts for Clayton Kershaw. The future Hall of Famer is currently on the injured list, though, as are Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May. Walker Buehler is likely to miss the start of the year as well, still recovering from his second Tommy John surgery.
Glasnow was brought in to ease the pain of all those injuries, with the Dodgers trading a handful of prospects to the Tampa Bay Rays in December to acquire him. The 30-year-old righty went 10-7 with a 3.53 ERA, 1.083 WHIP and 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings in 2023.
Darvish, 37, is a five-time All-Star entering his fourth season in San Diego. This will mark his fourth career Opening Day start, having previously made one with the Texas Rangers and two with the Padres.
Last season, Darvish went 8-10 with a 4.56 ERA, 1.298 WHIP and 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings. His 0.7 WAR was the second-lowest of his 11-year MLB career.
Darvish was once the biggest free agent ever to come from Japan to America, but Yamamoto took that belt this winter. The Dodgers signed the 25-year-old to a 12-year, $325 million contract in December.
Yamamoto went 17-6 with a 1.16 ERA, 0.860 WHIP and 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings with Nippon Professional Baseball's Orix Buffaloes in 2023, winning his third consecutive Pacific League MVP and Eiji Sawamura Awards in the process.
He will face off against Musgrove, who has been one of San Diego's most efficient pitchers since the Pittsburgh Pirates traded him there in 2021.
After starting 30-plus games for the Padres in 2021 and 2022, Musgrove was only able to make 17 appearances in 2023. The 31-year-old is 31-19 with a 3.05 ERA, 1.094 WHIP, 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings and an 8.9 WAR in his time with the Padres, though.
Both Seoul Series games will start at 7:05 p.m. local time, which is 6:05 a.m. ET and 3:05 a.m. PT.
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