Rangers at Angels
Darvish prefers to focus on the hitter, and that's fine with Rangers manager Jeff Banister, as long as the baserunners don't wind up crossing the plate.
Well, some of them have. Of those 26 who stole successfully against Darvish, five eventually scored.
In his last start on Saturday, Darvish had a first in his career: He picked off a baserunner, getting Oakland's Rajai Davis straying too far off second base.
Darvish also is dealing with another first, this season marking the first time in his major league career he is winless through his first two starts. He is 0-1 with a 3.65 ERA.
He has been good against the Angels, however, going 7-2 with a 3.78 ERA in 13 starts. The seven wins are the most Darvish has had against any team.
Ricky Nolasco will start for the Angels. Like Darvish, he is looking for his first win. The Angels' Opening Day starter is 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA in his two starts, and he is 1-1 with a 3.75 ERA in two career starts against Texas.
Jonathan Lucroy (5-for-12) and Carlos Gomez (4-for-9) are the Rangers with the most success against Nolasco, whose contributions will be vital this year for the Angels if they are to compete for the American League West title.
Garrett Richards is on the disabled list, Tyler Skaggs has struggled in his two starts, Matt Shoemaker is returning from a fractured skull and Jesse Chavez has a history of fading as the season progresses.
That leaves the Angels depending on consistency from Nolasco, who showed he could be that pitcher when he averaged 12.8 wins per season from 2008 to 2013, mostly with the Miami Marlins. He joined the Angels last season in a trade from the Minnesota Twins.
Nolasco has another reason to stay healthy and put up innings this season: If he throws at least 202 1/3 innings, his $13 million salary for 2018 will be guaranteed.
Dodgers at Cubs
The Chicago Cubs left-hander, who started 34 games for the Dodgers in 2015-16, takes the mound against his former team in the finale of a three-game series at Wrigley Field.
But Anderson (0-0, 1.59 ERA) won't necessarily rely on past knowledge as he pitches against Los Angeles.
Anderson had no decision after allowing one run on five hits while walking one and striking out four over 5 2/3 innings last Friday night in his Cubs debut at Milwaukee.
The Dodgers (5-4) counter with left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu (0-1, 3.86 ERA), who appears to be healthy after making just one start since 2014.
The Cubs (5-3) seek to wrap up the Dodgers series with a win after Los Angeles claimed a 2-0 victory on Wednesday.
Anderson went 10-9 with a 3.69 ERA in 2015. He was sidelined much of 2016 with a bad back, working four games between Aug. 14 and Sept. 29. Anderson went 1-2 with an 11.91 ERA over 11 1/3 innings pitched.
Other injuries over his career have included a strained right oblique, stress fracture in his right foot and a broken left index finger. The Cubs signed Anderson, a free agent, in January.
Ryu, 30, is in his fifth Dodgers season and is coming off a single-start season in 2016. He missed all of 2015 and the beginning of 2016 following shoulder surgery before making his lone start on July 7, giving up six runs on eight hits over 4 2/3 innings in a 6-0 Los Angeles loss.
He went on the disabled list following that start with elbow inflammation and did not pitch again the rest of the season.
Ryu was 14-7 with a 3.38 ERA in 2014 -- his last full season. He was 14-8 with a 3.00 ERA in his 2013 rookie season and finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting.
Mets at Marlins
Lagares does play, it could impact the pitching matchup of Mets right-hander Robert Gsellman (0-1, 4.50 ERA) and Marlins left-hander Wei-Yin Chen (1-0, 1.50 ERA).
Lagares' presence in center field would help the odds of Gsellman putting up zeros on the board.
Conversely, Lagares offers little pop in comparison to the Mets' top four outfield batters, including three who each hit 30 or more homers last season: Yoenis Cespedes in left, Curtis Granderson in center and Jay Bruce in right.
In addition, Mets' fourth outfielder, Michael Conforto, possesses considerable pop, and indeed his roster spot is in jeopardy if/when New York activates Lagares.
Gsellman was brilliant as a rookie last season, saving the injury-ravaged Mets rotation by making seven starts late in the year. He went 4-2 with a 2.42 ERA.
This year, Gsellman is off to a bit of a slow start. He lost to the Marlins last week, allowing six hits and three runs in five innings.
Gsellman, 23, has the long hair to fit in perfectly with two of his rotation mates, Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom, but he doesn't have their explosive stuff. Gsellman's fastball tops out at 94 mph, not 100 such as Syndergaard.
But when Gsellman is right, he gets a lot of ground-ball outs, and that is what he will try to do to the Marlins.
Meanwhile, Chen, who had a fairly miserable 2016 season after signing a five-year, $80 million contract, got off to a great start last week, beating the Mets 7-2 by allowing just seven hits and one run in six innings.
Chen also got the first hit of his career, snapping a 0-for-51 drought that dated to his rookie season with the Baltimore Orioles in 2012.
The hit was big news considering that, since 1900, Chen owned the fourth-longest drought to start a career.
When he got the hit, teammate Dee Gordon, who was on deck, made sure to grab the ball and keep it for posterity.
Chen, who used Gordon's bat to get his infield hit, wasn't even sure if the play was going to be ruled an error on the Mets shortstop.
When Chen is right, he is confusing batters with a variety of pitches. But his fastball was down a couple of ticks last season, averaging a career-low 90.7 mph.
And just as Lagares could be a factor in Thursday's game defensively -- assuming he is activated -- Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton could make a mark with his bat.
He slugged his first two homers of the season Wednesday in Miami's 5-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves.
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