For a second straight season, Pablo Lopez will start Opening Day for the Twins. That’s March 28th at Kansas City.

Lopez was great in his first year with the Twins. Acquired in the Luis Arraez trade with Miami last January, Lopez had a 3.66 earned run average in 194 innings, the most by a Twins pitcher since José Berríos in 2019. He had 234 strikeouts, most by a Twin since 2007, with only 48 walks. He also had two solid starts in the postseason.

Our Joe Schmit and Alec Ausmus are with the Twins this week at spring training in Fort Myers and spoke with Lopez.

***Click the video box above to watch our feature story on Pablo Lopez***

The Twins had the second-best starting pitching ERA (3.82) in baseball last year and Lopez was a big reason why.

Lopez made his first All-Star team in 2023 and received Cy Young votes for the first time. He’s expected to be heavily in the mix to win the 2024 A.L. Cy Young award.