Jacob deGrom

He'll be followed by Tyler Mahle and Jacob deGrom to close out the remainder of the four-game season-opening series. It's a challenging opening assignment for Leiter right out of the gate, but he'll need to perform in his first couple outings to avoid being jettisoned once veteran Patrick Corbin is ready to make his season debut. The 24-year-old righty was arguably the talk of the Cactus League this spring and should be rostered in all fantasy formats. If he's truly made a leap in terms of commanding his overpowering arsenal, Leiter could put together a legitimate breakthrough campaign.

The most important development for fantasy purposes is that deGrom is entering the regular season without any injury concerns. He built up his pitch count to 70 (46 strikes) during his final spring tune-up and shouldn't have any workload restrictions when he takes the ball on Sunday against the Red Sox to kick off the regular season. He gave up four hits, including a two-run homer to Salvador Perez. The 36-year-old veteran's omnipresent durability concerns aren't going away, but he's appreciably scaled back on some fastball velocity this spring to reduce his injury risk, which is an encouraging development. He's a top-15 range starting pitcher for fantasy purposes entering the 2025 campaign.

Perez kicked off the scoring with an RBI single in the opening frame before taking Rangers ace Jacob deGrom deep in the fourth inning for his second big fly of the spring. The 34-year-old veteran backstop remains one of the more consistent power sources in the fantasy landscape having surpassed the 20-homer mark in each of the last eight full seasons dating back to 2015.

It's official, according to a league graphic anyways, that Eovaldi will take the ball on Opening Day against his former team. The 35-year-old veteran, who allowed one run over four innings on Friday against the Angels in his final Cactus League tune-up, was the logical choice for the Rangers with Jacob deGrom set to open up in the back of the team's rotation mix.

Statcast put deGrom's fastball velocity in the 96 mph range as he got his pitch count up to 57 (36 strikes) in his likely penultimate spring outing. The Rangers have been extremely cautious and deliberate with his ramp-up process over the last few weeks in an effort to keep him healthy. The 36-year-old fantasy ace has turned back the dial slightly from a velocity standpoint, but it hasn't sapped his effectiveness. He'll open the regular season in the back-end of Texas' starting rotation, most likely with a home matchup against the Red Sox.