Colorado at San Diego

Colorado opens the new season on the road, a place where they went 27-54 last year - the second-worst road record in baseball. There are still a lot of bad veteran contracts and a shortage of young talent. They were 26th defensively in fielding percentage with a pitching staff that had the worst bullpen (4.85 ERA) and the second-worst starting rotation (5.22 ERA). German Marquez gets the nod after having a 5.00 ERA in 2022. San Diego hit .298 off him last season in 12 innings. San Diego was Top 10 in fielding percentage last year with an offense that was 13th in runs scored, Top 10 in on-base percentage, while the pitching staff was 11th with a 3.81 ERA. They made it to the NLCS and have the third-highest payroll in the league for this season. The offense gets even better with former Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts aboard. Starter Blake Snell posted a 2.19 ERA in the second half last season. He has great stuff and finished the year with 171 strikeouts in 128 innings while holding batters to a .216 average. Play San Diego.