The Texas Rangers waste no time seeing what they have in Jacob deGrom.

The ace right-hander, who signed a five-year, $185 million deal with Rangers during the offseason, faces Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola when the 2023 Major League Baseball season begins next Thursday.

All 30 clubs will be back in action that day for the first time since 1968.

This is deGrom’s fourth career start on Opening Day. The two-time Cy Young winner received the nod while fielding for the New York Mets in 2019-21. Texas was wary of deGrom during spring training after the 34-year-old reported a strain in his left side right before team training began in February.

So solid was his work over the past month that Rangers didn’t hesitate to make deGrom the seventh other pitcher to get the ball on the team’s opening day in the past seven years.

“We had to hold him back a bit in the beginning, but we think he’s ready,” said new Texas coach Bruce Bochy. “We have the day off after opening day so we can cover him. We’re not looking for him to really get deeply involved in the game or anything. So it all just makes sense in the world to us.”

Nola, on the other hand, is a staple of the Phillies. The 29-year-old will start for Philadelphia on the first day of the game for the sixth time. Only Hall of Famers Robin Roberts (12) and Steve Carlton (10) have started more season openers in Phillies history.

A total of eight Cy Young winners will take the mound on March 30, including Corey Kluber, who will make his first start for Boston when the Red Sox take on Baltimore. Kluber is the first newcomer to start Boston’s first game since David Price in 2016.

Miami’s Sandy Alcantara will become the first Marlins pitcher to start four straight openers when he takes on three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer and the New York Mets. Alcantara, a unanimous pick for the NL Cy Young in 2022, will break with Josh Beckett (2003-05) and Josh Johnson (2010-12) for the most opening-day starts in club history. Scherzer is one of five pitchers since 1900 to have had 10 or more opening-day strikeouts at least three times in their career.

This is the second time in as many years that Cy Young winners will compete on Opening Day. Shane Bieber from Cleveland and Zack Greinke from Kansas City met last spring.

Angels star Shohei Ohtani, who just guided Japan to the World Baseball Classic title, will start for Los Angeles on his second straight opening day. Ohtani set career bests in wins (15), ERA (2.33), strikeouts (216), and innings (166) last year. Ohtani and the Angels begin the season against Oakland left-hander Kyle Muller, who will make his first start on Opening Day.

New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole will join CC Sabathia, Jack Chesbro and Mel Stottlemyre as the only pitcher in team history to attend four straight opening days when the Yankees host the San Francisco Giants.

Framber Valdez will start for World Series Champion Houston when the Astros host the Chicago White Sox.

The youngest starter on Opening Day will be Hunter Greene from Cincinnati. The strong 23-year-old will take on Mitch Keller and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Greene hit 164 hitters in 125 2/3 innings last season as a rookie. Greene also played 7 1/3 no-hit innings against the Pirates this past April, only to accept the loss.

Washington’s Patrick Corbin is hoping the opening-day start will result in a better season than what he experienced in 2021 and 2022. Corbin led the majors the past two seasons 9-16 with a 5.82 ERA in 2021, then 6-19 with a 6.31 ERA last year. But with Stephen Strasburg still out through injury and top contender Cade Cavalli out for the year following Tommy John’s surgery, the Nationals are turning to one of the few remaining portions of the 2019 World Series-winning team.

HOSKINS TO GET SECOND OPINIONS

Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins will seek a second opinion on his injured left knee, but the team believes Hoskins will miss the entire 2023 season.

General manager Dave Dombrowski said while Hoskins is being reevaluated he would be “shocked” if the 30-year-old Hoskins didn’t need surgery to repair a torn cruciate ligament.

Hoskins injured his knee Thursday while setting up a grounder. The Phillies will turn to Darick Hall to replace Hoskins. Hall, 27, hit .250 in 2022 with nine home runs and 16 RBIs in 41 games as a rookie.

“I feel comfortable saying that we like Darick Hall a lot,” Dombrowski said. “We think he’s ready to step up and become a big league player.”

GO THE EXTRA MILE(S).

No more contract uncertainty for St. Louis Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas. The veteran right-hander signed a three-year, $55.75 million deal with the Cardinals that will run through the 2025 season.

The new deal replaces his current deal, a four-year deal signed in February 2019 that covered the 2020-23 seasons and was set to expire this fall. Mikolas receives a $5 million signing bonus, payable July 1, and earns $18.75 million in 2023 and $16 million in each of the two subsequent seasons. Several award awards are available to Mikolas, including $250,000 for winning a Cy Young.

Mikolas is scheduled to start the second opening day of his career next Thursday when the Cardinals host Toronto. Mikolas went 12-13 with a 3.29 ERA last season while helping St. Louis to the NL Central title.

“Miles is among the best pitchers in the game today and has continued to provide us with a consistent presence both in the rotation and in the clubhouse,” St. Louis general manager John Mozeliak said in a statement.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Gerrit Cole’s head was bowed as he walked toward the New York Yankees dugout at the conclusion of his final spring practice session on Friday when something — or someone else — caught his eye: Cole’s 2-year-old son, Caden.

The younger Cole made his way to the railing next to the shelter, forcing Cole to immediately switch from his typically hyper-intense hilltop behavior to good at just being a father. He patted Caden on the head and later got on one knee to chat with Caden’s younger brother Everett – born in January – and his wife Amy nearby.

“This is honestly one of the best moments of my career,” Cole told the YES Network after conceding a run in 5 2/3 innings with no walks and three strikeouts. “That was really something special. I look forward to more of these moments.”

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AP sports writers Dan Gelston and Stephen Hawkins and AP national writer Howard Fendrich contributed to this report.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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Crime, homelessness and Democratic divisions over the issues took center stage Tuesday as a liberal prosecutor in San Francisco was recalled and seven states held primaries that helped mold each party’s image heading into November’s fight for control of Congress, statehouses and major cities across the country.

The recall of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin (D) — whom critics called too lenient — came as angst over liberal leaders’ approach to public safety also loomed large in a contest for Los Angeles mayor, where Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif .) and billionaire businessman Rick Caruso are projected to advance to a runoff in November. Caruso, a former Republican, has pitched himself as a different kind of Democrat who will fix long-simmering crises in the nation’s second-largest city.

Soaring inflation, gun violence and abortion rights were on voters’ minds Tuesday as they headed to the polls in California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota. Republicans are seizing on rising costs and crime to try to retake the House and narrowly divided Senate this fall. They have sought to pin those problems on the Biden administration and liberal policies, arguments that resonated with some voters Tuesday.

Turning in their ballots for Caruso together, a group of neighbors wished for “a better future” before taking a selfie. One woman said crime was her biggest concern — her husband’s brother had been robbed at gunpoint the day before in Burbank.

Democrats are bracing for an uphill battle this fall amid low approval ratings for President Biden and political head winds that the president’s party has historically faced in first midterms. To counter those trends, Democrats are seeking to cast GOP candidates as extremists beholden to Trump.

“I’d like to get a functional country again,” said Iowa voter Mehgin Lawrence, who was torn between several Democratic candidates vying to challenge Republican Charles E. Grassley, 88, the country’s longest-serving Republican senator. “There is a lot of dysfunction in general on both sides of the aisle.”

Grassley won renomination, the AP projected, and he is favored to keep the seat. In the Democratic race to replace him, retired Navy Vice Adm. Mike Franken defeated former congresswoman Abby Finkenauer, who was also seen as a strong contender. Franken has sought to appeal to Iowa’s swing voters. “It is that middle segment who want logical, pragmatic, smart, dedicated national servants to work for them, leader servants,” he said in a recent debate. “I believe I’m that person.”

The night’s first results from the East Coast and the Deep South, meanwhile, highlighted conflicts within the GOP, offering the latest tests of former president Donald Trump’s influence and more moderate candidates’ efforts to beat back challengers from their right.

In Mississippi, Rep. Michael Guest (R) was counted in a close race with challenger Michael Cassidy with a majority of the vote. Cassidy targeted Guest’s vote last year for a commission to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection by a pro-Trump mob at the US Capitol. Rep. Steven M. Palazzo (R-Miss.) was forced into a runoff, the Associated Press projected, amid scrutiny of an ethics body’s finding there is significant evidence he misspent campaign money.

“Look at where we are today,” said Pamela Turner, a retired nurse and “staunch Republican” in Mississippi who blamed Democrats for the state of the country, even as she voted to oust Palazzo. “Look at the price of gas.”

Sam Welford, 45, cast his vote for one of the opponents, Clay Wagner, and said Palazzo has “run his course.” Welford said he does not align with any party but said rising prices under Biden played a key role in his choice to vote Republican Tuesday.

In New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District — one of many the GOP hopes to flip this year — Tom Kean Jr. was projected to defeat challengers who attacked him as not conservative enough. And Sen. John Thune (RS.D.), who has clashed with Trump, won renomination, the AP projected.

Republicans call Kean a top recruit and say the former state senator is well-positioned to flip the seat in November. The son of a former governor and grandson of a former Congressman, Kean finished just over a percentage point behind incumbent Rep. Tom Malinowski (D) in 2020 and will face Malinowski again this fall under more favorable conditions for Republicans nationwide.

At a polling site in Bridgewater Township on Tuesday, Bob Hummer said that while he voted in the Democratic primary, he is leaning toward voting for Kean in the general election — he said thinks Republicans are better on economic issues.

In California, Democrats offered voters different tacks and tones on public safety — underscoring how the issue has ranked voters even in liberal strongholds.

In 2019, voters embraced Boudin’s pitch for a less punitive justice system that looks to rehabilitate offenders. Drawing on his public defender experience and personal story — his parents went to prison when he was a child — Boudin triumphed over an interim district attorney backed by the Democratic establishment. The district attorney’s supporters say he has become an easy scapegoat for a systemic and nationwide problem: Crime rose in many large cities during the coronavirus pandemic.

“There is a very long tradition from the right of using these issues as a wedge, using these issues as a weapon, with no actual interest in the solutions that have been proven to reduce crime,” said Julie Edwards, a spokesperson for the anti -recall effort, in an interview.

But recently, leaders like Boudin have been on the defensive, as Republicans highlight some activists’ push to “defund the police” and as Democrats including Biden try to recalibrate their party’s image.

With about half the vote tallied by early Wednesday morning, roughly 60 percent were in favor of recalling Boudin, the AP said. San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D), who has called for a crackdown on “criminals who are destroying our city,” will appoint Boudin’s replacement.

Caruso, the wealthy developer in Los Angeles, has been framing himself as the change candidate in the mayoral race, vowing a tougher response to homelessness and crime. He has poured his own fortune into the campaign, spending tens of millions of dollars.

Bass, a veteran lawmaker and finalist to become Biden’s running mate in 2020, has also promised to tackle a “humanitarian emergency” of homelessness and made public safety a key issue. But she emphasizes social services to prevent crime and says not all neighborhoods want police to be more visible.

Early Wednesday morning, with most votes yet to be counted, Bass and Caruso were in a tight race. Because neither candidate won a majority of the vote in a crowded field, they will face off again November, when strategists say they expect Caruso would face tougher odds.

To some voters, the choice was anyone but Caruso.

“I think he’s a little too polished for my taste,” said Daniel Sackler, 57, even as he agreed with some of Caruso’s proposals on crime. “Billionaires are not to be trusted for the most part.”

Jennifer Dustin, 46, said she has considered moving her family from Los Angeles because of concerns about crime — but still, she voted for Bass.

“They are all going to say the same stuff,” Jake Kuczeruk, 33, said. “If it translates to action is the real question.”

A liberal DA finds voters’ moods have changed even in San Francisco

Also in California, Rep. Young Kim (R), who flipped her seat in 2020, was facing not only Democrat Asif Mahmood but also GOP rivals including Greg Raths, a city council member and retired fighter pilot. A super PAC aligned with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has funded ads against Raths as Young tries to ensure she advances in California’s unusual primary system. The two candidates with the most votes proceed to the general election regardless of party.

California Rep. David G. Valadao (R) was seeking reelection as his opponent, Chris Mathys, attacked his vote last year to impeach Trump for his conduct leading up to the storming of the Capitol last year. Trump hasn’t endorsed a challenger, despite pouring massive political capital into other critics’ races — underscoring many Republicans’ belief that Valadao is their best bet at retaining a blue-leaning district.

Other US House races also grabbed the attention of party strategists. In Iowa, state Sen. Zach Nunn won the Republican race to challenge Rep. Cindy Axne, the conservative-leaning state’s only Democratic legislator in Congress. The seat is expected to be highly competitive in this case.

In Montana, one of Trump’s Cabinet members — former interior secretary Ryan Zinke, who resigned during an ethics investigation — was in a tight race for the Republican nomination in a new congressional district expected to boost the GOP’s influence in the House. Montana got a second house seat after the 2020 Census.

Zinke, who secured Trump’s endorsement, has four opponents in the GOP primary. Critics have noted he splits his time between Montana and California and have also highlighted the government watchdog report released this year that found that he broke federal rules as interior secretary and also lied to an ethics official.

Former local TV weatherman Mark Ronchetti won in a crowded GOP field to take on New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), according to the Associated Press, as Republicans see room for gains even in a state controlled by Democrats. Ronchetti ran for Senate in the state in 2020 and lost to Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D).

Democrats said they believe that Ronchetti’s views are not in line with New Mexico voters, pointing to comments he’s made questioning climate change as the state has faced massive wildfires. “No individual fire or storm is the result of climate change,” Ronchetti told the Albuquerque Journal. “That isn’t the case.”

Annie Linskey and Scott Clement in Washington; Brian Wellner of Iowa; Ashley Cusick in Mississippi; Miranda Green in Los Angeles; and Jack Wright in New Jersey contributed to this report.

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