PEORIA, Ariz. — It’s one game out of 162. Yes, they all count the same in the standings, particularly for a team that has missed out on the postseason by one game each of the last two seasons, there will likely be far more meaningful games in the waning months of the 2025 season than on March 27 vs. the A’s at T-Mobile Park.
And yet, the importance of that first game of the six-month marathon that is a baseball season has something more than just symbolic importance when you are a starting pitcher.
Being named the opening day starting pitcher on most major league teams is an honor that carries a certain respect, telling your teammates and fans that you have done what’s necessary to earn that privilege.
When Marco Gonzales was named the Mariners’ opening day starter for the 2019 season, it left him choked up and wiping away tears as he tried to explain what it meant to him.
When first-year manager John McLaren informed Felix Hernandez that he would not be the opening day starter in 2008 and that the recently acquired lefty Erik Bedard would instead get the honor, a young King Felix, who had started on opening day 2007, privately seethed. He held a grudge against McLaren, the coaching staff and front office for choosing a pitcher who clearly didn’t cherish the honor of starting on opening day, or really any day.
When Gonzales was named the opening day starter in 2019, Hernandez, who had started every opening day after the 2008 snub, was crestfallen, despite knowing he’d had a down season in 2018. He felt it was an earned right as much about what he’d done over his career and not the previous season. His disdain for manager Scott Servais and general manager Jerry Dipoto only intensified in what would be an often awkward and regrettable final season in Seattle.
With the 2025 season approaching, there has been a growing debate as to whether Logan Gilbert or Luis Castillo will be named the opening day starter and lead the team onto the field in that last Thursday in March.
Dan Wilson may be in his first full MLB spring training as a manager, but he was also wise enough to talk around the decision when asked about it recently.
“Hard to say at this point, but we’re getting there,” he said. “I think we’re starting to put the pieces together here. I don’t know if there’s a date that I can give you guys, but we’re definitely kicking it around.”
So when will it be announced?
In past years, the Mariners tried to use it as a marketing tool with videos and a heavy deluge on social media. While Catie Griggs, the former president of baseball operations who pushed for the organization owning its news announcements, has left for the Orioles, it seems likely that the Mariners will announce it on their terms and (social media) timeline, which is perfectly fair.
Gilbert made the first start of the five projected rotation members on Monday vs. the Brewers, with Castillo starting the next day vs. the Dodgers. But with three off days — March 3, 11, 20 — during the Cactus League schedule and two off days — March 25-26 — before the opening game, the order of those two spots can easily be changed.
Both pitchers are obviously deserving of the honor.
Castillo made the opening day start each of the last two seasons. After being acquired in a midseason trade with the Reds in July of 2022, he later signed a five-year extension to remain with the team and took the reins as the rotation’s No. 1.
He recently reiterated that his personal goals each season are to start on opening day, make the All-Star team and win the Cy Young Award.
“Those are the three goals that I’ve had throughout my career,” he said through interpreter Freddy Llanos. “And I’m going to continue to have them until the day I retire.”
Castillo is coming off a somewhat down year by his standards. He ended the 2024 season on the injured list due to a hamstring suffered on Sept. 8. But had the Mariners somehow found their way into the postseason, he had been working to be available.
He still made 30 starts, posting an 11-12 record with a 3.64 ERA and 18 quality starts. In 175 1/3 innings pitched, he struck out 175 batters and walked 47.
Castillo obviously understands the symbolic importance of being the opening day starter and it does mean a great deal to him. But by all accounts, he also isn’t the type of player or person to be angry or take it personally if he doesn’t get the nod.
Gilbert is the face of the organization’s draft and development success. He represents everything the Mariners want in a starting pitcher in terms of having a tireless work ethic, embracing the philosophies of aggressiveness in the strike zone, a continuous desire for self-improvement, an almost obsessive focus on preparation and a warrior-mentality on the mound.
He was also the Mariners’ best pitcher last season, being named to the American League All-Star team and earning the team’s Most Valuable Pitcher award from the Seattle chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He set career marks in starts (33), ERA (3.23), innings pitched (208 2/3), quality starts (22), strikeouts (220) and WHIP — walks plus hits over innings pitched (0.89).
His total innings pitched and WHIP were the best in the American League while he tied for most starts and finished second in quality starts and opponent batting average for a starter (.194). He was the first Mariners pitcher to log 200-plus innings and strike out more than 200 batters since Felix Hernandez in 2014.
The résumé certainly makes him a credible candidate, if not the logical choice.
Gilbert, a consummate teammate in every way, was diplomatic and complimentary about the situation when asked.
“It’d be awesome if it happened,” Gilbert said. “But, I mean, we have five opening day starters. I don’t think anybody should get their feelings hurt because on different teams, we probably all start the first day. It’s a huge honor to whoever gets it. Obviously, Castillo being the veteran is very, very deserving. But every time I’m out there in spring, I feel like I’ve got to prove myself all over again. So, I don’t want to get ahead of myself.”
So who do you think should be the opening day starter?