Opener (baseball)
In the 21st century, baseball writers advanced the idea that starting pitchers are less effective against the opposing team's hitters the more times in a game they face them.
Dave Fleming, a writer for Bill James Online, wrote in 2009 about a proposed "3-3-3 rotation" where pitchers would be limited to throwing three innings in a game.
[13] As a practical matter, teams are more likely to use openers when several of their starting pitchers are injured, such as the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2018[14] and the New York Yankees in 2019.
Starting pitcher Ross Stripling explained that the Giants employed an opener for him because they felt he was not pitching as well as ace Logan Webb, and suggested that in the future, free agent starting pitchers might think twice about signing with the Giants due to the risk of reputational damage from being subjected to an opener.
[19][20] Similarly, in the 1990 National League Championship Series, the Pittsburgh Pirates decided to open the game with right-handed relief pitcher Ted Power before installing the announced starting pitcher, left-hander Zane Smith, in an attempt to get the Cincinnati Reds to change their batting lineup.
[21] A notable early use of the opener to improve pitching performance took place in 1993, when the Oakland Athletics had a poor starting rotation.
[22][23][24] However, La Russa's strategy more closely resembled a full-scale bullpen game, as Wells threw only three (scoreless) innings and 42 pitches before being replaced by Braden Looper.
The first pitcher they chose to deploy as the opener was Sergio Romo, a veteran reliever who previously served as a closer.
Typically, one of Ryne Stanek, Diego Castillo, and Hunter Wood started the game before being replaced by Ryan Yarbrough, Yonny Chirinos, or Jalen Beeks.
In June, the Los Angeles Dodgers used Scott Alexander as an opener due to injuries in their starting rotation.
[b] When Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi took over the San Francisco Giants front office after the 2018 season, he spoke about using an opener to protect Dereck Rodriguez and Andrew Suarez from being overworked.
[41] The New York Yankees coped with having three of their starting pitchers on the injured list by using reliever Chad Green as an opener.
[44][45] During the 2023 season, San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler resorted to openers three out of every five days, with Logan Webb and Alex Cobb starting their games as usual.
[47] Manfred’s view was attributed to a broader desire to increase offense and decrease injuries, as pitchers may throw harder and risk ligament damage if they are on a strict pitch count.
The San Francisco Giants fired manager Gabe Kapler,[50] a strong proponent of openers, and the Tampa Bay Rays had more starting pitcher depth than the previous year, not unlike the 2020 team.
Under manager Dave Roberts, the Los Angeles Dodgers had previously used openers in response to injuries in their starting rotation.
