Dodgers 2024 home opener comes as Ohtani investigation continues

LOS ANGELES - It's time for Dodgers baseball! 

After an offseason of big spending on big stars in hopes of reversing recent playoff failures, the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday open their 2024 home schedule with an afternoon game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Tyler Glasnow, whom the Dodgers signed to a five-year contract extension for $136.5 million after they acquired him from the Tampa Bay Rays in a four-player trade Dec. 16, will make his second start for the Dodgers, opposing fellow right-hander Miles Mikolas.

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The signing of Shohei Ohtani to the largest contract in professional sports history -- 10 years for $700 million with $680 million deferred -- will give the Dodgers three MVPs at the top of their lineup.

Leadoff hitter Mookie Betts was the 2018 American League MVP when he played for the Boston Red Sox. Ohtani, the unanimous selection as AL MVP in 2021 and 2023 when he played for the Los Angeles Angels, will bat second, followed by Freddie Freeman, the 2020 National League MVP when he played for the Atlanta Braves.

The Dodgers' home opener comes eight days after the team fired Ohtani's interpreter amid allegations he stole millions of dollars from the Japanese slugger to place bets with a purported illegal bookmaker.

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The Dodgers' second-costliest offseason acquisition, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, is scheduled to pitch Saturday in the third game of the four-game series, seeking to rebound after allowing five runs and four hits, walking one batter and hitting another in one inning in a 15-11 loss to the San Diego Padres last Thursday in Seoul, South Korea.

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The Dodgers signed the Japanese right-hander Dec. 27 to a 12-year, $325 million contract, the largest deal for a pitcher in terms of years and value in MLB history.

Glasnow was the starter for the Dodgers' 5-2 season-opening victory over the Padres March 20, allowing two runs and two hits in five innings, walking four and striking out three and not figuring in the decision. The Dodgers trailed 2-1 when he left the game, then scored four runs in the eighth inning for the victory.

"The whole day was kind of a grind," Glasnow said. "Just timing and everything just wasn't my day, I guess but I was happy that I was able to stay within myself and get out of that inning, and then kind of mitigate the damage."

The 30-year-old Glasnow, a 2011 graduate of William S. Hart High School in Santa Clarita, was 10-7 in 2023 with 162 strikeouts in 120 innings in 21 starts in 2023, setting career highs for victories, strikeouts, starts and innings pitched for a major league career that began in 2016 with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Glasnow is 0-2 with a 2.45 ERA in six appearances against the Cardinals, including two starts in 2016. He last faced St. Louis in 2018.

The 35-year-old Mikolas was 9-13 with a 4.78 ERA in 35 starts in 2023. He is 1-2 in seven appearances against the Dodgers, including four starts. He had a no decision in his most recent appearance against the Dodgers, allowing three runs and six hits in seven innings, in a 6-5 St. Louis victory May 20 at Dodger Stadium. The score was tied 3-3 when Mikolas left the game.

Mikolas will be starting on opening day for the second consecutive season and third time in a major league career that began in 2012 with the Padres.

The Dodgers were 4-3 against the Cardinals in 2023 including a 3-0 record at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers were 100-62 in 2023 and won the NL West for the 10th time in 11 seasons. But they lost their first postseason series for a second consecutive season -- getting swept in three games by the Arizona Diamondbacks in an NL Division Series.

The Cardinals were last in the five-team NL Central in 2023 with a 71- 91 record, their first sub-.500 season since 2007, their worst record since 1995 and first last-place finish since 1990 when they played in the six-team NL East.

Pregame ceremonies will begin at 12:30 p.m. and include a flyover by a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker from March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County and three F-15s from the Fresno Air National Guard Base. A United States Armed Forces Joint Color Guard will present the nation's colors.

Changes to Dodger Stadium since last season include the move of the Japanese stone lantern originally gifted to the organization in 1965 to the stadium's Top Deck.

It was previously located along the edge of the Dodger Stadium property beyond the former 76 station now used as an event space.

The 8-foot tall, 3,921-pound Kasuga-style stone lantern was presented to the Dodgers organization by Japanese sports columnist Sotaro Suzuki, who had worked with team president Walter O'Malley on the Brooklyn Dodgers' 1956 Goodwill Tour to Japan.

Suzuki wanted to give the Dodgers and O'Malley a gift for inviting him and his wife, Toku, as guests to the Dodger' first game at the stadium on April 9, 1962. In 1965, Suzuki contacted the Shimizugumi Stone Works Co. to build the lantern, which was sculpted in Okazaki City.

The lantern was then shipped to Los Angeles in six sections in the winter of 1965.