Washington Nationals Name 2025 Opening Day Starter for Matchup With Phillies
Opening Day is less than two weeks away, which means more teams will start naming their opening day starters.
The Washington Nationals have just announced who they will hand the ball to on March 27 when they take on the Philadelphia Phillies at home.
The team's social media account posted that MacKenzie Gore will be the team's Opening Day starter.
This news does not come as any surprise since Gore is the best pitcher on the staff. There might have been some discussion about giving the ball to Jake Irvin for Game 1, but Gore was the easy and correct choice.
Last season, the left-handed pitcher made 32 starts, threw 166.1 innings, allowed 171 hits and owned a WHIP of 1.419. More positively, though, his FIP of 3.53 was lower than his ERA of 3.90, and his ERA+ was above average at 103 with a K/9 ratio of 9.8.
The former first-round pick has thrown just two games in spring training, but he has had success.
In his 8.1 innings, Gore has struck out 10 batters, allowed just four hits while also walking four batters. Still, he has shown a lot of improvement this spring.
The Nationals are not a team that expects to contend, but they have the tools in place to be good in the very near future.
Having Gore become the true ace of their pitching staff would be a huge step in the right direction.
The pitching matchup for Opening Day is now set as Gore will square off with Zack Wheeler in a day game at Nationals Park.
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Cameron Zunkel is a sports writer from the western suburbs of Chicago. He played Division-II baseball at the University of Illinois at Springfield where he earned a masters degree in Communication. Cameron also played independent league baseball for the Joliet Slammers and Schaumburg Boomers of the Frontier League. He has been in journalism for the better part of two years now, and has a passion for baseball specifically. His other work includes writing sports betting articles for ClutchPoints. In his free time, you can catch Cam at the gym, on the golf course, or coaching the youth in the beautiful sport of baseball.