ST. LOUIS — Twins ace Pablo López looks forward to the iconic Opening Day pageantry everyone has come to expect at Busch Stadium. Just as long as the St. Louis Cardinals stick to the schedule.
The Cardinals famously pull out all of the stops for the first game of the season, no matter if it's the Clydesdale horses trotting around the warning track, or a sizable collection of the team's hall-of-famers who are, clad in Cardinals red blazers and driven around the ballpark in red convertibles. Ozzie Smith might even do one of his famous backflips. OK, he's 70 years old, so probably not.
But it's definitely going to be a lot of red. And it's going to be a sight.
"There's probably not a better place to have Opening Day," López said. "It's such a baseball town, there's so much history here. I see there are going to be a lot of legends here."
López cannot wait and, because he got the play-by-play rundown ahead of time, he won't be standing around wondering when the ump will shout "play ball."
López said he asked pitching coach Pete Maki to procure a detailed, minute-by-minute itinerary of what the Cardinals have in store. He'll miss some of the show preparing for the game, but López does need to know, for example, what time the national anthem will be played so that he can stop throwing and pay the proper respect.
"I'm very, like, structure oriented," López said.
López being a consummate preparer is a big reason Twins manager Rocco Baldelli tabbed López to start the opener for a third straight season. Baldelli acknowledges the importance of history and ceremony when it comes to Opening Day, but he picked López to start for the same reasons he would if it were the first game of a playoff series. Or why teams put the best hitters toward the top of the lineup.
"Opening Day is very ceremonial, but it's not that with Pablo," Baldelli said. "You want to make sure you have everything lined up to start the season. You have to earn the opportunity to pitch in that game."
The significance of the duty is not lost on the pitcher.
"Getting the nod means the world to me," López said. "Somebody has to pitch the first game of the season and, as a starting pitcher, you always want to set the tone."
In addition to setting the tone for a Twins team trying to get back to the playoffs, López also wants to make his grandmother happy. López said Luisa López notified him that the game will be broadcast live back home in Venezuela and she will be watching on TV.
"That gives me a lot of motivation," López said. "You always want to make grandma proud."
No doubt. But grandparents aside, the Twins feel a deeper motivation and urgency to start the 2025 season strong, given the disappointments of '24 when they went 82-80 and missed the playoffs. In the offseason and Spring Training, the Twins made it a point to change how it prepared in order for everyone to play their best. Opening Day is the first test to see if the new methods will make a significant impact. López expects the pitching staff to lead there by example.
"We had such a good camp about building team chemistry, about establishing the philosophy of who the Twins are as a pitching staff," López said. "It's about setting that tone and letting the whole league know who the Twins are.
"We're professional enough to hold everyone accountable."
A significant influencer of López's career, right-hander Sonny Gray, is schedule to start for the Cardinals. Two years ago when the Twins won the AL Central, they were teammates.
"He taught me a lot, how to grow as a competitor," López said. "I admire the way Sonny competes, the way that he approaches every game, knowing that his stuff is his stuff, and he's going to operate with what he's got."
On that note, Gray has been getting over an illness in Spring Training that kept the Cards wondering if he would be ready for Thursday. Gray has been working out at Busch Stadium but admits his velocity is not yet where he wants it.
Neither pitcher had their best spring results in Florida, but López warned not to be fooled by what happens in the Grapefruit circuit. Box scores only start to have real meaning come Opening Day.