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Hello and happy Tuesday.
The San Francisco Giants season starts in just over a week, with a road game against the Seattle Mariners. Unless the Giants decide to forfeit, they will have a starting pitcher for that game.
Who will it be? Ultimately it doesn’t matter at all. An Opening Day starter is purely symbolic, as the No. 1 and No. 2 starters should, in theory, pitch the same amount of games.
But symbolism is still important, and the Giants have a two-horse race for the Opening Day nod: Kevin Gausman, and Johnny Cueto.
Gausman seemed the clear leader, given that he was substantially better than Cueto in 2020. But then he struggled a bit during Sunday’s game, while Cueto had a strong simulated performance.
Five-inning sim game for Johnny Cueto is in the books. He threw around 80 pitches and appears to be built up quite well for the beginning of the season. Didn’t give up much loud contact, ended the day with a strikeout. Cueto and Giants coaches seemed happy with the output.
— Kerry Crowley (@KO_Crowley) March 22, 2021
Gausman certainly projects to be the better pitcher this year, but Cueto has that former ace sheen, and has meant more to the organization so far. As we’ve seen in the past, sometimes that’s enough.
So who gets the start?
Poll
Who will be the Giants Opening Day starter?
This poll is closed
-
44%
Johnny Cueto
(204 votes) -
40%
Kevin Gausman
(183 votes) -
15%
Ty Blach
(69 votes)
Old, random MCC article for you to read
Other Giants whose poor performance wasn’t their fault (Dec. 29, 2014 — Doug Bruzzone)
Giants links
- Roger Munter on whether or not the Giants will keep Dedniel Nuñez (There R Giants)
- Grant Brisbee on the history of Mother’s Cookies baseball cards (The Athletic, subscription required)
- Susan Slusser on how Logan Webb became the team’s best Spring Training pitcher (SF Chronicle)
- Maria Guardado predicts the Opening Day roster (MLB)
- Kerry Crowley on how the Giants rotation plans are up in the air after Kevin Gausman and Johnny Cueto’s last starts (Mercury News)
- Dan Szymborski ranks each team’s first baseman situation (Fangraphs)
- Mark W. Sanchez on LaMonte Wade Jr.’s swing adjustments (KNBR)
- Andrew Baggarly on the health watch for some of the Giants key players (The Athletic, subscription required)
- Dalton Johnson on if Brandon Belt will be ready for Opening Day (NBC Sports Bay Area)
How many days until Opening Day?
There are 9 days until Opening Day. We are in the single digits.
Have a great Tuesday, y’all.