Happy Opening Day!
The 2023 Major League Baseball season begins Thursday, and ESPN fantasy baseball's season begins that day as well with an expanded, 11-day "Week 1" scoring period, running from Opening Day through Sunday, April 9. Leagues with weekly lineup deadlines will lock lineups for the entirety of the scoring period at the start of each team's first scheduled game, and will not allow changes to take effect again until April 10. Additionally, head-to-head matchups will span the entire 11-day period.
Despite this being an 11-day scoring period, which gives some starting pitchers a chance to work as many as three times (Opening Day, then on four days' rest on April 4, then again on four days' rest on April 9), not a single pitcher is currently slated to do so. Out of the 151 starting pitchers scheduled to pitch in the opening scoring period,133 of them will work twice, so be sure to lean on the quality of matchups rather than the quantity.
