“Ever since I met the Korean national team, I’ve been a fan of Korean baseball.”

San Diego Padres Japanese major leaguer Darvish Yu has been selected as the Opening Day starter. The Padres announced the starting pitchers for the opening two-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Gocheok SkyDome in Seoul on April 20 and 21 (KST).

Darvish will take the mound in the opener, Game 1, followed by Joe Musgrove in Game 2 the following day. The Dodgers will use Tyler Glasnow in Game 1 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2.

Darvish pitched in an exhibition game against the Seattle Mariners in Peoria, Arizona, on Dec. 12 to test his health. Darvish threw 59 pitches in four innings, allowing two hits and one run.

Speaking to Japanese media outlets covering the game in the U.S., including Sankei Sports and SporNichi Annex, Darvish said, “I’m not in great shape right now, but I threw a variety of pitches, including changeups, curves, and fastballs, 안전놀이터 and made adjustments and checked them like I would in the season.”

The preparation for the opening game of the Seoul Series is special.

This will be Darvish’s fourth Opening Day start since joining the major leagues. He said it was extra special because it was in Seoul.

“I think it’s very special to start Game 1, especially since it’s in Korea. I’m grateful to be out there and I’m going to try to get in shape and throw well.” “I’m also looking forward to throwing in Korea. Ever since I first met the Korean national team, I’ve always loved Korea and followed Korean baseball, so to be able to throw in front of Korean fans in a country like that is very special,” he said.

Darvish has also been quite friendly with the Korean national team players he has met through international tournaments, including the ‘original Korean big leaguer’ Park Chan-ho, and has faced Korean players in numerous international tournaments and has always had a good relationship with them. Even after he participated in the WBC last year, he was proactive, visiting Lee’s social media accounts and commenting, “See you in the major leagues soon.

Darvish was originally expected to start Game 2 by local media.

It was thought that if he started Game 2, he would be able to face Yamamoto, but that didn’t happen. However, the Dodgers have another Japanese starter in Shohei Ohtani. It will be a two-hitter between Darvish and Ohtani.

“The first thing is to face the whole Dodgers team,” Darvish said about facing Ohtani. Of course, I’m looking forward to it, but I’m going to prepare thoroughly for not only Ohtani, but also other good players like Mookie Betts and others,” he said, wary of the attention focused on his matchup with Ohtani.

As for Yamamoto, who will be making his official Major League debut, 바카라사이트 he said, “I didn’t know if he was going to come out in Game 1 or Game 2. I wish he was going to come out in the opener. He’s going to come out in the season anyway, so I’m looking forward to that.”