MLB Opening Day starters 2026: Ranking all 30 pitchers by tier

Opening Day is great for a variety of reasons. Obviously this means that baseball is fully back for another regular season, but it’s also when we see teams send out their best pitchers for the first game of the season. We’re in a great era when it comes to high-end starting pitching, and we’re set to see some elite arms take the mound for Game 1 of 162. 

As the Official Ticketing Marketplace of MLB, SeatGeek gives baseball fans the opportunity to see these electric arms get the ball for Opening Day and all season long. Here, we rank all 30 Opening Day starters, as well as which of eight tiers they fall into before the season begins. 

Ranking MLB’s 2026 Opening Day starters by tiers

Not every Opening Day starter is built the same. Some are true No. 1s, some have the kind of upside to make a real jump this campaign and some are getting the nod because somebody has to.

Tier 1: The reigning Cy Young winners

1. Pittsburgh Pirates: Paul Skenes

2. Detroit Tigers: Tarik Skubal

Skenes and Skubal are the clear two best starting pitchers in baseball, and while there are some worthy contenders nipping at their heels, both took home Cy Young hardware in 2025 and are the favorites to do so again in 2026. 

I give Skenes a very slight edge over Skubal for these rankings considering he has an ERA under 2.00 across two MLB seasons and may be getting even better entering Year 3. Historic almost doesn’t do it justice to what Skenes has done in 55 career starts to date. 

Skubal will be worth keeping an eye on for his elite play, but also considering he’s a pending free agent and could very well be moved at the deadline depending on Detroit’s postseason aspirations. 

Tier 2: Legit Cy Young contenders

3. Boston Red Sox: Garrett Crochet

4. San Francisco Giants: Logan Webb

5. Los Angeles Dodgers: Yoshinobu Yamamoto

6. Atlanta Braves: Chris Sale

7. Philadelphia Phillies: Cristopher Sanchez

8. Houston Astros: Hunter Brown

There sure are some good pitchers in MLB, huh? If any of these six take home Cy Young hardware in 2026, I wouldn’t bat an eye. But until they usurp Skubal and/or Skenes, they have to go one peg below the two best pitchers in the game. 

Crochet’s 255 strikeouts paced baseball last year, and he would have won his first Cy Young if not for Skubal. He enters 2026 with considerable hype in his second year in Boston, and he’s made the transition from shutdown reliever to ace-level starter look awfully easy over the last two years. 

Webb has been one of the best and most consistent pitchers in baseball since 2021, and he’s quietly coming off his first 200-strikeout performance. He’s an absolute workhorse with 200+ innings pitched each of the last three years, and he’s a key player to watch for a Giants team that could very well make some noise this season.

Yamamoto has been stellar when healthy, and his 2.49 ERA dazzled while his lowly 5.9 hits per 9 innings paced MLB last season en route to a third-place Cy Young finish. He then was a postseason hero for Los Angeles, earning World Series MVP honors thanks to allowing just two runs over 17 2/3 innings pitched. 

Sale picked up his first Cy Young Award in 2024 when he posted a 2.38 ERA with 225 strikeouts in his first fully healthy season since 2018, but injuries limited him to 20 starts for Atlanta in 2025. The good news is the veteran lefty was dominant when on the mound to the tune of a 2.58 ERA and 11.8 K/9 rate. The Braves struggled in 2025 after entering the year as a World Series favorite, and having Sale making close to 30 starts would certainly help Atlanta get back in the postseason picture. 

Sanchez followed up his breakout 2024 season by finishing second in NL Cy Young voting in 2025 with 8.0 bWAR and a 2.50 ERA. The young southpaw has a devastating changeup that simply baffles hitters, and he’s an even more important piece for the Phillies now given Zack Wheeler is coming off surgery for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and Aaron Nola had the worst year of his career last season. Sanchez very well could take home some hardware this year. 

And rounding out this tier is Houston’s Brown, who is now the unquestioned leader of the Astros’  pitching staff with Framber Valdez now in Detroit. Few pitchers have been better than Brown since the second half of 2024, which is when everything seemed to click for the hard-throwing right-hander. He quietly finished third in AL Cy Young voting last year, and he has the stuff and makeup to contend for the award again this season, especially given his new role with his team. 

Tier 3: Reliable studs

9. Texas Rangers: Nathan Eovaldi

10. Toronto Blue Jays: Kevin Gausman

11. New York Yankees: Max Fried

This tier consists of three veteran starters who are models of consistency, even if they aren’t necessarily the biggest names with the flashiest stuff. 

The Rangers really couldn’t go wrong with their Opening Day selection as Eovaldi is an absolute stud who had a 1.73 ERA in 22 starts last year while Jacob deGrom has been as dominant as any starter in MLB history when he’s healthy and on the mound. Eovaldi got the Day 1 nod, however, and hitters had no answer for his four-pitch mix last year, particularly his splitter. Had Eovaldi not missed roughly two months, it would have been interesting to see where he finished in Cy Young voting. 

Gausman has quietly had an incredible career, and his best work has come since turning 30. The veteran right-hander parlayed a breakout 2021 campaign with the Giants into a lucrative deal with Toronto, and he has a 3.48 ERA and two top-10 Cy Young finishes for the Blue Jays. Gausman has lost a step in terms of registering strikeouts, but he’s a true workhorse who flirted with 200 innings last year and just continues to get batters out. 

The Yankees signed Fried to be a top-end No. 2 starter behind Gerrit Cole, but Cole missed all of 2025 due to Tommy John surgery, pushing Fried into a more high-profile role in his first year in New York. The lanky lefty responded and then some with a 19-5 record and 2.86 ERA. Cole will miss time again to start 2026 and Carlos Rodon will begin the year on the injured list, meaning Fried will again lead the charge, at least to kick off the season. 

Tier 4: Recent breakouts

12. Seattle Mariners: Logan Gilbert

13. New York Mets: Freddy Peralta

14. Minnesota Twins: Joe Ryan

This grouping consists of three starters with a combined four All-Star appearances who are more than worthy of being Opening Day starters but who don’t carry quite as much hype or excitement as those ranked above them. 

The Mariners had four legit options to start on Opening Day, and rather than give those honors to the veteran Luis Castillo, George Kirby or 2025 breakout All-Star Bryan Woo, they’re handing the ball to Gilbert for the second year in a row. Gilbert missed time with injury early last year but he took a big step forward in the strikeout department with 11.9 K/9. He didn’t pitch as deep into games as he did in 2024, so marrying those two skillsets could push him further up this list come 2027. 

Peralta and Gilbert were neck-and-neck in these rankings, and I gave the edge to Gilbert because I think he has a higher ceiling. That being said, Peralta is coming off a dominant 2025 season that saw the veteran right-hander earn his second All-Star nod and a top-five finish in Cy Young voting for Milwaukee, and he was one of the biggest names to swap teams this offseason as he’s now in New York with the Mets. Peralta will be under a lot of pressure to repeat his 2025 showing considering the Mets are banking on him to lead their rotation and he’s a pending free agent.

The Twins had a massive fire sale at the trade deadline last summer, but they held onto Ryan, who has been the subject of trade rumors for quite a while. It’s easy to see why the Twins want to keep Ryan long term and why other teams would want him as the tall right-hander doesn’t give up many hits or walks while registering 10.1 K/9 over the course of his career. Ryan had arguably his best overall season in 2025, and he may well be the biggest name traded at the deadline this year. 

Tier 5: Big upside, big question marks

15. Miami Marlins: Sandy Alcantara

16. Kansas City Royals: Cole Ragans

17. Chicago Cubs: Matthew Boyd

18. Arizona Diamondbacks: Zac Gallen

This tier is maybe the most interesting of the bunch as any one of these four could make strong pushes up starting pitcher rankings by the end of the year and no one would be surprised. Be it injuries or longevity, they all come with major question marks entering 2026, however. 

We’ll kick this tier off with Alcantara, whose 2.28 ERA in 228 2/3 innings in 2022 earned him Cy Young honors. He was very solid in 2023, but he missed all of 2024 due to Tommy John surgery. It was exciting that Alcantara returned for 2025 and made 31 starts, but the results were rough with a 5.36 ERA. Given the vast differences between his 2022 and 2025 numbers, the veteran right-hander carries as much boom-or-bust potential as anyone starting on Opening Day. 

Ragans put himself on the map in his first full year in Kansas City in 2024 with a 3.14 ERA and 223 strikeouts, helping push the Royals into the postseason. Naturally, he entered 2025 with considerable hype, but Ragans made just 13 starts due to injury. The hard-throwing lefty struck out 14.3 per 9 innings when on the mound, so the quality of stuff sure seems to be there. The Royals are a fringe playoff contender who will certainly need Ragans to return to his 2024 form in 2026.

Boyd has been around the block but never quite put it all together for a variety of reasons since debuting in 2015. That changed in 2025 as he earned an All-Star nod in his first season with the Cubs while posting a 3.21 ERA. Boyd doesn’t showcase the same swing-and-miss stuff as he did in his Detroit days, but the veteran lefty showed he can get batters out with the best of them when on his game. The question now is whether he can do that for the second year in a row. 

Gallen was one of baseball’s biggest breakout stars from 2022-24, posting a 3.20 ERA while helping lead Arizona to the World Series in 2023. His 2025 campaign was a disappointment, however, with a 4.83 ERA and a dip in his swing-and-miss stuff. Gallen doesn’t own a particularly lofty ceiling, but he has a pretty stable floor. It’d be surprising if he didn’t improve on his numbers across the board from last year. 

Tier 6: Need to keep it up for longer

19. Milwaukee Brewers: Jacob Misiorowski

20. Baltimore Orioles: Trevor Rogers

21. Cincinnati Reds: Andrew Abbott

22. San Diego Padres: Nick Pivetta

Three of these four are young guys coming off impressive campaigns. The other is a veteran who had far and away the best year of his career. 

“The Miz” isn’t just the nickname of a veteran WWE superstar, it’s one of baseball’s brightest young arms. Misiorowski has maybe the best pure stuff of any starting pitcher not named Skenes, and the young right-hander struck out 11.9 batters per 9 innings pitched in 15 appearances (14 starts) as a rookie last year. The sky is truly the limit for Misiorowski, as he has the stuff and makeup to be a top-10 pitcher in baseball by year’s end. 

Rogers earned All-Star honors as a rookie in Miami in 2021, but it never quite clicked for the big southpaw after that. He was a castoff of sorts in a trade with Baltimore, and all he did in his first year with the O’s was put together a 1.81 ERA in 18 starts. That’s a small sample size, which is part of why he lands in this tier, but it was a good enough showing to earn Rogers ninth place in AL Cy Young voting. Now it remains to be seen whether that was a bright flash or the start of something great. 

Abbott has been overshadowed a bit in Cincinnati both by rotation mate Hunter Greene but also the team’s young core of hitters headlined by Elly De La Cruz. Greene had surgery to remove bone spurs in his elbow, pushing Abbott into the Opening Day spotlight. Abbott is more than worthy of starting Game 1 after last year, where he had a 2.87 ERA and earned an All-Star nod while finishing eighth in Cy Young voting. Abbott doesn’t have the flashiest of stuff – think of him as a younger and shorter Fried of sorts – but he’s had no problem getting batters out since making his MLB debut in 2023. 

And that veteran I mentioned earlier is Pivetta, who got the Opening Day nod for the Padres over Michael King. Pivetta had just over 10 bWAR in eight MLB seasons before breaking out at 32 years old in his first year in San Diego last year. Pivetta posted a 2.87 ERA in 181 2/3 innings and finished sixth in NL Cy Young voting. Pivetta had been a solid but not particularly exciting starter for most of his career, so it remains to be seen whether this is the start of a “next chapter” of sorts for him like what we saw from Gausman beginning a few years ago. 

Tier 7: There’s some intrigue here

23. Athletics: Luis Severino

24. Tampa Bay Rays: Drew Rasmussen

25. Cleveland Guardians: Tanner Bibee

26. Los Angeles Angels: Jose Soriano

27. Chicago White Sox: Shane Smith

Severino signed a lucrative deal with the A’s last season and had a strange year. He really struggled at home in 2025 with a 6.01 ERA in 15 starts compared to a 3.02 mark on the road. Severino will get his first start on the road in Toronto, however, so it will be interesting to see if that trend continues. His pure stuff isn’t quite what it was in his Yankees days, but the veteran right-hander pounds the zone and eats innings, which is still a very valuable commodity. 

Rasmussen made his first All-Star team a year ago with a 2.76 ERA in 31 starts, but he doesn’t eat a ton of innings, which isn’t too surprising given he’s spent a lot of time in the bullpen in his career and plays for the Rays. He’s just a rock-solid arm who gets outs and won’t lose you many games, and Tampa will lean on him while Shane McClanahan tries to return to his ace-level form after missing the last two seasons. 

Bibee finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2023 and has been a solid and reliable arm for Stephen Vogt’s squad the last two years. Bibee posts every fifth day and regularly flirts with a quality start, and his reliability earned him Opening Day honors this year. The Guardians aren’t expected to replicate their late-season success in 2026, but if they do, Bibee likely plays a big part in it. 

Groundball specialists don’t get as much love as they used to, but Soriano was the game’s best in that department for the Angels a year ago, and he now gets the Opening Day start after his breakout campaign. Soriano’s hard sinker is his go-to offering, and hitters have struggled to do much damage off it. The Angels are trying hard to turn the corner towards contention, and Soriano gives them some stability in the rotation at the very least. 

The Rule 5 Draft often doesn’t produce tremendous results, but it sure did for the White Sox with Smith, who had a 3.81 ERA and made the All-Star Game as a rookie after failing to crack the MLB roster in Milwaukee. Smith’s fastball was a major weapon last year, and while the White Sox sort out the rest of their rotation, it sure looks like they got a steal in Smith.

Tier 8: The rest

28. Colorado Rockies: Kyle Freeland

29. St. Louis Cardinals: Matthew Liberatore

30. Washington Nationals: Cade Cavalli

Freeland kicks off this tier by virtue of being the most established of the group by far. After finishing fourth in Cy Young voting in 2018, it looked like Colorado finally had a top-end starter who could deal with pitching at Coors Field every five games. Freeland has a 5.00 ERA since, however, and the veteran lefty lost 17 games last year. 

Liberatore is a former top prospect who was traded to St. Louis from Tampa Bay for Randy Arozarena. After spending 2024 mostly as a reliever, the young southpaw made 29 starts and had a 4.21 ERA in 151 2/3 innings. Liberatore throws a lot of strikes, but considering he doesn’t register many swings and misses, he needs to be better at missing barrels and eliciting soft contact in 2026.

Cavalli was once one of baseball’s top pitching prospects, but he’s made just 11 MLB starts to date due to injury. He’ll make his 12th career start for Washington on Opening Day, and he’s far and away the least experienced pitcher to get the ball for Game 1. Cavalli has a ton of talent and upside as he’s armed with a big fastball while showing the ability to miss barrels, but he has just 53 career innings under his belt, so he has to land here for now.