List Of Oakland Athletics Opening Day Starting Pitchers

The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California.

They play in the American League West division. The club was founded in Philadelphia in 1901, moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1955 and relocated to Oakland in 1968. The first game of the new baseball season for a team is played on Opening Day, and being named the Opening Day starter is an honor, which is often given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season, though there are various strategic reasons why a team's best pitcher might not start on Opening Day.

Since their arrival in Oakland, the A's home field has been the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, a multi-purpose stadium that has also been used for football, and soccer games. Commonly referred to as The Oakland Coliseum, or simply The Coliseum, it was formerly known as Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum (1966–1998, Present), Network Associates Coliseum (1998–2004) and McAfee Coliseum (2004–2008). The A's played their 1996 Opening Day game at Cashman Field in Las Vegas, Nevada while repairs at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum were being completed, the first time in 39 years that a major league team played in a minor-league ballpark.

In Oakland, the A's have used 32 different Opening Day starting pitchers in their 52 seasons. The 32 starters have a combined Opening Day record of 16 wins, 19 losses and 17 no decisions. No decisions are only awarded to the starting pitcher if the game is won or lost after the starting pitcher has left the game or if the starting pitcher pitches fewer than five innings. Of the 17 no decisions, the A's went on to win seven and lose ten of those games, for a team record on Opening Day of 23 wins and 29 losses.

Since it moved to Oakland, the team has played 36 of their Opening Day games at home: 33 at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, 3 in Tokyo, and once in Las Vegas. Of the 33 games played in Oakland, the A's starting pitchers have a record of 12 wins, 9 losses and 12 no decisions (the team won seven and lost six of these no decisions). The 1996 game at Las Vegas' Cashman Field was a loss for starter Carlos Reyes. The 2008 game in the Tokyo Dome was a no decision for starter Joe Blanton that ended in an A's loss. The 2012 Tokyo Dome game resulted in a no decision for starter Brandon McCarthy and a loss for the team. Mike Fiers took the loss in the 2019 Tokyo Dome opener. Overall, the team's starting pitchers' record in home games is 12–11 (with 14 no decisions).

The A's have advanced to the playoffs 18 times while in Oakland, winning the American League Championship Series six times and going on to win the World Series in 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1989. In the 18 seasons that the A's advanced to the playoffs, the team's Opening Day starting pitchers have had a record of eight wins, four losses and six no decisions; the team ultimately won three and lost three of the no decisions. The team's starters won four and lost one Opening Day game in the six seasons they advanced to the World Series.

Catfish Hunter was the team's first Opening Day starter after the team moved to Oakland, taking a 3–1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Memorial Stadium in 1968.

Key

List Of Oakland Athletics Opening Day Starting Pitchers 
Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, home of the Athletic's since their arrival in Oakland in 1968
Season Each year is linked to an article about that particular Athletics season.
W Win
L Loss
ND (W) No decision by starting pitcher; Athletics won game
ND (L) No decision by starting pitcher; Athletics lost game
Final Score (#) Game score with Athletics runs listed first;
in brackets are the number of innings over than 9
Location Stadium in bold for home game
Pitcher (#) Number of appearances as Opening Day starter with the Athletics
* Advanced to the post-season
** Won the American League Championship Series
*** World Series Champions

Opening Day results

Season Pitcher Decision Final
score
Opponent Location Attendance Ref.
1968 Catfish Hunter L 1–3 Baltimore Orioles Memorial Stadium 22,050
1969 Blue Moon Odom W 5–2 Chicago White Sox Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 23,610
1970 Blue Moon Odom (2) W 6–4 Kansas City Royals Municipal Stadium 18,127
1971* Vida Blue L 0–8 Washington Senators Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium 45,061
1972*** Ken Holtzman ND (W) 4–3 Minnesota Twins Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 9,912
1973*** Catfish Hunter (2) L 3–8 Minnesota Twins Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 38,207
1974*** Catfish Hunter (3) W 7–2 Oakland Athletics Arlington Stadium 21,907
1975 Vida Blue (2) W 3–2 Chicago White Sox Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 17,477
1976 Mike Torrez W 5–2 California Angels Angel Stadium 30,194
1977 Mike Torrez (2) W 7–2 Minnesota Twins Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 12,562
1978 Rick Langford L 0–1 California Angels Angel Stadium 28,194
1979 Rick Langford (2) L 3–5 Minnesota Twins Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 10,387
1980 Rick Langford (3) ND (L) 7–9 Minnesota Twins Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 33,196
1981 Mike Norris W 5–1 Minnesota Twins Metropolitan Stadium 42,658
1982 Rick Langford (4) ND (W) 3–2 (11) California Angels Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 51,513
1983 Rick Langford (5) L 5–3 Cleveland Indians Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 34,831
1984 Steve McCatty ND (W) 6–5 Milwaukee Brewers Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 45,398
1985 Chris Codiroli L 3–6 Seattle Mariners Kingdome 37,161
1986 Chris Codiroli (2) L 2–3 Cleveland Indians Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 44,726
1987 Curt Young ND (L) 4–5 Minnesota Twins Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome 43,548
1988** Dave Stewart W 4–1 Seattle Mariners Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 45,333
1989*** Dave Stewart (2) W 3–2 Seattle Mariners Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 46,163
1990** Dave Stewart (3) W 8–3 Minnesota Twins Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 48,219
1991 Dave Stewart (4) W 7–2 Minnesota Twins Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 44,373
1992* Dave Stewart (5) ND (W) 5–3 Kansas City Royals Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 44,078
1993 Bob Welch W 9–4 Detroit Tigers Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 43,370
1994 Bobby Witt ND (L) 7–11 Milwaukee Brewers Milwaukee County Stadium 52,012
1995 Dave Stewart (6) L 1–13 Toronto Blue Jays SkyDome 50,426
1996 Carlos Reyes L 6–9 Toronto Blue Jays Cashman Field 7,294
1997 Ariel Prieto ND (L) 7–9 Toronto Blue Jays Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 41,235
1998 Tom Candiotti L 0–2 Boston Red Sox Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 36,915
1999 Gil Heredia L 5–11 Detroit Tigers Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 46,650
2000* Kevin Appier ND (W) 5–3 New York Yankees Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 46,380
2001* Tim Hudson ND (L) 4–5 Seattle Mariners Safeco Field 45,911
2002* Mark Mulder W 8–3 Texas Rangers Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 43,908
2003* Tim Hudson (2) W 5–0 Seattle Mariners Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 41,723
2004 Tim Hudson (3) ND (W) 5–4 Texas Rangers Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 45,122
2005 Barry Zito L 0–4 Baltimore Orioles Oriole Park at Camden Yards 48,271
2006* Barry Zito (2) L 2–15 New York Yankees Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 35,077
2007 Dan Haren L 0–4 Seattle Mariners Safeco Field 46,003
2008 Joe Blanton ND (L) 5–6 Boston Red Sox Tokyo Dome 44,628
2009 Dallas Braden L 0–3 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Angel Stadium of Anaheim 43,220
2010 Ben Sheets ND (L) 3–5 Seattle Mariners Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 30,686
2011 Trevor Cahill ND (L) 2–6 Seattle Mariners Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 36,067
2012* Brandon McCarthy ND (L) 1–3 Seattle Mariners Tokyo Dome 44,227
2013* Brett Anderson L 0–2 Seattle Mariners O.co Coliseum 36,067
2014* Sonny Gray ND (L) 0–2 Cleveland Indians O.co Coliseum 36,067
2015 Sonny Gray (2) W 8–0 Texas Rangers O.co Coliseum 36,067
2016 Rich Hill L 3–4 Chicago White Sox Oakland Coliseum 35,067
2017 Kendall Graveman W 4–2 Los Angeles Angels Oakland Coliseum 36,067
2018* Kendall Graveman (2) ND (W) 6–5 Los Angeles Angels Oakland Coliseum 27,764
2019* Mike Fiers L 6–9 Seattle Mariners Tokyo Dome 45,787
2020* Frankie Montas ND (W) 6–3 Los Angeles Angels Oakland Coliseum N/A
2021 Chris Bassitt L 1–8 Houston Astros RingCentral Coliseum 10,436
2022 Frankie Montas (2) L 5–9 Philadelphia Phillies Citizens Bank Park 44,232
2023 Kyle Muller ND (W) 2–1 Los Angeles Angels RingCentral Coliseum 26,805
2024 Alex Wood L 0–8 Cleveland Guardians Oakland Coliseum 13,522

Notes

Pitchers

Opening Day starting pitchers listed in descending order by the number of Opening Day starts for the A's in Oakland:

Pitcher Starts Wins Losses No Decisions Winning % Seasons
Dave Stewart 6 4 1 1 .800 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995
Rick Langford 5 0 3 2 .000 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983
Catfish Hunter[a] 3 1 2 0 .333 1968, 1973, 1974
Tim Hudson 3 1 0 2 1.000 2001, 2003, 2004
Blue Moon Odom 2 2 0 0 1.000 1969, 1970
Vida Blue 2 1 1 0 .500 1971, 1975
Mike Torrez 2 2 0 0 1.000 1976, 1977
Chris Codiroli 2 0 2 0 .000 1985, 1986
Barry Zito 2 0 2 0 .000 2005, 2006
Sonny Gray 2 1 0 1 .500 2014, 2015
Kendall Graveman 2 1 0 1 .500 2017, 2018
Frankie Montas 2 0 1 1 .000 2020, 2022
Ken Holtzman 1 0 0 1 .000 1972
Mike Norris 1 1 0 0 1.000 1981
Steve McCatty 1 0 0 1 .000 1984
Curt Young 1 0 0 1 .000 1987
Bob Welch 1 1 0 0 1.000 1993
Bobby Witt 1 0 0 1 .000 1994
Carlos Reyes 1 0 1 0 .000 1996
Ariel Prieto 1 0 0 1 .000 1997
Tom Candiotti 1 0 1 0 .000 1998
Gil Heredia 1 0 1 0 .000 1999
Kevin Appier 1 0 0 1 .000 2000
Mark Mulder 1 1 0 0 1.000 2002
Danny Haren 1 0 1 0 .000 2007
Joe Blanton 1 0 0 1 .000 2008
Dallas Braden 1 0 1 0 .000 2009
Ben Sheets 1 0 0 1 .000 2010
Trevor Cahill 1 0 0 1 .000 2011
Brandon McCarthy 1 0 0 1 .000 2012
Brett Anderson 1 0 1 0 .000 2013
Rich Hill 1 0 1 0 .000 2016
Mike Fiers 1 0 1 0 .000 2019
Chris Bassitt 1 0 1 0 .000 2021
Kyle Muller 1 0 0 1 .000 2023
Alex Wood 1 0 1 0 .000 2024

Footnotes

  • a Catfish Hunter also had one Opening Day start for the Kansas City Athletics in 1966, giving him a total of four Opening Day starts with the franchise. Hunter got the loss in his Opening Day start in 1966.

References

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