The SF Giants will face off against the New York Yankees at Oracle Park on March 25. In no surprise whatsoever, Tony Vitello has tabbed Logan Webb to take the hill, per Justice delos Santos of The Mercury News.
This will mark Webb’s fifth straight Opening Day appearance, moving ahead of Madison Bumgarner for second in franchise history in in that category. Juan Marichal leads the franchise with six consecutive Opening Day starts.
Bumgarner would have made his fifth straight Opening Day start in 2018, but suffered a fracture in his left hand in the final week of spring training. Ty Blach took the mound to open that season, and completed five shutout frames in a 1-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Webb is under contract for two more seasons after this one. There is a good chance that he eventually becomes the franchise leader in Opening Day starts.
Webb will also be making his fifth Opening Day start overall. That ties him with Bumgarner in that category. Bumgarner made his final Opening Day start with the Giants in 2019, where he allowed two earned runs in seven innings in a 2-0 defeat to the San Diego Padres.
Marichal leads the franchise with 10 Opening Day starts overall. His final one came against the Cincinnati Reds in 1974. If you are wondering what the Hall of Famer is up to these days, well, he has been celebrating with the Dominican Republic during the World Baseball Classic (WBC). In fact, they have been rallying around the 10-time All Star.
Webb is going to have to pitch for a long time if he is going to eventually break Marichal’s franchise record in Opening Day starts. He has built a solid foundation thus far. The Giants are 2-2 in Webb’s previous four starts.
The veteran hurler has emerged as one of the top pitchers since he made his major league debut in 2019. This includes earning two All-Star nods, and receiving Cy Young votes in each of the past four years. The high watermark came in 2023, where he finished in second place in the NL Cy Young voting. His eventual teammate, Blake Snell, took home the award that year.
More recently, Webb has anchored Team USA’s rotation. He has allowed just one earned run in 8.1 innings of work during the WBC.
