Chicago Cubs Name Ace Opening Day Starting Pitcher

The Chicago Cubs have made their decision on who will start on Opening Day against the Texas Rangers.

Chicago Cubs Craig Counsell announced on Saturday that Justin Steele will be the Opening Day starter for the Cubs when they face the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas, on March 28.

It will be the first Opening Day start of Steele’s career. Counsell told reporters on Saturday in Arizona. 

It’s the first indication of how Counsell will arrange his starting rotation, one that should include Jameson Taillon and free-agent signee Shota Imanaga.

Steele gets the honor after putting together a season in which he was one of the top vote-getters in the National League Cy Young race.

Steele led the Cubs in victories, going 16-5 with a 3.06 ERA. He struck out a career-high 176 in 173.1 innings. He only walked 36. He pitched well enough in the first half to earn a selection to the National League All-Star Team and led the NL in home runs allowed per nine innings with 0.7.

Steele finished in fifth place in Cy Young voting last season, as he was listed on 17 of the 30 ballots and got one second-place vote.

San Diego’s Blake Snell won the award, getting 28 of the 30 first-place votes from members of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

It was a breakthrough season for Steele, who earned a $1 million bonus for finishing in the top five of Cy Young voting and agreed to a $4 million deal with the Cubs for 2024 to avoid arbitration in his first season of eligibility.

Steele enters the season with a career record of 24-16 with a 3.30 ERA with 361 strikeouts and 113 walks.

Earlier this season, Counsell talked about Steele’s ability to deceive hitters, something he watched from afar as manager of the Milwaukee Brewers the past few seasons.

“He throws a baseball in a way that just does a little something different each time, and that is hard for hitters,” Counsell said to MLB.com. “Every year is a little different … and [he’ll need to] be able to adjust and adapt to that and be able to adjust to a league trying to make adjustments to him.”