The Los Angeles Dodgers, the defending champion, will meet Tarik Skubal (29) of the Detroit Tigers from a tough start in the opening series of the 2025 season in the Mainland. The Dodgers has chosen Blake Snell (33).
The Dodgers will face Detroit in the 2025 Major League Baseball (MLB) home opener at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California on the 27th (Korea time). The Dodgers started the opening game one step ahead of the Chicago Cubs with the Tokyo Series in Tokyo, Japan, on the 18th and 19th.
The Dodgers has strong opponents. When it comes to overall strength of its team, the Dodgers has an advantage over the Detroit Tigers. Having grabbed the most wins (98 wins) in the regular season league last year, the Dodgers secured a majority of internal and external free agents including Snell, Tanner Scott, Teoscar Hernandez and Blake Snell. The Dodgers has a big gap with Detroit, which had 86 wins and 76 losses and had no major free agent recruitment.
However, Detroit has the upper hand among the starting pitchers. Skubal had 18 wins and four losses with an ERA of 2.39 and 228 strikeouts last year. He was ranked first in all categories of multiple wins, ERA and strikeouts. He also won the American League Cy Young Award with Triple Crown. In surveys and evaluations conducted ahead of this season, he ranked first in most active pitchers.
Of course, the Dodgers is also far from being easy. Although individual starters' skills fall short of those of Scuval, Dodgers is evaluated as No. 1 in terms of overall starting pitchers and pitching capabilities. Fast-throwing pitchers such as Snell, Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Rocky Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow fill the starting lineup.
The Dodgers chose Snell as its opponent. Snell only won five games and lost three games with an ERA of 3.12 due to injury and sluggishness in the first half of last year, but won the American League in 2018 and the National League Cy Young Award in 2023. Considering his experience and career, he deserves to be against Scuval.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers confirmed the remaining starting pitchers in the three consecutive games that will follow after the opening game 메이저놀이터. Initially, it was expected that Glasnow would play as the second starting pitcher, but the Dodgers chose Japanese pitchers who played for the Tokyo Series as the second and third starting pitchers. Yamamoto will play in the second game and Sasaki in the third game.