The best Opening Day starting pitchers, ranked from 1-10

All 30 teams have an Opening Day starting pitcher.

But even from that select group, there are some who stand out. These are the true aces, the unquestioned No. 1 starters, the Cy Young Award hopefuls. When they take the ball, their teams expect to win.

Which elite arm reigns supreme, though? That’s a question for this special Opening Day edition of the Starting Pitcher Power Rankings, in which only pitchers who will be on the mound for a season opener were considered by our panel of MLB.com voters.

Here are the results.

1. Paul Skenes, Pirates

Thursday, 1:15 p.m. ET at Mets

The battle for the No. 1 spot between the 2025 Cy Young Award winners was incredibly close. Ultimately, Skenes took seven of the 13 first-place votes and edged Tarik Skubal. At age 23, Skenes will make his second straight Opening Day start, and when he takes the mound against the Mets on Thursday, he will do so with a mind-boggling 1.96 ERA in 55 career starts. Few pitchers in baseball history have been this good, this early while this young.

2. Tarik Skubal, Tigers

Thursday, 4:10 p.m. ET at Padres

It says a lot about Skenes that a two-time defending Cy winner does not rank No. 1. Skubal has been nothing short of overwhelming since returning from injury on the Fourth of July, 2023, for his first start in nearly a year. From that point on, he’s gone 38-13 with a 2.39 ERA and matching 2.39 FIP over 77 starts, striking out 571 batters in 467 2/3 innings. His 15.9 WAR during that span (via FanGraphs) puts him more than three wins ahead of any other pitcher. Now he’ll try to keep that going in his last season before free agency.

3. Garrett Crochet, Red Sox

Thursday, 4:10 p.m. ET at Reds

It’s worth taking a step back to appreciate Crochet’s journey to this point. Entering the 2024 season with the White Sox, he had not made a single start in the Major Leagues, coming up as a reliever, missing all of the 2022 season to injury and returning for just 13 relief appearances in ‘23. Two seasons later, he’s unquestionably one of the best starters in baseball -- one who broke out with the White Sox in ‘24 and took things to another level after his trade to Boston during the ensuing offseason. In a recent poll of MLB.com staff, Crochet narrowly beat out Skubal as our pick for this year’s AL Cy.

4. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers

Thursday, 8:30 p.m. ET vs. D-backs

No matter where Yamamoto’s career goes from here, he’s a certified October legend (well, technically a November legend, too). Now he’s set to become just the sixth pitcher in the Divisional Era (since 1969) to get the final out of a World Series, then start on Opening Day the following year -- and just the fifth to appear for the same team in both games. Even before the postseason, though, Yamamoto was nails for the Dodgers in 2025, making 30 starts for a club that had trouble keeping its rotation healthy. For good measure, he allowed the fewest hits per nine innings of any qualified pitcher (5.9).

5. Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies

Thursday, 4:15 p.m. ET vs. Rangers

Not only is Sánchez the proud owner of a brand-new contract extension that will run through at least 2032, but the left-hander also looked nasty this spring -- both for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic and for the Phillies in Grapefruit League play. It’s going to be hard to top Sánchez’s spectacular performance in 2025, but the 29-year-old also looks like an ace in peak form heading into ‘26.

6. Hunter Brown, Astros

Thursday, 4:10 p.m. ET vs. Angels

It seems like a distant memory now, but Brown was getting lit up early in the 2024 season, which was even more of a concern after his ‘23 campaign went off the rails in the second half. However, since allowing nine runs and failing to get out of the first inning on April 11, 2024, against the Royals, Brown owns a sub-3.00 ERA and ranks 10th among MLB pitchers with 7.6 fWAR. He was particularly stellar in ‘25, finishing third behind Skubal and Crochet in the AL Cy race.

7. Max Fried, Yankees

Wednesday, 8:05 p.m. ET at Giants

Justified or not, there’s always a concern about how a player will fare in the Bronx after coming to the Yankees as a high-priced free agent. Fried showed that, at least in his case, there was no reason to worry. His first season as a Yankee was an example of Fried at his best: 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA and 3.07 FIP. Even better for a team that was without Gerrit Cole, Fried set career highs in starts (32) and innings (195 1/3).

8. Logan Webb, Giants

Wednesday, 8:05 p.m. ET vs. Yankees

Following Webb in these rankings is his counterpart in Wednesday’s Opening Night game on Netflix. It’ll be Webb who throws the first pitch of the 2026 season in the top of the first inning at Oracle Park, and that head start feels appropriate for MLB’s most durable ace. Webb has made at least 32 starts and thrown at least 192 innings in four straight seasons, and he’s led his league in innings three years in a row. The righty is far from just an innings-eater, though. He bumped his K-rate from 20.5% to 26.2% last year, which, combined with his workload, produced an MLB-best 224 strikeouts.

9. Chris Sale, Braves

Friday, 7:15 p.m. ET vs. Royals

Sale’s career resurgence over the past two years has been remarkable, but can he stay healthy in 2026? A decimated Braves rotation absolutely needs him to. Sale managed to do it in 2024, but a fractured ribcage sustained making a diving stop in June cost him roughly two months in ‘25, when he finished with 20 starts. Even after returning from that, though, Sale was plenty effective, with a 2.72 ERA and 2.58 FIP in six starts. While he will turn 37 on Monday, Sale could certainly have some peak performance remaining in his incredible left arm.

10. Freddy Peralta, Mets

Thursday, 1:15 p.m. ET vs. Pirates

There’s a lot riding on Peralta’s performance in 2026. Not only is this his last year before free agency, but he also was traded from Milwaukee to New York, joining a Mets team that badly needed a No. 1-caliber starting pitcher to bolster its championship aspirations. Peralta is coming off perhaps his finest season, having posted a 2.70 ERA in 33 starts for the Brewers, while reaching the 200-strikeout mark for the third year in a row. Can he repeat the feat in Queens? Besting Skenes on Opening Day would be an awfully good start.

Voters: David Adler, Daniel Feldman, Thomas Harrigan, Bryan Horowitz, Brent Maguire, Ricardo Montes de Oca, Brian Murphy, Arturo Pardavila, Andrew Simon, David Venn, Zac Vierra, Tom Vourtsis, Andy Werle