List of Chicago Cubs Opening Day starting pitchers
Pitchers

List of Chicago Cubs Opening Day starting pitchers

Section Title: Pitchers
Table Section Text: None

Season	Pitcher	Decision	Final score	Opponent	Location	Ref(s)

1876**	Al Spalding	(W)	4–0	Louisville Grays	Louisville Baseball Park

1877	George Bradley	(W)	6–5	Hartford Dark Blues	23rd Street Grounds

1878	Terry Larkin	(W)	5–4	Indianapolis Blues	South Street Park

1879	Terry Larkin (2)	(W)	4–3	Syracuse Stars	Lake Front Park

1880**	Larry Corcoran	(W)	4–3	Cincinnati Reds	Bank Street Grounds

1881**	Larry Corcoran (2)	(W)	8–5	Cleveland Spiders	Lake Front Park

1882**	Larry Corcoran (3)	L	5–7	Buffalo Bisons	Riverside Grounds

1883	Fred Goldsmith	(W)	7–4	Detroit Wolverines	Recreation Park

1884	Larry Corcoran (4)	(L)	3–15	New York Gothams	Polo Grounds

1885**	Larry Corcoran (5)	L	2–3	St. Louis Maroons	Union Grounds

1886**	John Clarkson	(W)	6–5	Kansas City Cowboys	Association Park

1887	John Clarkson (2)	(L)	2–6	Pittsburgh Pirates	Recreation Park

1888	George Van Haltren	W	5–4	Indianapolis Hoosiers	Seventh Street Park

1889	Bill Hutchinson	(L)	5–8	Pittsburgh Pirates	Recreation Park

1890	Bill Hutchinson (2)	(W)	5–4	Cincinnati Reds	League Park

1891	Pat Luby	(W)	7–6	Pittsburgh Pirates	Exposition Park

1892	Ad Gumbert	(W)	14–10	St. Louis Browns	Sportsman's Park

1893	Willie McGill	(L)	1–10	Cincinnati Reds	League Park

1894	Bill Hutchinson (3)	(L)	6–10	Cincinnati Reds	League Park

1895	Clark Griffith	(W)	10–7	St. Louis Browns	Robison Field

1896	Danny Friend	(W)	4–2	Louisville Colonels	Eclipse Park

1897	Clark Griffith (2)	L	7–8	Cincinnati Reds	League Park

1898	Clark Griffith (3)	(W)	2–1	St. Louis Browns	Robison Field

1899	Clark Griffith (4)	(W)	15–1	Louisville Colonels	Eclipse Park

1900	Clark Griffith (5)	(W)	13–10	Cincinnati Reds	League Park

1901	Jack Taylor	(W)	8–7	St. Louis Cardinals	Robison Field

1902	Jack Taylor (2)	W	6–1	Cincinnati Reds	Palace of the Fans

1903	Jack Taylor (3)	L	1–2	St. Louis Cardinals	Robison Field

1904	Jake Weimer	(L)	2–3	Cincinnati Reds	Palace of the Fans

1905	Carl Lundgren	(W)	6–1	St. Louis Cardinals	Robison Field

1906**	Carl Lundgren (2)	(W)	7–2	Cincinnati Reds	Palace of the Fans

1907†	Orval Overall	(W)	6–1	St. Louis Cardinals	West Side Park II

1908†	Orval Overall (2)	(W)	6–5	Cincinnati Reds	Palace of the Fans

1909	Orval Overall (3)	(W)	3–1	St. Louis Cardinals	West Side Park II

1910**	Orval Overall (4)	(L)	0–1	Cincinnati Reds	Palace of the Fans

1911	Ed Reulbach	T	3–3	St. Louis Cardinals	West Side Park II

1912	King Cole	(L)	6–10	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1913	Jimmy Lavender	(L)	3–5	St. Louis Cardinals	West Side Park II

1914	Larry Cheney	(L)	1–10	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1915	Hippo Vaughn	(W)	7–2	St. Louis Cardinals	West Side Park II

1916	George McConnell	(W)	7–1	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1917	Hippo Vaughn (2)	(W)	5–3	Pittsburgh Pirates	Wrigley Field

1918**	Grover Cleveland Alexander	(L)	2–4	St. Louis Cardinals	Robison Field

1919	Hippo Vaughn (3)	(W)	5–1	Pittsburgh Pirates	Wrigley Field

1920	Grover Cleveland Alexander (2)	(L)	3–7	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1921	Grover Cleveland Alexander (3)	W	5–2	St. Louis Cardinals	Wrigley Field

1922	Grover Cleveland Alexander (4)	W	7–3	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1923	Tiny Osborne	L	2–3	Pittsburgh Pirates	Wrigley Field

1924	Vic Aldridge	L	5–6	St. Louis Cardinals	Sportsman's Park

1925	Grover Cleveland Alexander (5)	W	8–2	Pittsburgh Pirates	Wrigley Field

1926	Wilbur Cooper	ND (L)	6–7	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1927	Charley Root	W	10–1	St. Louis Cardinals	Wrigley Field

1928	Charley Root (2)	L	1–5	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1929**	Charley Root (3)	L	3–4	Pittsburgh Pirates	Wrigley Field

1930	Sheriff Blake	W	9–8	St. Louis Cardinals	Sportsman's Park

1931	Charley Root (4)	W	6–2	Pittsburgh Pirates	Wrigley Field

1932**	Charley Root (5)	(L)	4–5	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1933	Lon Warneke	W	3–0	St. Louis Cardinals	Wrigley Field

1934	Lon Warneke (2)	W	6–0	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1935**	Lon Warneke (3)	W	4–3	St. Louis Cardinals	Wrigley Field

1936	Lon Warneke (4)	W	12–7	St. Louis Cardinals	Sportsman's Park

1937	Larry French	(L)	0–5	Pittsburgh Pirates	Wrigley Field

1938**	Clay Bryant	ND (W)	3–2	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1939	Bill Lee	W	4–2	St. Louis Cardinals	Sportsman's Park

1940	Bill Lee (2)	(L)	1–2	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1941	Claude Passeau	W	7–4	Pittsburgh Pirates	Wrigley Field

1942	Claude Passeau (2)	W	5–4	St. Louis Cardinals	Sportsman's Park

1943	Paul Derringer	(L)	0–6	Pittsburgh Pirates	Wrigley Field

1944	Hank Wyse	W	3–0	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1945**	Paul Derringer (2)	W	3–2	St. Louis Cardinals	Wrigley Field

1946	Claude Passeau (3)	ND (W)	4–3	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1947	Hank Borowy	(L)	0–1	Pittsburgh Pirates	Wrigley Field

1948	Russ Meyer	(L)	2–3	Pittsburgh Pirates	Forbes Field

1949	Dutch Leonard	(L)	9–6	Pittsburgh Pirates	Wrigley Field

1950	Johnny Schmitz	ND (W)	9–6	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1951	Frank Hiller	ND (W)	8–3	Cincinnati Reds	Wrigley Field

1952	Paul Minner	ND (W)	6–5	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1953	Bob Rush	W	3–2	Cincinnati Reds	Wrigley Field

1954	Paul Minner (2)	W	13–4	St. Louis Cardinals	Sportsman's Park

1955	Bob Rush (2)	ND (W)	7–5	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1956	Bob Rush (3)	L	0–6	Milwaukee Braves	County Stadium

1957	Bob Rush (4)	L	1–4	Milwaukee Braves	Wrigley Field

1958	Jim Brosnan	W	4–0	St. Louis Cardinals	Sportsman's Park

1959	Bob Anderson	W	6–2	Los Angeles Dodgers	Wrigley Field

1960	Bob Anderson (2)	ND (L)	2–3	Los Angeles Dodgers	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

1961	Glen Hobbie	L	1–7	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1962	Don Cardwell	L	2–11	Houston Colt .45s	Colt Stadium

1963	Larry Jackson	L	1–5	Los Angeles Dodgers	Wrigley Field

1964	Larry Jackson (2)	W	8–4	Pittsburgh Pirates	Forbes Field

1965	Larry Jackson (3)	T	10–10	St. Louis Cardinals	Wrigley Field

1966	Larry Jackson (4)	L	1–9	San Francisco Giants	Candlestick Park

1967	Ferguson Jenkins	W	4–2	Philadelphia Phillies	Wrigley Field

1968	Joe Niekro	L	4–9	Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field

1969	Ferguson Jenkins (2)	ND (W)	7–6	Philadelphia Phillies	Wrigley Field

1970	Ferguson Jenkins (3)	L	0–2	Philadelphia Phillies	Connie Mack Stadium

1971	Ferguson Jenkins (4)	W	2–1	St. Louis Cardinals	Wrigley Field

1972	Ferguson Jenkins (5)	ND (L)	2–4	Philadelphia Phillies	Wrigley Field

1973	Ferguson Jenkins (6)	ND (W)	3–2	Montreal Expos	Wrigley Field

1974	Bill Bonham	W	2–0	Philadelphia Phillies	Wrigley Field

1975	Bill Bonham (2)	ND (L)	4–8	Pittsburgh Pirates	Wrigley Field

1976	Ray Burris	L	0–5	St. Louis Cardinals	Busch Stadium

1977	Ray Burris (2)	L	3–5	New York Mets	Wrigley Field

1978	Rick Reuschel	L	0–1	Pittsburgh Pirates	Three Rivers Stadium

1979	Rick Reuschel (2)	L	6–10	New York Mets	Wrigley Field

1980	Rick Reuschel (3)	L	2–5	New York Mets	Shea Stadium

1981	Rick Reuschel (4)	L	0–2	New York Mets	Wrigley Field

1982	Doug Bird	W	3–2	Cincinnati Reds	Riverfront Stadium

1983	Ferguson Jenkins (7)	L	0–3	Montreal Expos	Wrigley Field

1984*	Dick Ruthven	W	5–3	San Francisco Giants	Candlestick Park

1985	Rick Sutcliffe	W	2–1	Pittsburgh Pirates	Wrigley Field

1986	Rick Sutcliffe (2)	L	1–2	St. Louis Cardinals	Busch Stadium

1987	Rick Sutcliffe (3)	L	3–9	St. Louis Cardinals	Wrigley Field

1988	Rick Sutcliffe (4)	ND (W)	10–9	Atlanta Braves	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium

1989*	Rick Sutcliffe (5)	W	5–4	Philadelphia Phillies	Wrigley Field

1990	Mike Bielecki	ND (W)	2–1	Philadelphia Phillies	Wrigley Field

1991	Danny Jackson	L	1–4	St. Louis Cardinals	Wrigley Field

1992	Greg Maddux	W	4–3	Philadelphia Phillies	Veterans Stadium

1993	Mike Morgan	L	0–1	Atlanta Braves	Wrigley Field

1994	Mike Morgan (2)	L	8–12	New York Mets	Wrigley Field

1995	Jim Bullinger	W	7–1	Cincinnati Reds	Riverfront Stadium

1996	Jaime Navarro	W	5–4	San Diego Padres	Wrigley Field

1997	Terry Mulholland	L	2–4	Florida Marlins	Pro Player Stadium

1998*	Kevin Tapani	L	6–11	Florida Marlins	Pro Player Stadium

1999	Steve Trachsel	L	2–4	Houston Astros	Astrodome

2000	Jon Lieber	W	5–3	New York Mets	Tokyo Dome

2001	Jon Lieber (2)	ND (L)	4–5	Montreal Expos	Wrigley Field

2002	Jon Lieber (3)	ND (L)	4–5	Cincinnati Reds	Cinergy Field

2003*	Kerry Wood	W	15–2	New York Mets	Shea Stadium

2004	Kerry Wood (2)	W	7–4	Cincinnati Reds	Great American Ball Park

2005	Carlos Zambrano	ND (W)	16–6	Arizona Diamondbacks	Bank One Ballpark

2006	Carlos Zambrano (2)	ND (W)	16–7	Cincinnati Reds	Great American Ball Park

2007*	Carlos Zambrano (3)	L	1–5	Cincinnati Reds	Great American Ball Park

2008*	Carlos Zambrano (4)	ND (L)	3–4	Milwaukee Brewers	Wrigley Field

2009	Carlos Zambrano (5)	W	4–2	Houston Astros	Minute Maid Park

2010	Carlos Zambrano (6)	L	5–16	Atlanta Braves	Turner Field

2011	Ryan Dempster	L	3–6	Pittsburgh Pirates	Wrigley Field

2012	Ryan Dempster (2)	ND	1–2	Washington Nationals	Wrigley Field

2013	Jeff Samardzija	W	3–1	Pittsburgh Pirates	PNC Park

2014	Jeff Samardzija (2)	ND (L)	0–1	Pittsburgh Pirates	PNC Park

2015*	Jon Lester	L	0–3	St. Louis Cardinals	Wrigley Field

2016†	Jake Arrieta	W	9–0	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	Angel Stadium

2017*	Jon Lester (2)	ND (L)	3–4	St. Louis Cardinals	Busch Stadium

2018	Jon Lester (3)	ND (W)	8–4	Miami Marlins	Marlins Park

2019	Jon Lester (4)	ND (W)	12–4	Texas Rangers	Globe Life Park in Arlington

Sentence(s)

Friend was the Opening Day starting pitcher in 1896.

final_sentence: Friend was the Opening Day starting pitcher in 1896.