# List of Oakland Athletics Opening Day starting pitchers

The Oakland Athletics were a Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California. They played in the American League West division. The club was founded in Philadelphia in 1901, moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1955 and relocated to Oakland in 1968. The first game of the new baseball season for a team is played on Opening Day, and being named the Opening Day starter is an honor, which is often given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season, though there are various strategic reasons why a team's best pitcher might not start on Opening Day.
During their time in Oakland, the A's home field was the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, a multi-purpose stadium that has also been used for football, and soccer games. Commonly referred to as The Oakland Coliseum, or simply The Coliseum, it was formerly known as Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum (1966–1998, 2008–2011, 2016–2019, 2020, 2023–present), Network Associates Coliseum (1998–2004), McAfee Coliseum (2004–2008), Overstock.com Coliseum (2011), O.co Coliseum (2011–2016), and RingCentral Coliseum (2019–2020, 2020–2023) The A's played their 1996 Opening Day game at Cashman Field in Las Vegas, Nevada while repairs at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum were being completed, the first time in 39 years that a major league team played in a minor-league ballpark.
In Oakland, the A's used 36 different Opening Day starting pitchers in their 57 seasons. The 36 starters have a combined Opening Day record of 16 wins, 22 losses and 19 no decisions. No decisions are only awarded to the starting pitcher if the game is won or lost after the starting pitcher has left the game or if the starting pitcher pitches fewer than five innings. Of the 19 no decisions, the A's went on to win nine and lose ten of those games, for a team record on Opening Day of 25 wins and 32 losses.
The team played 41 of their Opening Day games at home: 37 at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, 3 in Tokyo, and once in Las Vegas. Of the 37 games played in Oakland, the A's starting pitchers have a record of 12 wins, 11 losses and 14 no decisions (the team won nine and lost five of these no decisions). The 1996 game at Las Vegas' Cashman Field was a loss for starter Carlos Reyes. The 2008 game in the Tokyo Dome was a no decision for starter Joe Blanton that ended in an A's loss. The 2012 Tokyo Dome game resulted in a no decision for starter Brandon McCarthy and a loss for the team. Mike Fiers took the loss in the 2019 Tokyo Dome opener. Overall, the team's starting pitchers' record in home games is 12–13 (with 16 no decisions).
The A's advanced to the playoffs 21 times while in Oakland, winning the American League Championship Series six times and going on to win the World Series in 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1989. In the 21 seasons that the A's advanced to the playoffs, the team's Opening Day starting pitchers have had a record of eight wins, five losses and eight no decisions; the team ultimately won five and lost three of the no decisions. The team's starters won four and lost one Opening Day game in the six seasons they advanced to the World Series.
Catfish Hunter was the team's first Opening Day starter after the team moved to Oakland, taking a 3–1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Memorial Stadium in 1968.

## Key

| Season | Each year is linked to an article about that particular Athletics season. |
| W | Win |
| L | Loss |
| ND (W) | No decision by starting pitcher; Athletics won game |
| ND (L) | No decision by starting pitcher; Athletics lost game |
| Final Score (#) | Game score with Athletics runs listed first; in brackets are the number of innings over than 9 |
| Location | Stadium in bold for home game |
| Pitcher (#) | Number of appearances as Opening Day starter with the Athletics |
| * | Advanced to the post-season |
| ** | Won the American League Championship Series |
| *** | World Series Champions |

## Opening Day results

| Season | Pitcher | Decision | Final score | Opponent | Location | Attendance |
| 1968 | Catfish Hunter | L | 1–3 | Baltimore Orioles | Memorial Stadium | 22,050 |
| 1969 | Blue Moon Odom | W | 5–2 | Chicago White Sox | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 23,610 |
| 1970 | Blue Moon Odom (2) | W | 6–4 | Kansas City Royals | Municipal Stadium | 18,127 |
| 1971* | Vida Blue | L | 0–8 | Washington Senators | Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium | 45,061 |
| 1972*** | Ken Holtzman | ND (W) | 4–3 | Minnesota Twins | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 9,912 |
| 1973*** | Catfish Hunter (2) | L | 3–8 | Minnesota Twins | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 38,207 |
| 1974*** | Catfish Hunter (3) | W | 7–2 | Oakland Athletics | Arlington Stadium | 21,907 |
| 1975 | Vida Blue (2) | W | 3–2 | Chicago White Sox | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 17,477 |
| 1976 | Mike Torrez | W | 5–2 | California Angels | Angel Stadium | 30,194 |
| 1977 | Mike Torrez (2) | W | 7–2 | Minnesota Twins | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 12,562 |
| 1978 | Rick Langford | L | 0–1 | California Angels | Angel Stadium | 28,194 |
| 1979 | Rick Langford (2) | L | 3–5 | Minnesota Twins | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 10,387 |
| 1980 | Rick Langford (3) | ND (L) | 7–9 | Minnesota Twins | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 33,196 |
| 1981 | Mike Norris | W | 5–1 | Minnesota Twins | Metropolitan Stadium | 42,658 |
| 1982 | Rick Langford (4) | ND (W) | 3–2 (11) | California Angels | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 51,513 |
| 1983 | Rick Langford (5) | L | 5–3 | Cleveland Indians | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 34,831 |
| 1984 | Steve McCatty | ND (W) | 6–5 | Milwaukee Brewers | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 45,398 |
| 1985 | Chris Codiroli | L | 3–6 | Seattle Mariners | Kingdome | 37,161 |
| 1986 | Chris Codiroli (2) | L | 2–3 | Cleveland Indians | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 44,726 |
| 1987 | Curt Young | ND (L) | 4–5 | Minnesota Twins | Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome | 43,548 |
| 1988** | Dave Stewart | W | 4–1 | Seattle Mariners | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 45,333 |
| 1989*** | Dave Stewart (2) | W | 3–2 | Seattle Mariners | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 46,163 |
| 1990** | Dave Stewart (3) | W | 8–3 | Minnesota Twins | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 48,219 |
| 1991 | Dave Stewart (4) | W | 7–2 | Minnesota Twins | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 44,373 |
| 1992* | Dave Stewart (5) | ND (W) | 5–3 | Kansas City Royals | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 44,078 |
| 1993 | Bob Welch | W | 9–4 | Detroit Tigers | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 43,370 |
| 1994 | Bobby Witt | ND (L) | 7–11 | Milwaukee Brewers | Milwaukee County Stadium | 52,012 |
| 1995 | Dave Stewart (6) | L | 1–13 | Toronto Blue Jays | SkyDome | 50,426 |
| 1996 | Carlos Reyes | L | 6–9 | Toronto Blue Jays | Cashman Field | 7,294 |
| 1997 | Ariel Prieto | ND (L) | 7–9 | Toronto Blue Jays | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 41,235 |
| 1998 | Tom Candiotti | L | 0–2 | Boston Red Sox | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 36,915 |
| 1999 | Gil Heredia | L | 5–11 | Detroit Tigers | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 46,650 |
| 2000* | Kevin Appier | ND (W) | 5–3 | New York Yankees | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 46,380 |
| 2001* | Tim Hudson | ND (L) | 4–5 | Seattle Mariners | Safeco Field | 45,911 |
| 2002* | Mark Mulder | W | 8–3 | Texas Rangers | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 43,908 |
| 2003* | Tim Hudson (2) | W | 5–0 | Seattle Mariners | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 41,723 |
| 2004 | Tim Hudson (3) | ND (W) | 5–4 | Texas Rangers | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 45,122 |
| 2005 | Barry Zito | L | 0–4 | Baltimore Orioles | Oriole Park at Camden Yards | 48,271 |
| 2006* | Barry Zito (2) | L | 2–15 | New York Yankees | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 35,077 |
| 2007 | Dan Haren | L | 0–4 | Seattle Mariners | Safeco Field | 46,003 |
| 2008 | Joe Blanton | ND (L) | 5–6 | Boston Red Sox | Tokyo Dome | 44,628 |
| 2009 | Dallas Braden | L | 0–3 | Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim | Angel Stadium of Anaheim | 43,220 |
| 2010 | Ben Sheets | ND (L) | 3–5 | Seattle Mariners | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 30,686 |
| 2011 | Trevor Cahill | ND (L) | 2–6 | Seattle Mariners | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 36,067 |
| 2012* | Brandon McCarthy | ND (L) | 1–3 | Seattle Mariners | Tokyo Dome | 44,227 |
| 2013* | Brett Anderson | L | 0–2 | Seattle Mariners | O.co Coliseum | 36,067 |
| 2014* | Sonny Gray | ND (L) | 0–2 | Cleveland Indians | O.co Coliseum | 36,067 |
| 2015 | Sonny Gray (2) | W | 8–0 | Texas Rangers | O.co Coliseum | 36,067 |
| 2016 | Rich Hill | L | 3–4 | Chicago White Sox | Oakland Coliseum | 35,067 |
| 2017 | Kendall Graveman | W | 4–2 | Los Angeles Angels | Oakland Coliseum | 36,067 |
| 2018* | Kendall Graveman (2) | ND (W) | 6–5 | Los Angeles Angels | Oakland Coliseum | 27,764 |
| 2019* | Mike Fiers | L | 6–9 | Seattle Mariners | Tokyo Dome | 45,787 |
| 2020* | Frankie Montas | ND (W) | 6–3 | Los Angeles Angels | Oakland Coliseum | N/A |
| 2021 | Chris Bassitt | L | 1–8 | Houston Astros | RingCentral Coliseum | 10,436 |
| 2022 | Frankie Montas (2) | L | 5–9 | Philadelphia Phillies | Citizens Bank Park | 44,232 |
| 2023 | Kyle Muller | ND (W) | 2–1 | Los Angeles Angels | RingCentral Coliseum | 26,805 |
| 2024 | Alex Wood | L | 0–8 | Cleveland Guardians | Oakland Coliseum | 13,522 |