SF Giants may choose to get creative with starting rotation in first week of season

The regular season starts on Wednesday for the SF Giants and the team has locked in its first three starting pitchers of the season. According to Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle, Logan Webb will take the ball on Opening Night against the New York Yankees and Robbie Ray will take the ball on Friday followed by Tyler Mahle on Saturday. After that it becomes a little less clear.

We know that Adrian Houser and Landen Roupp will round out the rest of the rotation, but we do not yet know who will be the No. 4 starter and who will be the No. 5 starter. Rubin noted that because the Giants have two early off days in the season, Webb could start the team's fourth game of the season on March 30 versus the San Diego Padres since he would be pitching on normal rest.

That may not be a bad idea since it's typically best practice to try to get as many starts out of Webb as possible. Maybe the Giants will want to be a bit more careful though with their ace coming off his great showing for Team USA because he isn't used to throwing such high-intensity innings in March.

SF Giants may choose to start Webb twice in team's first four games

Either way, the Giants do have options given the unorthodox nature of their schedule. They will be the only MLB game on Wednesday so all eyes will be on Webb as he takes on Aaron Judge and the Yankees.

He did the exact same thing in 2023, taking the ball on Opening Day against the Yankees except that time it was in New York. Webb had a bit of a tough outing, allowing four earned runs including an early homer to Judge which was an absolute gut punch after the offseason was dominated by rumors that Judge might sign with the Giants.

San Francisco has little to no question marks with Webb entering the season. Instead, the rest of the rotation provides cause for concern. Ray was an All-Star last season in the first half but looked like a different guy by the end of the year. Can he remain consistent for all of 2026?

Mahle was great in 16 starts last season with the Texas Rangers, posting a 2.18 ERA in 87 innings of work. Health is a big concern as the last time he made over 20 starts in a season was back in 2022.

Houser pitched well for the Chicago White Sox last season, but after he was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays his numbers fell off.

As for Roupp, he looked great when he was healthy last season but he dealt with an elbow and knee injury which shut him down.

There are a lot of unknowns which is why it may not be the worst idea for the Giants to get a little creative and milk one extra start out of Webb early on.