Shohei Ohtani, Gerrit Cole, 8 Cy Young Winners Confirmed For MLB Opening Day Schedule

Six days away from the start of the 2023 Major League Baseball regular season, all 30 teams have announced their starting pitchers for Opening Day headlined by Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels and Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees.

The 15 games taking place on March 30 will feature a total of eight former Cy Young winners on the mound, including the National League's reigning winner Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins taking on three-time winner Max Scherzer of the New York Mets.

Ohtani is going to be the main attraction on Opening Day because he's the biggest star in the sport and coming off an MVP performance guiding Japan to the World Baseball Classic title. This will be his second consecutive start in the first game of the season for the Angels. He allowed three runs (one earned) with seven strikeouts and five walks in a 7-5 win over the Chicago White Sox last year.

This will be Cole's fourth straight start on Opening Day for the Yankees. It's the longest streak by a pitcher for the Bronx Bombers since C.C. Sabathia made six in a row from 2009 to '14.

Other than the Alcantara-Scherzer showdown, the best matchup on paper looks like it will be at Globe Life Field between the Philadelphia Phillies and Texas Rangers. Jacob deGrom, who signed a five-year, $185 million contract in free agency, is going to make his first start for the Rangers against Aaron Nola.

The reigning World Series champion Houston Astros will begin the defense of their title with Framber Valdez on the bump against Chicago White Sox ace Dylan Cease.

Cease finished second in 2022 AL Cy Young voting to former Astros' star Justin Verlander. He posted a 2.20 ERA and 227 strikeouts in 184 innings. Valdez came in fifth in Cy Young voting last year after leading the AL with 201.1 innings and three complete games.

While the pitching matchups on Opening Day are certainly worth paying attention to, there will also be a lot of focus on how everyone handles the pitch clock.

Pitchers will have 15 seconds to deliver a pitch when no one is on base and 20 seconds when a runner is on. Hitters are required to be in the box with at least eight seconds on the clock.

A violation by the pitcher will result in an automatic ball. Hitters will receive an automatic strike if they aren't in the box in time.

Per MLB.com, the pitch clock reduced the length of minor league games by 25 minutes in 2022.