Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The offseason is finally over, and the Dodgers begin their season looking to become the first team to threepeat since the 1998-2000 Yankees, who were also the last team to go back-to-back before the Dodgers did so. The Dodgers were busy in the offseason, as they managed to sign two of the best free agents available to fill positions of need. Kyle Tucker makes his Dodger debut tonight, starting in right field and batting second. Edwin Diaz joins the back end of the bullpen, looking to strengthen a group that posted the 10th-worst ERA in baseball last year (4.27). They open the season with a weird six-game homestand, starting with three against the Diamondbacks with a rare Sunday off day before the Guardians come to LA. The Diamondbacks had a disappointing 2025 season as they were plagued by injuries, losing Corbin Burnes and Justin Martinez in the same week to Tommy John. They finished at 80-82 and entertained trading Ketel Marte in the offseason, but held on to him. They did make a few moves in the offseason, including trading for Nolan Arenado. Arenado is no stranger to the NL West and did have a big Spring, with a 1.290 OPS in 25 plate appearances.
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| 5:30 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| 2B | Marte (S) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| RF | Carroll (L) | RF | Tucker (L) |
| SS | Perdomo (S) | SS | Betts |
| C | Moreno | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| DH | Smith (L) | C | Smith |
| 3B | Arenado | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| 1B | Santana (S) | LF | T. Hernández |
| CF | Thomas (L) | CF | Pages |
| LF | Lawler | 2B | Rojas |
| P | Gallen (R) | P | Yamamoto (R) |
Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets his second consecutive Opening Day start and has the rare opportunity to get the win in each of the last three Dodger games. Yamamoto had a very good 2025 regular season, but took it to another level in October. After a pair of solid starts in LA in the Wild Card round (6 2/3 innings, two unearned runs, nine strikeouts) and the NLDS (four innings, three earned runs), Yama went crazy. His other four appearances in October came on the road, starting with an NLCS start in Milwaukee. Jackson Chourio took Yamamoto deep to start the game, but Yamamoto only allowed two more hits and a walk en route to a complete game. He followed that up by starting Game 2 of the World Series in Toronto and threw another complete game, allowing a run and four hits with eight strikeouts and no walks. He started the must-win Game 6 and allowed a run and five hits in six innings, and came back out the very next day for 2 2/3 shutout innings to finish the game and clinch the World Series. It was an unprecedented run for Yamamoto, who obviously won World Series MVP and etched his name in the Dodger history books. It also overshadowed his regular season, where he finished third in Cy Young voting with a 2.49 ERA in a team-leading 30 starts. Yamamoto saw the Diamondbacks four times last season, and three of those starts went extremely well. In 20 innings over those three starts, Yamamoto allowed nine hits and one run with 26 strikeouts and four walks. His other start was less good, as Arizona put up five runs and six hits over five innings and homers to Gabriel Moreno and Marte.
Zac Gallen gets his fourth-consecutive Opening Day start for the Diamondbacks. Gallen was a free agent this offseason and his market never really developed, but he still reportedly turned down some multi-year deals to return to Arizona on a one-year deal. Gallen had a rough 2025 with a 4.83 ERA/4.50 FIP in 192 innings. He had a 3.38 ERA after his second start, but his ERA never got under 4 the rest of the season. He allowed four or more runs in 16 of his 33 starts, but did turn in one of his best starts in August in LA. Gallen allowed two hits and three walks over six shutout innings, outdueling Blake Snell for his 10th win of the season. Gallen is only 2-5 with a 3.90 ERA in 15 career starts against the Dodgers, with four of those losses coming in LA.
Gallen throws six different pitches, but has primarily leaned on his fastball, knuckle curve and changeup. He threw the fastball 45 percent of the time last season, knuckle curve 23.5 percent of the time and change 16 percent of the time. He threw 501 changeups last season and 120 of them were against righties, so he doesn’t shy away from throwing it to same-side hitters. He’s also mixed in a slider (7.2 percent), cutter (5.8 percent) and sinker (2.5 percent).
With the addition of Tucker, the non-Shohei Ohtani Dodgers all slide down in the order from where they were for the most part last season. Ohtani remains leadoff, but Mookie Betts bats third, Freddie Freeman fourth and Will Smith fifth. Miguel Rojas gets the start at second in spite of that position seemingly being platooned this season, likely to get him an ovation after his series-saving homer in Game 7.
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The Dodgers announced their roster without any surprises.
Here's your 26-man roster for #OpeningDayLA: pic.twitter.com/JhNyDWFlHM
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 26, 2026
Santiago Espinal is the lone infielder/outfielder on the roster with Tommy Edman and Enrique Hernandez on the IL. Alex Freeland made the roster over Hyeseong Kim, and no real surprises on the pitching staff with Roki Sasaki and Edgardo Henriquez making the squad.
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A very early injury update on Brock Stewart.
Brock Stewart said he's facing hitters tomorrow and again on Tuesday. After those lives, he thinks he'll be close to starting a rehab assignment.
— Sonja Chen (@SonjaMChen) March 26, 2026
Stewart only made four relief outings with the Dodgers before hitting the IL with a shoulder issue. He had surgery in September and could be close to starting a rehab assignment. Stewart had a 2.38 ERA and a 29.5 percent strikeout rate in 34 innings with the Twins before the deadline, but allowed two runs in only 3 2/3 innings with only three strikeouts in his time with the Dodgers.
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First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 PM PT and will be on Peacock and NBC.
