Colorado Rockies: Kyle Freeland “shocked” to be Opening Day starter

Colorado Rockies GM Bill Schmidt broke a few pieces of news on Friday on the AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain broadcast of the night game between the Rockies and the Seattle Mariners. The biggest news that he broke, though, was that Kyle Freeland will be the team’s Opening Day starter next Friday at Coors Field against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It will be Freeland’s second Opening Day start and his first since 2019.

Kyle Freeland will be the Opening Day starter for the Colorado Rockies

Kyle Freeland will be the Opening Day starter for the Colorado Rockies for the first time since 2019. It’s a bit surprising that the Rockies aren’t going with Germán Márquez since he has pitched better than Freeland in Spring Training and Márquez has also started each of the last two Opening Days.

It wasn’t just surprising to outsiders but it was surprising to Freeland too.

“I was pretty shocked — I didn’t expect to get that news when [Rockies manager] Buddy [Black] told me, but I’m happy,” Freeland told Thomas Harding of MLB.com. “That will be my second Opening Day start. I’m excited to take it on and get the season rolling.”

Things have changed a lot since Freeland last made an Opening Day start for the Rockies. In 2019, the Rockies opened the season against the Miami Marlins in Miami and here’s how they stacked their lineup.

Other than Freeland, only Charlie Blackmon and Ryan McMahon are still with the team.

Freeland will be starting against the Dodgers on Opening Day and when he made his MLB debut back in 2017, he pitched in the home opener against the Dodgers. Take a look at that lineup.

Five years and one day after making his MLB debut, Freeland will have a lineup that will only have one other person in the same lineup: Charlie Blackmon. But, perhaps, the lineup behind him will be able to do the same thing: beat the Dodgers and be good enough to reach the playoffs.