The '2026 Opening Day starting pitchers' quiz

The 2026 Major League Baseball season begins tonight with the New York Yankees travelling to San Francisco to take on the Giants in a standalone game, before the rest of the league gets underway on Thursday. 

For the fourth-straight season, the Yankees will have a new Opening Day starting pitcher. With 2023’s opening day started and presumptive-staff ace Gerrit Cole rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and 2024’s starter Carlos Rodon still recovering from a bone-spur removal in his elbow, Max Fried will get the ball. 

The last time the Yankees had a fourth-straight starter in four years, it was CC Sabathia in 2009 – the year of New York’s most recent World Series title. 

For the most part, Fried was excellent for the Yankees in his first campaign in pinstripes. Despite a stint after the All-Star break where he struggled with blisters and command, Fried led all of baseball with 19 wins while posting 2.86 ERA with 189 strikeouts in 195 1/3 innings. In the postseason he pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings in the Wild Card against Boston before getting knocked around by the Toronto Blue Jays. 

Which brings us to today’s quiz. How many of the pitchers given the honor of being their team’s Opening Day starter for the 2026 Major League Baseball season can you name in five minutes?

Good luck!

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