Padres' Nick Pivetta: Receives Opening Day assignment
The Padres announced Pivetta as their starting pitcher for Thursday's season opener versus the Tigers at Petco Park.
The decision on an Opening Day starter came down to Pivetta and Michael King, with the former earning the nod on the back of his career-best season in 2025. The 33-year-old righty closed the regular season with a 2.87 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 190:50 K:BB across 181.2 frames, then went on to strike out nine batters and allow two earned runs in five innings in his lone postseason start. Per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, Pivetta dealt with some arm fatigue in the early stages of spring training but was able to get stretched out to 71 pitches and four innings Friday in his final start of camp. He should be ready to handle something close to a typical workload in the opener.
