The San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks are playing on the MLB Opening Day schedule and the season opener comes live at 9:45 pm ET and the game from Chase Field in Phoenix is the home opener for the D-Backs, as they played two games against the Dodgers in Australia and on Monday night, Madison Bumgarner and Brandon McCarthy will face off as the starting pitchers.
The Giants come in led by catcher Buster Posey and they are looking to get their swagger back after winning the World Series a couple years ago and they won the division title that season and now they are hoping to get back to the playoffs after missing out last season. Bumgarner comes in for his first Opening Day start for the Giants, while the Diamondbacks come into the game after losing the first two games in the Dodgers series and they come in after finishing second in the division last season with an 81-81 record for the second straight year.
The Diamondbacks and Dodgers should be strong again this season and the Giants are hoping to get into that mix once again after dealing with a high amount of injuries last season. Arizona has some young talent coming up and rookie Chris Owings is starting at shortstop for the team and he comes in after playing very well in spring training. The team comes into the season Paul Goldschmidt at the center and he had a fantastic season in 2013 with 36 home runs and 125 RBIs last season to lead the National League in both categories. McCarthy is starting after Wade Miley and Trevor Cahill pitched in Australia and he is coming in after a very strong spring and is hoping to bounce back after going 5-11 with a 4.53 ERA last season.
The Giants come in after going 76-86 last season and they actually had a winning record in the division and they are hoping to get back into the mix while sending Arizona to an 0-3 start. Matt Cain will pitch the game on Tuesday against Miley and he is looking to have a strong season, while Hunter Pence comes in after leading the team in home runs and RBIs. The Giants ranked eighth in the league in batting average last season and they ranked 21st in runs and the pitching staff is looking to improve after ranking 22nd in ERA and quality starts last year. The D-backs have scored six runs this season in two games and they had a losing record in the division after Patrick Corbin led the team in wins and strikeouts last season.