Cubs avoid a familiar face as Arizona Diamondbacks name their Opening Day starter

The Chicago Cubs have one week to get over their jet lag from their trip home after being swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in Japan.

The Cubs are 0-2 on the season but will have another week of Cactus League games before resuming their regular-season schedule. On their second Opening Day of the season, the Cubs will play the Arizona Diamondbacks on March 27.

It will be interesting to see how Craig Counsell decides to line up his rotation for the four-game series against the Diamondbacks. Both Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele, the Cubs' starters in the games against the Dodgers, will be fully rested and ready to go. It certainly is possible that Counsell will run it back with Imanaga and Steele as the first two starting pitchers in the Cubs' rotation followed by Jameson Taillon and Matthew Boyd.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Diamondbacks revealed their Opening Day starting pitcher. In a surprising move, the Diamondbacks named Zac Gallen as their Opening Day starter against the Cubs next Thursday.

The Cubs will avoid Corbin Burnes on their next Opening Day of the 2025 season

Under any other circumstances, there would be no surprised to Gallen getting the Opening Day start for the Diamondbacks. After all, Gallen is a perennial National League Cy Young Award candidate. However, the Diamondback spent $210MM this offseason on Corbin Burnes. Given the deal and Burnes' overall track record, there was an expectation that he would be the Diamondbacks' Opening Day starter. The Cubs, undoubtedly, will face Burnes next week but it won't be on Opening Day.

In six career starts against the Cubs, Gallen has had the upper hand in his matchups against the Cubs. Gallen has a career ERA of 2.60 in starts against the Cubs with a 3-1 record.

Meanwhile, Burnes hasn’t been as hard for Cubs’ hitters to solve in recent seasons as he was at the start of his career with the Milwaukee Brewers. Dating back to 2023, the Cubs have touched Burnes up for 8 runs on 21 hits and 5 walks the last three times they’ve faced the former Cy Young Award winner.