MLB 2014 Opening Week: Five-Best Matchups

The 2014 MLB regular season really gets going tonight when the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers take on one another in a National League West showdown. Unfortunately, that’s not one of the five-best matchups from MLB’s opening week. Here are the five sets of games you should pay attention to. 

Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers

Kansas City hasn’t been in the playoffs since 1985. Think about this for one second. The last time this team made the playoffs, the Nintendo Entertainment System was just released in America and Ronald Reagan was our president. Our current president was also 24 years of age the last time Kansas City earned a trip to the second season.

With that said, its coming off the best season for the franchise since 1989, winning 86 games last season. Kansas City will throw out James Shields, Jason Vargas and youngster Yordano Ventura against a potent Tigers’ offensive attack which now includes infielder Ian Kinsler to go along with new $300 million man Miguel Cabrera.

For the Tigers, it will be an obvious three getting the starts in this season season opening set. Justin Verlander will go up against Shields on opening night with Max Scherzer and Anibal Sanchez pitching the final two games of the series. Kansas City will counter with an outstanding lineup that includes Eric Hosmer, Billy Butler and Alex Gordon, just to name a few.

This series is an early opportunity for the Royals to prove that they can hang with the big boys in the American League. For the first time in a long time, they are heading into a season with playoff expectations. A series win in Detroit would be huge for early-season confidence.

 

Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles

The defending World Series champions will open up the season on the road against a playoff contender that fell just short of the second season last year. New addition Nelson Cruz joins MVP candidate Chris Davis, Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, Manny Machado (when he returns) and J.J. Hardy to form one of the best lineups in baseball for the team in Baltimore.

Jon Lester, John Lackey and Felix Doubront will start for Boston in this three-game set. They combined for 36 wins in the championship season last year. As it relates to Baltimore, they’ll counter with 2013 16-game winner Chris Tillman as well as Ubaldo Jimenez and Wei-Yin Chen in this series. While it seems Boston has the decisive advantage from the rubber, it will face a tough test from Baltimore’s lineup.

 

Cleveland Indians at Oakland Athletics

With rain expected Monday night in Oakland, there is a strong possibility that these two teams will have to play a doubleheader the first week of the regular season. That’s not ideal for anyone involved. Instant phenom and under-the-radar Cy Young candidate Sonny Gray will take the hill for the home-standing A’s in this one. Prior to going toe-to-toe with both Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander in the playoffs last season, Gray was downright dominating as a rookie. He put up a 5-3 record with a 2.67 ERA and a ridiculous 1.11 WHIP in 10 starts.

With Jarrod Parker out for the season and A.J. Griffin opening on the Disabled List, Oakland’s depth is going to be tested. Former Indian Scott Kazmir will pitch the second game of the series, while journeyman Jesse Chavez will pitch the finale. Cleveland will counter with a lineup that possesses eight players with 15-plus homer power.

Oakland’s suddenly powerful lineup will be tasked with going toe-to-toe with an unproven but talented young Indians rotation. Veteran Justin Masterson will open up against Gray with Corey Kluber and Zach McAllister wrapping up the series from the mound.

Both Oakland and Cleveland made the postseason last year and are looking to take the next step. For the A’s, that’s a trip to the World Series. While Cleveland’s final expectations have to be the same, it must get past the Detroit Tigers first. If Terry Francona’s group can win a series on the road against the two-time defending AL West champs, it’ll will be pretty big.

 

St. Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates

In what will be both team’s second series of the opening week, St. Louis heads to Pittsburgh in a matchup of the two top teams in the NL Central last season. Shelby Miller, Joe Kelly and Adam Wainwright will take to the hill in this series for St. Louis. Despite going from the back end of the rotation to the staff ace, all three present tremendous matchup issues for the Bucs. Taking Wainwright out of the equation for a second, these two other pitchers combined for 25 wins a season ago.

Pittsburgh will counter with its No. 4 starter in Gerrit Cole, who won 10 games last season before being able to head back to the top of the rotation due to an off-day on Tuesday. That means Francisco Liriano will go in the second game against Kelly, which is a nice little under-the-radar matchup.

 

Texas Rangers at Tampa Bay Rays

This is a rematch of the wildcard playoffs from a year ago in which Tampa Bay sent Texas home by the score of 5-2. Jake Odorizzi, David Price and Alex Cobb will take to the hill for one of the deepest rotations in baseball in Tampa Bay. Odorizzi, a 24-year-old righty, is going to be an intriguing pitcher to check out. He starts the season as Tampa’s No. 5.

Meanwhile, an injury-plagued Rangers team will premiere Prince Fielder against a tough Rays’ rotation. Also making his debut for the Rangers is free-agent acquisition Shin-Soo Choo. With a ton of starters out, including Yu Darvish, the Rangers will open with Tanner Scheppers, Martin Perez and Robbie Ross taking the hill. They combined for just 2o wins last season.

 

Photo: Jeff Curry, USA Today