Being a team’s Opening Day starting pitcher is a big thing. A new season is a new chance at glory, and the Opening Day starter is a person the team thinks gives them the best chance at opening the season with a win. It’s no small matter.
If you look through the Yankees’ history of Opening Day starters, there’s a lot of notable and important names there. This year, and hopefully for the foreseeable future, it’s Gerrit Cole. For many years it was CC Sabathia, with Masahiro Tanaka having a nice little run after that. The last one that makes you look sideways is Carl Pavano in 2007, which was the result of a nightmare of spring training injuries.