Carlos Rodón will start for the Yankees on Opening Day

14/03/2025 21:34

With Gerrit Cole down for the count and Max Fried not on schedule, the Yankees will turn to their Game 2 playoff starter to get them off on the right foot.

Even before the New York Yankees knew that ace Gerrit Cole needed Tommy John surgery, it looked likely that he would miss Opening Day due to his ailing elbow. While he avoided the procedure in spring training 2024, his start in the first game of the season was instead taken by the since-traded Nestor Cortes. Now, Cole's fate is worse and he will be gone for all of 2025, putting pressure on his teammates in the rotation to once again step up — this time for an even longer stretch.

The first man who will be called upon to fill the void left by Cole will be Carlos Rodón. That's who the Yankees will start on Opening Day in the Bronx against the Milwaukee Brewers on March 27th at 3:05pm ET. Manager Aaron Boone told reporters on Friday afternoon that the southpaw would be his pick, with new free agent starter Max Fried getting the ball for the second game, ticketed for March 29th.

It's a vote of confidence for Rodón, but it's also a byproduct of how the Yankees currently have their starters lined up for the remainder of the spring training games. The plan had always been for Fried to start the second game behind Cole, and even with the ace going down, the Yankees thought that it would be better to keep Fried on his regularly-scheduled track. Despite all the pageantry surrounding Opening Day, it is just one game out of 162 on the calendar.

Rodón will be the 57th Opening Day starter in Yankees history; Cole had started four in a row upon coming to New York as a free agent in 2020, prior to his streak getting snapped by last year's injury. The only Yankees pitchers to have received more Opening Day starts than Cole are Whitey Ford, Ron Guidry, Mel Stottlemyre, Lefty Gomez, Red Ruffing, and the newest Hall of Famer, CC Sabathia.

Peter Brody wrote up Rodón's 2025 season preview for us back in February. Even before Cole went down with Tommy John surgery, there was pressure on Rodón to come through with a big 2025. He was a colossal disappointment in 2023 after signing a six-year, $162 million deal in free agency to be the No. 2 starter behind Cole, and while he had a nice rebound last year, it wasn't as though he had instantly recaptured the 2021-22 form he demonstrated in Chicago and San Francisco to earn that contract.

The reliable Fried's presence means that Rodón doesn't have to be quite that good again for the Yankees to have an excellent 2025, but he has to at least be above-average. In addition to Cole, Boone will also be missing 2024 AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil for the first couple months, so Fried, Rodón, Clarke Schmidt, Marcus Stroman, and the fifth starter (Will Warren?) will all need to pitch in to keep the team afloat in the meantime.