Ranking the 2015 Opening Day pitching matchups

Finally. After five months of offseason and meaningless yet necessary spring training games, meaningful baseball is upon us. The Cardinals and Cubs open the 2015 regular season Sunday night (8 p.m. ET on ESPN2) while the rest of MLB kicks of the season Monday.

As always, Opening Day brings exciting pitching matchups, and we're here to rank 'em. Injuries have robbed us of some great pitchers -- Yu Darvish (Tommy John surgery), Chris Sale (foot), Jose Fernandez (Tommy John surgery) and Alex Cobb (forearm) are unable to start Game 1 of the season -- but there are still plenty of quality matchups this season.

These rankings are totally subjective, of course. It's not just about the quality of the two pitchers involved, though that's obviously very important. The excitement level each pitcher brings to the table factors in as well. Watching a guy throw 95-plus with a nasty breaking ball is more fun than watching a workmanlike innings-eater chucking 89 mph sinkers down in the zone. That's just me. Now for this year's Opening Day pitching matchup rankings ...

1. RHP Adam Wainwright, Cardinals vs. LHP Jon Lester, Cubs

Waino vs. Lester is No. 1, though I wouldn't call this an easy pick for the top spot. Wainwright and Lester have been two of the best pitchers in the game for several years running now, but the pomp and circumstance of Opening Night, the Cards-Cubs rivalry, and this being Lester's first start with the Cubbies breaks the tie with the No. 2 matchup and pushes this into the top spot. Plus it seems very appropriate the best Opening Day pitching matchup comes on the very first night of the regular season. It should be like this every year.

2. RHP James Shields, Padres vs. LHP Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers

This is more No. 1b than No. 2. Kershaw's the best pitcher in the world -- you can save all those "but the postseason!" arguments for someone else. The past four years -- during each of which Kershaw has had the lowest ERA in MLB -- far outweigh a few weeks in October. Kershaw's a historically great pitcher and this matchup is about him, first and foremost. Now, that said, Shields is pretty darn good in his own right. He's making his first start with San Diego after signing a four-year deal that capped their tremendous offseason.

3. RHP Jeff Samardzija, White Sox vs. RHP Yordano Ventura, Royals

Samardzija vs. Ventura is good; Sale vs. Ventura would have been better, no offense to Samardzija. There is no clear No. 3 matchup after the top two, so I'm going Samardzija vs. Ventura because I enjoy watching both pitchers and also because I think this matchup has the highest "two off-the-charts performances" potential. If you asked me to pick the Opening Day matchup most likely to result in 24-plus combined strikeouts for the two starters, I would pick this one.

4. LHP Francisco Liriano, Pirates vs. RHP Johnny Cueto, Reds

It doesn't factor into the rankings, but gosh, the Pirates re-signing Liriano for three years and $39 million sure looks like one of the best deals of the winter. But I digress. Cueto has consistently been one of the best pitchers in baseball the past four years -- he ranks ninth among all pitchers in WAR since 2011 -- yet I feel he never gets the credit he deserves. Dude's an ace in every way. Liriano is very boom or bust. He could dominate or get knocked out in the second inning on any given night. The great starts have far outweighed the disaster starts since he got to Pittsburgh.

5. RHP Julio Teheran, Braves vs. RHP Henderson Alvarez, Marlins

I was very tempted to rank this matchup even higher. These are two of my favorite pitchers to watch right now. Teheran is just filthy, with that big mid-90s fastball and arsenal of offspeed pitches. Alvarez, on the other hand, is so incredibly unconventional. He is the only pitcher in baseball with a novelty first pitch windup ...

... and he has a huge mid-90s fastball, an upper-80s changeup that falls off the table, and a slow low-60s curveball, yet he doesn't miss many bats. Big Hendo's strikeout rate (5.3 K/9) is well below the MLB average. That said, he gets a ton of weak contact and it works (144 ERA+ in 2014). It so unconventional and so fun to watch.

6. RHP Jered Weaver, Angels vs. RHP Felix Hernandez, Mariners

I'm guessing I'll get a lot of hate for ranking this matchup so low. Blame Weaver. Sorry, Angels fans. Felix is totally awesome. Weaver has gradually gone from ace to back-end starter these past four or five years, and while he was never a big velocity guy, he topped out at 86.11 mph in spring training according to PitchFX. That's ... bad. Love Felix. He's great. But Weaver's not someone I want to watch right now. His reputation outweighs who he is in 2015.

7. RHP Phil Hughes, Twins vs. LHP David Price, Tigers

Minnesota's recent free-agent pitching contracts have been a disaster with the exception of Hughes, who had a 112 ERA+ last season and set a new MLB record with an 11.63 K/BB ratio. It's easy to forget he's only 28 and entering what should be the prime of his career after being a top prospect with the Yankees in the mid-2000s. Price is Price. A workhorse of the first order and the hardest-throwing left-handed starter in baseball -- his average 93.3 mph fastball last year was best among quality lefties, slightly ahead of Kershaw (92.9 mph) and Sale (92.8 mph).

8. RHP Bartolo Colon, Mets vs. RHP Max Scherzer, Nationals

We've entered the "one great pitcher, one OK pitcher" portion of our rankings. The Mets opted to start Colon on Opening Day rather than Matt Harvey or Jacob de Grom, which is a shame. Scherzer-Harvey would have been an easy call for the top spot in the these rankings. Scherzer-deGrom would have been no lower than No. 3. But still, there's something fun about watching Colon mosey out to the mound at age 41 and fire fastball after fastball on the black.

Fun fact: This is the only Opening Day matchup this year featuring two former Cy Young award winners. Colon won in 2005, Scherzer in 2013.

9. RHP Corey Kluber, Indians vs. LHP Dallas Keuchel, Astros

Kluber won the AL Cy Young award last season and he has himself a fat new contract extension to show for it. Keuchel didn't have a Kluber year, but he did break out himself in 2014 by posting the highest ground-ball rate (63.5 percent) by a qualified starter in four seasons. You could call both of these guys late bloomers -- Keuchel is 27 and Kluber will turn 29 on Frday -- so it's fitting they're matched up on Opening Day.

10. RHP Clay Buchholz, Red Sox vs. LHP Cole Hamels, Phillies

I am certain there are a whole lot of Red Sox fans out there wishing Hamels was starting for their favorite team on Opening Day, not against them. Hamels is truly elite, arguably the best non-Kershaw lefty on the planet, and there is a long summer of trade rumors coming. Buchholz is one of the most enigmatic pitchers in the game. Here are his ERA+ marks from 2010-14: 187, 124, 92, 237 (!), 72. Which Buchholz will show up on Opening Day?

11. LHP Madison Bumgarner, Giants vs. RHP Josh Collmenter, Diamondbacks

Bumgarner is obviously very good, but he has gotten a bit overrated due to his postseason performance last year. Don't get me wrong, he deserves all the credit in the world for what he did in October. He was historically great. That said, Bumgarner had a 117 ERA+ during the regular season, on par with guys like Edinson Volquez (117 ERA+) and Rick Porcello (116 ERA+). Over the past three seasons he has a 124 ERA+, same as Travis Wood and Jeremy Hellickson. He's an above-average regular-season starter and an elite postseason starter. Collmenter drags this matchup down too.

12. RHP Drew Hutchison, Blue Jays vs. RHP Masahiro Tanaka, Yankees

Tanaka is New York's first non-CC Sabathia Opening Day starter since 2008 (Chien-Ming Wang). He made it through spring training healthy, which is more than many people expected given his elbow woes in the second half of last year. Hutchison gets the nod over grizzled vets like R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle. At age 24, he is Toronto's youngest Opening Day starter since Todd Stottlemyre in 1990.

13. RHP Chris Tillman, Orioles vs. RHP Chris Archer, Rays

Similar pitcher alert! It doesn't get much closer than this, folks:

2014 Tillman: 3.34 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 2.27 K/BB, 2.4 WAR
2014 Archer: 3.33 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 2.40 K/BB, 2.5 WAR

And they're both 26-year-olds named Chris! Freaky.

14. RHP Yovani Gallardo, Rangers vs. RHP Sonny Gray, Athletics

Another matchup hurt by injury -- Darvish vs. Gray would have ranked much higher, possibly top five. Believe it or not, Gallardo has the second-longest active Opening Day start streak. This will be his sixth consecutive Game 1 nod after starting the past five for the Brewers. (Felix is about to start his seventh straight Opening Day. Weaver is also going to start his sixth straight.) Gray has quickly developed a reputation for being a big game pitcher -- see Game 162 last year or Game 2 of the 2013 ALDS -- and I feel like this matchup should be higher, but I'm not sure which matchups should be ranked lower.

15. RHP Kyle Kendrick, Rockies vs. RHP Kyle Lohse, Brewers

Two pitch-to-contact guys, one of whom (Kendrick) has an 80 ERA+ the past two years. On the other hand, Lohse is really good! But he's not particularly fun to watch like, say, Kershaw or Ventura. I can't imagine many non-Rockies and non-Brewers fans will rush to MLB.tv to watch this one. No offense, guys.