Twins-Royals Opening Day starting pitchers: López vs. Ragans

The Royals have made it no secret that their goal in 2024 is to compete for the American League Central title. They committed $109 million to free agents as one of the busiest teams this offseason, and the focus was always on the pitching, with two new starters and four new relievers boosting their chances at turning around a 106-loss season last year.

The Twins are the ones they’re chasing as the reigning division champions. And Minnesota has no intention of ceding its title.

That sets the stage for a fun Opening Day matchup at 3:10 p.m. CT on March 28 at Kauffman Stadium.

Here’s who will be taking the mound as the starters:

RHP Pablo López
Previous Opening Day starts: 1
2023 season: 11-8, 3.66 ERA, 32 games (32 starts), 234 strikeouts in 194 innings

A new era of top-of-the-rotation pitching consistency has arrived in Minneapolis -- so much so that López was unofficially (but all but officially) named the Twins’ Opening Day starter mere days after they were eliminated from the playoffs last October. That’s the treatment you get when you pitch the team to its first playoff win since 2004.

Following his arrival in an offseason trade from the Marlins, López immediately took the next step into ace territory with a new sweeper that completed his five-pitch arsenal and helped him push to 234 strikeouts, second only in the AL to Kevin Gausman. Most significantly, López also stayed fully healthy and made 32 starts for the second straight season, which felt particularly significant to him given the extensive injury history of his early career.

Now that López’s arsenal is complete, the next step is for him to just refine -- and he’s spent this spring trying to fully refine his arsenal, including landing his curveball with more consistency and in all counts. He’s also bothered by a spurt of inconsistency that popped up with a 6.15 ERA in an eight-start stretch at the end of last April and into June.

Though his overall Statcast metrics and underlying numbers have been outstanding, with most placing him among the elites of the sport, López seeks that increased start-to-start consistency across the full six months of a regular season that will help him take another step forward.

LHP Cole Ragans
Previous Opening Day starts: None
2023 season: 7-5, 3.47 ERA, 29 games (12 starts), 113 strikeouts in 96 innings

Those 12 starts all came with the Royals after they acquired Ragans in a deal that sent Aroldis Chapman to the Rangers last June. And Ragans was lights-out with Kansas City last year, logging a 2.64 ERA across 71 2/3 innings with a 31.1% strikeout rate and a 9.4% walk rate.

Ragans dominated hitters with a repertoire that includes a fastball that jumped over 4 mph and a new slider that registered a 40% whiff rate in the big leagues last year. The goal in 2024 is consistency as Ragans attempts to continue his second-half success over a full year. He’s continued to develop his slider as an out pitch, his fastball velo has sat in the upper-90s all spring and he’s refined his cutter, changeup and curveball, while working on a two-seamer, to help his arsenal.

The 25-year-old lefty turned into the Royals’ budding ace, and they gave him the Opening Day nod over their veteran starter acquisitions in the offseason, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, to show Ragans, their fans and the baseball world what they think of him as part of their future core.

Ragans never faced the Twins as a Royal in 2023, but he threw four innings against them in ‘22 with the Rangers. Now, over this season and the next several years, the Twins will become very familiar with Ragans -- and that begins on Opening Day.