# List of San Diego Padres Opening Day starting pitchers

The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The Padres first played their home games at San Diego Stadium until 2004, when they moved into Petco Park. 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. The Padres have used 24 different Opening Day starting pitchers in their 42 seasons. The 24 starters have a combined Opening Day record of 15 wins, 14 losses and 13 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.
The Padres' first Opening Day starting pitcher was Dick Selma, who received a win against the Houston Astros. Randy Jones, Eric Show and Jake Peavy tie the Padres' record for most Opening Day starts with four. Peavy has the most consecutive Opening Day starts with four (2006–2009). Jones and Andy Benes each have had three consecutive Opening Day starts. Benes has the most consecutive Opening Day losses with three from 1993 to 1995.
Overall, the Padres' Opening Day starting pitchers have a record of eight wins and five losses at San Diego Stadium and two wins and one loss at Petco Park. Although the Padres were nominally the home team on Opening Day 1999, the game was played in Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico. The Padres' Opening Day starting pitchers' combined home record is 11 wins and six losses, and their away record is four wins and eight losses. The Padres went on to play in the MLB post-season five times, winning the National League Championship Series (NLCS) in 1984 and 1998. In those five seasons, the Opening Day starting pitchers had a combined record of three wins and 0 losses.

## Key

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

## Pitchers

| Season | Pitcher | Decision | Final score | Opponent | Location | Attendance |
| 1969 | Dick Selma | W | 2–1 | Houston Astros | San Diego Stadium | 23,370 |
| 1970 | Pat Dobson | W | 8–3 | Atlanta Braves | San Diego Stadium | 25,125 |
| 1971 | Tom Phoebus | L | 0–4 | San Francisco Giants | San Diego Stadium | 34,554 |
| 1972 | Clay Kirby | W | 6–5 | Atlanta Braves | San Diego Stadium | 16,655 |
| 1973 | Clay Kirby (2) | W | 4–2 | Los Angeles Dodgers | San Diego Stadium | 32,019 |
| 1974 | Bill Greif | L | 0–8 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Dodger Stadium | 31,566 |
| 1975 | Randy Jones | ND (L) | 0–2 (10) | San Francisco Giants | San Diego Stadium | 17,670 |
| 1976 | Randy Jones (2) | W | 8–2 | Atlanta Braves | San Diego Stadium | 44,728 |
| 1977 | Randy Jones (3) | L | 3–5 | Cincinnati Reds | Riverfront Stadium | 51,937 |
| 1978 | Gaylord Perry | ND (W) | 3–2 | San Francisco Giants | Candlestick Park | 36,131 |
| 1979 | Gaylord Perry (2) | W | 4–3 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Dodger Stadium | 46,536 |
| 1980 | Randy Jones (4) | W | 6–4 | San Francisco Giants | San Diego Stadium | 29,535 |
| 1981 | John Curtis | ND (W) | 4–1 | San Francisco Giants | Candlestick Park | 54,520 |
| 1982 | Juan Eichelberger | L | 0–1 | Atlanta Braves | Jack Murphy Stadium | 30,188 |
| 1983 | Tim Lollar | W | 16–13 | San Francisco Giants | Candlestick Park | 50,542 |
| 1984** | Eric Show | W | 5–1 | Pittsburgh Pirates | Jack Murphy Stadium | 44,553 |
| 1985 | LaMarr Hoyt | ND (L) | 3–4 | San Francisco Giants | Candlestick Park | 52,714 |
| 1986 | Eric Show (2) | L | 1–2 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Dodger Stadium | 49,444 |
| 1987 | Eric Show (3) | ND (L) | 3–4 (12) | San Francisco Giants | Candlestick Park | 52,020 |
| 1988 | Ed Whitson | ND (L) | 3–6 | Houston Astros | Astrodome | 39,906 |
| 1989 | Eric Show (4) | L | 3–5 | San Francisco Giants | Jack Murphy Stadium | 52,763 |
| 1990 | Bruce Hurst | L | 2–4 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Dodger Stadium | 48,686 |
| 1991 | Ed Whitson (2) | ND (W) | 7–4 | San Francisco Giants | Jack Murphy Stadium | 48,089 |
| 1992 | Bruce Hurst (2) | ND (W) | 4–3 | Cincinnati Reds | Riverfront Stadium | 55,356 |
| 1993 | Andy Benes | L | 4–9 | Pittsburgh Pirates | Three Rivers Stadium | 44,103 |
| 1994 | Andy Benes (2) | L | 1–4 | Atlanta Braves | Jack Murphy Stadium | 42,251 |
| 1995 | Andy Benes (3) | L | 2–10 | Houston Astros | Jack Murphy Stadium | 41,961 |
| 1996* | Andy Ashby | ND (L) | 4–5 (10) | Chicago Cubs | Wrigley Field | 38,734 |
| 1997 | Joey Hamilton | W | 12–5 | New York Mets | Jack Murphy Stadium | 43,005 |
| 1998** | Kevin Brown | W | 10–2 | Cincinnati Reds | Cinergy Field | 54,578 |
| 1999 | Andy Ashby (2) | L | 2–8 | Colorado Rockies | Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey | 27,104 |
| 2000 | Sterling Hitchcock | ND (L) | 1–2 | New York Mets | Shea Stadium | 52,308 |
| 2001 | Woody Williams | L | 2–3 | San Francisco Giants | Pacific Bell Park | 40,930 |
| 2002 | Kevin Jarvis | ND (W) | 0–2 | Arizona Diamondbacks | Chase Field | 47,025 |
| 2003 | Brian Lawrence | ND (L) | 2–5 | San Francisco Giants | Qualcomm Stadium | 61,707 |
| 2004 | Brian Lawrence (2) | W | 8–2 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Dodger Stadium | 53,850 |
| 2005* | Woody Williams (2) | ND (L) | 10–12 | Colorado Rockies | Coors Field | 47,661 |
| 2006* | Jake Peavy | W | 6–1 | San Francisco Giants | Petco Park | 43,767 |
| 2007 | Jake Peavy (2) | W | 7–0 | San Francisco Giants | AT&T Park | 42,773 |
| 2008 | Jake Peavy (3) | W | 4–0 | Houston Astros | Petco Park | 44,965 |
| 2009 | Jake Peavy (4) | L | 1–4 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Petco Park | 45,496 |
| 2010 | Jon Garland | L | 3–6 | Arizona Diamondbacks | Chase Field | 49,192 |
| 2011 | Tim Stauffer | ND (W) | 5–3 | St. Louis Cardinals | Busch Stadium | 46,368 |
| 2012 | Edinson Volquez | L | 3–5 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Petco Park | 42,941 |
| 2013 | Edinson Volquez (2) | L | 2–11 | New York Mets | Citi Field | 41,053 |
| 2014 | Andrew Cashner | ND (W) | 3–1 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Petco Park | 45,567 |
| 2015 | James Shields | ND (L) | 3–6 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Dodger Stadium | 53,518 |
| 2016 | Tyson Ross | L | 0–15 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Petco Park | 44,317 |
| 2017 | Jhoulys Chacín | L | 3–14 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Dodger Stadium | 53,701 |
| 2018 | Clayton Richard | ND (L) | 1–2 (12) | Milwaukee Brewers | Petco Park | 44,659 |
| 2019 | Eric Lauer | W | 2–0 | San Francisco Giants | Petco Park | 44,655 |
| 2020* | Chris Paddack | W | 7–2 | Arizona Diamondbacks | Petco Park | 0 |
| 2021 | Yu Darvish | ND (W) | 8–7 | Arizona Diamondbacks | Petco Park | 10,350 |
| 2022* | Yu Darvish (2) | ND (L) | 2–4 | Arizona Diamondbacks | Chase Field | 35,508 |
| 2023 | Blake Snell | L | 2–7 | Colorado Rockies | Petco Park | 45,103 |
| 2024* | Yu Darvish (3) | ND (L) | 2–5 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Gocheok Sky Dome | 15,952 |
| 2025 | Michael King | | | Atlanta Braves | Petco Park | |