The Opener

[Tripredacus]

I wish I knew. I play fantasy baseball and I think that they (Yahoo) does not even track it properly. They show the starting pitchers for any given day, but it has no indication as to what an opener is. I know that Sergio Romo has been throwing as an opener (I guess he must be my favorite) but he is never shown as being starting any particular game. It is a bit annoying that I can't figure out how to properly use those pitchers in fantasy (roto or h2h) other than just putting them into RP slots in leagues that have no advantage to getting saves and holds.

[frankbmd]

I think Stanek on the Rays leads the majors in games started this year.

He could be the first HOF opener.

[Tripredacus]

I think also he has the most games playing first base by a pitcher this year also

[Mark17]

Gene Mauch, who was famous for over-managing himself out of a couple of pennants, had a theory which was never fully implemented. His idea was to have 2 starters ready, a righty and lefty, but name some middle reliever type as his starter.

The idea was, every game his announced starting pitcher would be this middle reliever guy, the opposing team would have to set its lineup, the game would start, Mauch's starter would only pitch the minimum required (like, facing one batter,) and then, based on the opps lineup (right-handed or left-handed predominance,) Mauch would choose his "real" pitcher and trot him into the game, very early in the first inning. Mauch was a big subscriber to the whole righthanded-lefthanded pitcher-hitter thing and figured he would first force the opposition to commit a lineup, then Mauch could decide which of his real starters was the best matchup.

Had he actually followed through, he could've had a pitcher with 162 starts, few wins and losses, and about 50-60 innings pitched. A "Designated Starter" so to speak.