Mariners Game #1 Preview, 3/30/23: CLE at SEA

Hello, friends! The grass at T-Mobile is a glowing emerald, ushers are shining up the seats ringing the field, and the sun is shining in a soft blue sky dotted with puffy clouds. As I’m typing this, Kolten Wong, Ty France, and Sam Haggerty are out taking some early BP, and Perry Hill, who seems to just want to be involved with his infielders somehow, leans on a bat out in right field. Baseball is back at T-Mobile Park, and we couldn’t be more excited to start another season with you all.

Tonight, Luis Castillo will take the mound as the Seattle Mariners’ most exciting Opening Day starter since prime Félix. It will be Castillo’s third career Opening Day start, and I hope I’m not being presumptuous to say it will probably be his most exciting, as well. Castillo will be facing a Cleveland Guardians team that’s favored many places to win the AL Central, and it’s not hard to see why: they’re a young team that makes a ton of contact and is aggressive on the basepaths, seemingly custom-built for MLB’s new rules. They’re also a particularly interesting matchup for the Mariners, who are also a young team centered around pitching with some pesky hitters and a few big thumpers in their lineup. For a more in-depth look at these two teams, make sure to check out the series preview here.

Tonight’s Lineups:

Notes from Scott Servais’s pre-game presser:

• He may be La Piedra, but don’t expect Luis Castillo to rock out for seven innings tonight. As you might have seen from the DeGrom - Nola fiasco earlier (10 combined runs surrendered!), pitchers are still ramping up to full-season action, and Servais won’t be pushing Castillo for 100 pitches. “It’s so critical to keep those guys healthy.”
• Tommy La Stella gets the nod tonight as Servais likes the way he matches up against Bieber’s breaking balls. “Tommy knows how to make adjustments, he’ll put the bat on the ball.”
• Injury updates: Dylan Moore will remain in Arizona until he’s ready to rejoin the team. Servais seemed optimistic it wouldn’t be much longer. Taylor Trammell had just begun swinging a bat when the team left Arizona; Servais estimates he’s about two weeks away from getting back into game action.
• Servais took some time to talk about yesterday’s skills competition and open team workout as a really positive experience, saying how important it is to give young fans an opportunity to come out and get close to the game. Agreed, Scott.
• Scott, when talking about Opening Day and how it represents a fresh start: “There’s only one day a year I miss playing: this day.” Big first day of school vibes, here.

Tonight’s game info:

If you’re heading down to T-Mobile Park to catch the game, definitely make sure to check out our guide to T-Mobile park as well as our guide to food at the park for all our best insider tips and tricks, as well as a rundown on what’s new at the park this season. If you weren’t able to score tickets to tonight’s sold-out game, there are currently some as low as $32 on Gametime.

If you’re not planning on attending tonight, you can watch today’s game live on ROOT Sports or MLB TV, if you’re out-of-area. Dave Sims and Mike Blowers will have the call there. Over on 710 Seattle Sports, Rick Rizzs and Aaron Goldsmith will handle the radio duties.