Game #1: A’s at Mariners Opening Day Game Thread

Play ball!

It’s finally here! The Athletics’ 2025 season is mere minutes away from beginning as the club kicks things off with a trip north to Seattle. There they will take on their division rival Mariners, an upstart team looking to make it to the postseason after finishing one game back of the playoffs. Every game counts, and the A’s love playing spoiler. Let the Sacramento era commence.

On the bump for the Green & Gold is expensive offseason addition Luis Severino. As the recipient of the most expensive contract the team has ever doled out, expectations are certainly high for the 31-year old entering his 10th major league season. The right-hander has had trouble staying healthy in the past but he was an absolute workhorse last year for the New York Mets, tossing 182 innings over 31 starts. That’s exactly what the A’s brought Severino aboard to be, someone the team can rely on every fifth day and give the squad a chance to win. Fingers crossed he gets his Athletics career started on the right foot with a solid start tonight. He’s just 2-2 with a 4.24 ERA in four starts lifetime against the M’s. Seattle’s lineup isn’t especially fierce but the energy at Safeco Field will be electric for Opening Day. These are the games the Athletics paid him a boatload of cash for.

The Athletics’ Opening Day lineup looks like this:

As you may have noticed, the top four of the lineup is exactly what the team has been telegraphing over the past couple weeks as spring training wound down. Budding star Lawrence Butler will kick the season off for the team as he leads the game off, and he’s be followed by 2023 All-Star Brent Rooker, improving center fielder JJ Bleday, and slugging catcher Shea Langeliers will bat cleanup tonight.

The rest of the lineup and how it shakes out has been something fans have been wondering about for some time. And they’ve been looking for as many clues during camp to see how manager Mark Kotsay plans to utilize his other players. Well now we have an answer. In a surprising move the team will send right-handed hitter Miguel Andujar to left field to take on the Mariners’ right-handed starting pitcher, turning away from the lefty-swinging Seth Brown. A surprise to be sure, but not the only one in the lineup for tonight’s opener.

We all surely expected lefty first baseman Tyler Soderstrom to be in there tonight, and the same goes for veteran third baseman Gio Urshela and young shortstop Jacob Wilson. The surprise comes at second base, where the Athletics will turn to rookie infielder Max Muncy. The former 1st-round pick impressed enough in spring training that when regular second baseman Zack Gelof went down to injury, the team didn’t hesitate to call up the 22-year old. Now he will make his Major League debut on baseball’s biggest stage on Opening Day, starting at second base over veteran and fellow infielder Luis Urias. Fun fact: Muncy and Wilson played together in high school, lining up exactly where they’ll be for tonight’s contest. Full circle moment for those two!

The Athletics’ opponent on the mound for tonight is Seattle ace righty Logan Gilbert. The 27-year old has been everything the Mariners wanted when they drafted him in the 1st-round way back in 2018, and many national names are calling Gilbert a dark horse candidate for the AL Cy Young Award. The Athletics could put him in an early hole on that front with a strong day against the right-hander. In 12 career games against the A’s he’s 3-1 with a 3.09 ERA, so he’s had our number in the past. That win total lets you know how little run support he’s been getting, and we can expect more of the same this season.

Here’s how Seattle will line up behind Gilbert for Opening Day against the A’s:

No real surprises here. Star center fielder Julio Rodriguez will bat second behind Seattle right fielder Victor Robles, with power-hitting catcher Cal Raleigh (who just got an extension from the Mariners) will bat in the 3-hole, with Randy Arozarena hitting cleanup. Severino can handle them but any of those guys can take him deep if he makes one mistake.

Another season is about to start. Time to see how it all unfolds. It’s time to play ball! Let’s go A’s!