Angels-Astros Opening Day starters: Soriano vs. Brown
A pair of 27-year-old right-handers will be making their first Opening Day starts on March 26 at Daikin Park in Houston, with ace Hunter Brown starting for the Astros against José Soriano of the Angels.
The Astros, who missed the playoffs in 2025 for the first time in eight years, will open the season against an Angels team coming off a last-place finish in the American League West. The two clubs have met once previously on Opening Day, which came in 2022 -- the year Houston won the World Series.
There are two potential Hall of Famers in each team’s lineup, with Mike Trout of the Angels and Jose Altuve of the Astros. Altuve is set to start on Opening Day for Houston for the 14th time in the past 15 years, all but one of which have been at second base (he started in left field last year). Trout is set to make his 14th consecutive Opening Day start for the Angels
The Astros are 11-2 on Opening Day since joining the AL in 2013. The Angels have lost 11 of their last 12 games on Opening Day.
Angels: RHP José Soriano
Previous Opening Days starts: 0
2025 season: 10-11, 4.26 ERA in 31 starts.
Soriano has elite stuff with a sinker that can touch 100 mph to go along with a knuckle-curve and splitter that makes him the best starter in the Majors at generating grounders. Soriano had a ground-ball rate of 65.3% that ranked as the highest rate in the Majors and more than six percentage points higher than the second-highest ground-ball rate of 59.1% from the Cardinals' Andre Pallante.
Soriano, entering his third year as a starter after pitching in relief as a rookie, also had a lot of success against the Astros in his career. He has a career 1.04 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings against Houston, including a 1.00 ERA and 10 strikeouts in nine innings at Daikin Park.
“This guy earned it,” first-year manager Kurt Suzuki said. “The guy's a workhorse. He's done everything right, does everything we ask. He was a little emotional in there [when told]. He’s had two Tommy Johns. And for him to be where he is now, he's somebody that earned it.”
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Astros: RHP Hunter Brown
Previous Opening Day starts: 0
2025 season: 12-9, 2.43 ERA in 31 starts
Brown is coming off the best season of his four-year career when he finished third place in the American League Cy Young Award voting. He assumed the role of Houston’s ace and struck out a career-high 206 in 185 1/3 innings and allowed only 133 hits. He had eight starts in which he didn't allow an earned run.
Among AL starters, Brown ranked first in opponents' slugging percentage (.318); second in ERA and opponents' OPS (.589); tied for second in quality starts (21); third in strikeouts, fourth in WHIP, strikeouts per nine innings (10) and pitching WAR (4.6, per FanGraphs); and fifth in opponents' batting average (.201).
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“He’s earned this,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “It’s been a pleasure to watch him develop into one of the best pitchers in the Major Leagues, and he’s definitely our leader. I also told him being the ace comes with some responsibilities. He is the guy that’s going to get us going and people are going to be looking up to him."