Friday, March 20
Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today’s games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Today’s edition was written by David Adler.
The aces are coming.
MLB just unveiled the full slate of Opening Day starting pitchers. (Well, almost all of it … the Brewers and Padres are still TBD.) And it’s a good one.
We’ve got Paul Skenes. Tarik Skubal. Garrett Crochet. Max Fried. Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And a whole lot more.
Most importantly, we’ve got some must-see pitchers’ duels to kick off the 2026 season next week.
Here are four of the best Opening Day starting pitcher matchups:
1) Paul Skenes (Pirates) vs. Freddy Peralta (Mets)
Thursday, 1:15 p.m. ET (NBC/Peacock)
As the Pirates put it when they announced Skenes as their Opening Day starter yesterday: “Duh.” Skenes is the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, one of the best pitchers on the planet and just got done dominating for Team USA at the World Baseball Classic. And on the other side, Peralta is making his debut as the Mets’ new ace after their blockbuster trade for him this offseason.
2) Max Fried (Yankees) vs. Logan Webb (Giants)
Wednesday, 8:05 p.m. ET (Netflix)
Fried was terrific in his debut in pinstripes in 2025, and now he gets the ball for his first Opening Day start as a Yankee after three with the Braves. But his opponent is just as accomplished. Webb has become a perennial Cy Young contender, and he led the National League with 224 strikeouts last season.
3) Zac Gallen (D-backs) vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers)
Thursday, 8:30 p.m. ET (NBC/Peacock)
Yamamoto closed out the 2025 World Series, and now the Dodgers’ postseason hero will start L.A.’s quest for a three-peat in 2026. He’s only the sixth pitcher in the divisional era(that’s since 1969) to go from World Series closer to Opening Day starter, following Chris Sale, Madison Bumgarner, Josh Beckett, Scott McGregor and Mike Torrez. That’s pretty cool. Yamamoto will be opposed by a three-time top-10 Cy Young finisher in Gallen, who’s no stranger to this NL West rivalry.
4) Cole Ragans (Royals) vs. Chris Sale (Braves)
Friday, 7:15 p.m. ET (MLB.TV , BravesVision, Royals.TV)
The last 2026 Opening Day matchup is one of the best as two ace southpaws take the mound. Sale, the 2024 NL Cy Young Award winner, is making his eighth career Opening Day start and second straight with Atlanta. Ragans, who was limited by injury last season but had 223 strikeouts in an All-Star 2024 season, is making his third straight Opening Day start for Kansas City.
MUST-SEE PROSPECT MATCHUPS THIS WEEKEND
Spring Breakout is now in full swing, with six games yesterday, four more today and six more coming over the weekend.
If you want to follow along with the prospect showcase, here’s the full schedule and results.
And before we send you off to the games, here are three highlights of the first day of action … and three of the best prospect matchups to watch this weekend.
Spring Breakout Day 1 highlights
1) Miguel Sime Jr.’s triple-digit heat
It was Sime, an 18-year-old pitching prospectfor the Nationals, vs. JJ Wetherholt, the No. 5 overall prospect in baseball.
Advantage: Sime.
The young right-hander dialed it up to 100.8 mph to strike out the Cardinals’ top prospect in his overpowering Spring Breakout outing. Sime threw nine fastballs at 100-plus mph in one inning on the mound and topped out at 101.9 mph.
2) Emmanuel Rodriguez’s frozen ropes
Rodriguez, one of four Twins prospects in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 at No. 74, was just ripping the ball at Spring Breakout. The 23-year-old slugger smoked a 115.6 mph single and a 113.2 mph triple in his game yesterday against the Phillies prospects.
That 115.6 mph base hit was harder than any ball hit by a Minnesota player in the big leagues last season. And the last time a Twins player had two hits 113 mph or harder in the same game was all the way back in 2021, when Miguel Sanó and Nelson Cruz did it.
3) Joshua Báez’s blast
MLB’s No. 87 prospect crushed the hardest home run of Spring Breakout Day 1. The 22-year-old Cardinals slugger teed off on 6-foot-8 Nationals pitching prospect Yoel Tejeda Jr. for a 112.7 mph, 412-foot homer. The Cards only hit two home runs harder than that all of last season.
Prospect matchups to watch at Spring Breakout this weekend
Today: Konnor Griffin (MLB No. 1) vs. Max Clark (MLB No. 10) — Tigers vs. Pirates, 7:35 p.m. ET
Two top-10 overall prospects going head to head, including MLB’s No. 1 overall in Griffin, who already looks like a future franchise cornerstone for the Pirates.
Tomorrow: Ethan Holliday (MLB No. 24) vs. Kayson Cunningham (AZ No. 2) — Rockies vs. D-backs, 7:30 p.m. ET
This game features two promising young shortstops from the 2025 Draft class. Ethan, the younger Holliday at 19 years old, was the No. 4 overall pick by the Rockies. The 19-year-old Cunningham was selected 18th overall by the D-backs.
Sunday: Jesús Made (MLB No. 3) vs. Leo De Vries (MLB No. 4) — Brewers vs. A’s, 4:05 p.m. ET
Spring Breakout is going to end with a bang, as two top-five overall prospects face off. The 18-year-old Made is following in Jackson Chourio’s footsteps as another Brewers international prospect sensation. The 19-year-old De Vries was the centerpiece the A’s got back in their Mason Miller trade.
WELCOME BACK TO THE GHOST FORK
We all want to see Kodai Senga and his Ghost Fork haunting hitters again. And Senga finally looks like his old self.
Senga — who was an All-Star as a rookie in 2023 but was derailed by injuries over the last two seasons — has been awesome again for the Mets this spring.
As Juan Soto put it: “That’s our ace.”
The results are sparkling: Senga has a 1.86 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings through three outings, including a lights-out start against the Astros yesterday.
And the stuff looks its best since 2023. Senga’s fastball is averaging 96.2 mph at Spring Training, a mile-and-a-half per hour harder than it did in 2025. He’s topped out at 98.9 mph. And his signature forkball is sharper, too, at 83.7 mph this spring compared to 82.5 mph last season.
Remember, a healthy and sharp Senga is up there with the top pitchers in the league, and the Ghost Fork is one of baseball’s nastiest pitches. This is the Senga we need in 2026.
HOW DID MERRILL HIT THIS PITCH?
Padres star Jackson Merrill had one of the craziest hits of the spring yesterday. He somehow smacked a ground-rule double off a pitch at his eyes.
That swing is insane. How did he stay on top of that pitch?
Here’s another look at how ludicrously high the ball was when Merrill teed off on it, courtesy of the MLB Gameday App. It’s Pitch No. 4, alllllllllllll the way up there. That’s well over four feet off the ground — the highest pitch hit for an extra-base hit this Spring Training.
DAILY WALKOFF
Put your baseball brain to the test with Daily Walkoff, where you can find 30 brand-new trivia puzzles every day, one for each team. Play Daily Walkoff >>
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RJ Hamster 