The San Diego Padres named right-hander Michael King as their Opening Day starter against the visiting Atlanta Braves on March 27.

King was chosen for the assignments over fellow right-handers Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish.

King said he pondered whether he would draw the start but was going to be fine with it no matter how the decision turned out.

“I’m going to hope to set the tone and then tell Dylan, ‘Hey, try to do better than that,’ and that’ll be throughout the whole year,” King said. “We love each other. We care for each other. We want everybody to do their best.”

King, 29, was a breakthrough star last season in his first full season as a starter. He was acquired from the New York Yankees as part of the package for Juan Soto and he fit in well with the Padres.

King struck out 201 in 173 2/3 innings and went 13-9 with a 2.95 ERA. He finished seventh in National League Cy Young balloting.

He also went 2-0 with a 3.575 ERA in two postseason starts.

“We lost a known commodity, a multigenerational talent in Juan, and the return is that we get an Opening Day starter a year later (as well as) a guy that helped us get to and win playoff games,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said.

Cease threw the second no-hitter in franchise history last season and is expected to start San Diego’s second game. Darvish might not be ready for the start of the season after he was shut down due to “general fatigue.”

–Field Level Media