Cubs' top starters with multiple Opening Day nods
Kyle Hendricks is going back-to-back.Cubs manager David Ross on Tuesday named Hendricks his Opening Day starter for the second straight season. In 2020, the right-hander tossed a complete game shutout against Milwaukee in the season opener.A year later, he’s joining a decorated list of starting pitchers to make multiple Opening Day starts in a Cubs uniform, a group that includes Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins, Rick Sutcliffe and Jon Lester, his former teammate.“Any time you’re mentioned with those guys, that’s a hell of a treat,” Hendricks said Tuesday. “I didn’t know that, to be honest with you.“That really means a lot to me to be in the same group as those guys and those names.”Who else is part of that group? Glad you asked. Let’s take a look back at those with multiple Opening Day starts with the Cubs in the past 70 years.
Jenkins holds the Cubs’ all-time record with seven Opening Day starts, including six in seven seasons from 1967-73. His final opening outing came in 1983, the last season of his 19-year career.
Jenkins went 2-2 with three no-decisions on Opening Day, and most memorably beat Cardinals ace and fellow future Hall of Famer Bob Gibson at Wrigley Field in 1971.
Jenkins pitched 10 innings to get the win that day. Billy Williams hit a walk-off solo home run off Gibson in the 10th inning.
Zambrano’s six Opening Day starts as a Cub trail only Jenkins, and the club went 3-3 in those games (2005-10). One of those losses came in 2008 — a Kosuke Fukudome ninth-inning home run forced extra innings before the Brewers won 4-3.
That 2008 outing was Zambrano’s best on Opening Day — he threw 6 2/3 shutout innings, allowing just three hits. But his worst (and most memorable) was his last. Zambrano pitched just 1 1/3 innings in 2010, surrendering eight earned runs.
Three of those tallies came via a home run by future Cub Jason Heyward, making his MLB debut at age 20.
Sutcliffe won the NL Cy Young Award in 1984 following a midseason trade to the Cubs from Cleveland. The ensuing season started a five-year stretch where he took the ball on Opening Day, and the Red Baron generally fared well.
Sutcliffe went 2-2 with a no-decision in those five starts, pitching at least seven innings twice (1985, 1986). The Cubs went 3-2 along the way.
In addition to those named, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Charley Root also made five Opening Day starts with the Cubs during the 20th century. Clark Griffith’s fifth came in 1900, and Larry Corcoran made five between 1880-85.
Lester holds the Cubs all-time record for Opening Day starts by a left-hander (four) but liked to and often said pitching in those games “sucks,” including in 2016.
“You’ve got a lot of stuff going on,” Lester added that March. “I think it’s one of the hardest days of the year to pitch personally. It’s a lot of distractions, a lot of things going on.”
On that note, Lester took the ball in the 2015 season opener, a Sunday night game at Wrigley Field. Of course, that was Year 1 of both Lester’s Cubs tenure and the club’s ascension to perennial contenders.
The lefty lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits in a 3-0 Cubs loss. The club went 2-2 in Lester’s four Opening Day starts, losing on a walk-off in 2017 while blowing out Miami and Texas in 2018 and 2019. Lester personally went 1-1 with two no-decisions.
Reuschel was a good pitcher on bad Cubs teams, making his first All-Star team in 1977 in addition to earning a third-place finish in NL Cy Young voting.
His first of four straight Opening Day nods came in 1978, when he took the loss despite seven innings of three-hit, one-run ball.
That was a sign of things to come for Reuschel, who also took the Opening Day loss in 1979, 1980 and 1981. While the former two outings were rough, he threw a sharp seven innings in the '81 opener.
Orval Overall, Lon Warneke, Bob Rush and Larry Jackson also made four Opening Day starts with the Cubs during the 20th century.
We couldn't end this list without mentioning notable Cubs from recent memory (besides Hendricks) with multiple Opening Day starts.
Jon Lieber made three straight opening starts from 2000-02. Kerry Wood followed him in 2003 and 2004, the only Opening Day outings of his career.
Ryan Dempster followed Zambrano's six straight with a pair of his own (2011-12). The Cubs traded Dempster in 2012 for Hendricks, leading to Jeff Samardzija making two straight from 2013-14.
Following his 2015 Cy Young season, Jake Arrieta made his only Opening Day start as a Cub in the 2016 championship season.
Arrieta is back in the Cubs rotation in 2021, though he now trails Hendricks on the Cubs' all-time Opening Day starts list.
