Padres Make Seoul Series Starters Official

The Opening Day assignment comes as little surprise.

As the offseason went along, it became increasingly clear the San Diego Padres weren't bringing back Blake Snell, or even attempting to replace the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner with a big trade or free agent signing.

That left veteran right-handers Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove as the clear leaders of the Padres' rotation. 

Unsurprisingly, the two pitchers will start in that order when the 2024 regular season begins. Darvish was officially named the Padres' Opening Day starter on Monday, with Musgrove scheduled to follow in Game 2.

Here are your starting pitcher matchups for next week's #SeoulSeries! 💪 pic.twitter.com/hPGT1o9luP

— MLB (@MLB) March 11, 2024

The Padres play the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 20-21 in Seoul, the first regular season Major League Baseball games ever to be played on Korean soil.

Darvish, 37, is no stranger to Opening Day assignments. He took the ball for the Padres' openers in 2021 and 2022, before Snell started the season opener a year ago.

Darvish also started Opening Day of the 2017 season for the Texas Rangers.

In 2023, his third season as a Padre, Darvish went 8-10 with a 4.56 ERA in 24 starts. He's made two starts in spring training, going 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA and nine strikeouts across 5.1 innings.

Musgrove, 31, has had a much rockier start to 2024. In his two spring outings he's recorded a total of five outs while allowing eight earned runs — a 43.20 ERA. He has worked on adjustments between outings and recently expressed confidence in his ability to turn things around.

The team clearly has confidence in Musgrove as well. 

Darvish and Musgrove will be opposed by the Dodgers' Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, respectively.