Athletics Officially Name Opening Day Starter

MLB Opening Day is finally approaching once again, with fans full of excitement over the start of a new year. The Oakland Athletics will open the season at home against the Houston Astros on Thursday, April 1.

Manager Bob Melvin has landed on his Opening Day starter for their divisional clash with Houston.

Athletics Opening Day Starting Pitcher 2021

Veteran Chris Bassitt will take the mound for the A's next Thursday. The 32-year-old had an impressive 2020 campaign that gave him the inside track on the starting job.

Bassitt finished eighth in AL Cy Young voting last season after going 5-2 with a career-low 2.29 ERA over 11 starts. He racked up 55 strikeouts while allowing just 6 homeruns and 17 walks for Oakland.

It's quite the full-circle moment for Bassitt, who spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.

After 10 wins in 2019, he went on to impress in 2020 and earned the Opening Day nod. He'll square off against Astros ace Zack Greinke when these teams meet to start 2021 campaign.

Oakland heads into the season as a threat to repeat as AL West champs and are currently in a tie for the 10th-best odds to win the World Series, per FanDuel Sportsbook's MLB futures.

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Isaiah De Los Santos is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Isaiah De Los Santos also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username zayyy05328. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.