Who Should Start A's Home Opener in Sacramento Against Chicago Cubs?
On Wednesday, the Athletics announced their starting rotation to begin the 2025 campaign, rolling with Luis Severino in the season opener, and then Jeffrey Springs, Osvaldo Bido, JP Sears, and Joey Estes in some order. They will also have Mitch Spence in the bullpen to start the year.
This leads to an interesting question, however. Who should be handed the ball in the A's first-ever game in Sacramento? It'll be a packed house of 14,000 strong, and even though it's only planned as a temporary home, it'll be important to start off on the right foot. You only get one chance to make a first impression, after all.
With Severino starting on Opening Day, he's out of the mix. Springs will likely follow Severino in the rotation, so he's also out. Bido was held out of a game against the Seattle Mariners in camp recently, so he's also presumably in the top four of the rotation.
That would leave Estes or Sears. Based off of experience, Sears would likely be slotted above Estes in the rotation, but there are two reasons why it could be Estes in Seattle and Sears in Sacramento.
The first is fairly simple. Sears has been a key member of the A's rotation the past two seasons, through the rebuild, and has made each of his starts each of the past two seasons. He's also been a solidly league average pitcher, which sounds like a knock, but that's an extremely valuable trait to have when building out a pitching staff.
Giving him the home opener would be a reward of sorts.
The second is a little more complicated. The short version is that Estes was a much better pitcher at home last season, posting a 3.26 ERA, while he held a 6.90 ERA on the road. The A's are set to play their home games at Sutter Health Park instead of the Oakland Coliseum in 2025, so there will be some adjustments needed to get the most out of him this year.
Starting off in Sacramento could be a touch dicey, too, since the front office is unsure of how exactly the minor-league facility will play with big-league hitters.
To that point, T-Mobile Park in Seattle has been the most pitcher-friendly park in baseball since 2022. In his career, Estes holds a 3.60 career ERA in Seattle across two starts spanning ten innings. That's even lower than the 3.68 ERA he held at the Coliseum, so there wouldn't be as much of a concern about his road numbers creeping in.
On the other side of the coin, Sears has also pitched well in Seattle, holding a 1.59 ERA in three games (two starts), across 17 innings pitched.
The question at this point is do you hand the ball to Estes with a better chance for success in a familiar ballpark and a familiar foe, letting Sears take the honor of opening A's baseball to the fans in Sacramento, or do you go with the guy with better career numbers up north and see what happens in the home opener?
We won't have to wait long to find out which decision the A's make.
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.