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On Thursday, March 29, Major League Baseball will holds its earliest opening day ever. Unfortunately, Mother Nature has prevented another piece of opening-day history. This was to be the the first time every team opened on the same day since the league expanded to 30 teams in 1998, but the forecast has already resulted in the Nationals-Reds opener being postponed.

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That’s a bummer, but at least we’ll still get to watch some of the very best starting pitchers the game has to offer. It will just happen over a two-day period.

As is tradition here at Yahoo Sports, every year when we see that list of opening day starters start to form, we have to rank them. We just can’t help ourselves. As always, it’s a subjective list that’s open for debate. We obviously consider past performance, with a little extra weight on the most recent past. We also try to look forward and determine which pitchers offer the most upside.

Thanks to a couple stubborn managers we don’t have the complete list just yet. We’ll go ahead and rank what we do know and update as the remaining teams announce their choice.

So, without further ado, here the 28 known starters for opening day 2018 ranked.

View photos Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer and Corey Kluber (left-to-right) head up an impressive list of opening day starters. (AP Photos) More

1. Max Scherzer – Washington Nationals (@ Reds, Friday 4:10 ET)

There’s a new No. 1 on this list, and his name is Max Scherzer. This spot has been reserved for Clayton Kershaw since 2015, but Scherzer is impossible to deny after winning his third Cy Young Award last season. He would have been in the running for No. 1 last season, but Stephen Strasburg got the nod when Scherzer was setback by an injury in spring training. Scherzer’s accomplishments are too long to list here, but he’ll hope March 29 is the first step towards his biggest goal which is winning a World Series.

2. Clayton Kershaw – Los Angeles Dodgers (vs. Giants, 7:08 ET)

Once again, the easiest decision Dave Roberts will make all season is naming Kershaw his opening day starter. This will mark eight in a row for Kershaw as he enters his age-30 season. Back issues have kept him from reaching 30 starts in each of the last two seasons, but he’s still on another level even when he’s not 100 percent. Kershaw won 18 games and finished second in the NL Cy Young Award balloting last season despite missing one month.

3. Corey Kluber – Indians (@ Mariners, 10:10 ET)

Coming off his second American League Cy Young in four seasons, Kluber has firmly established himself among MLB’s elite. He was truly on another level last season, going 18-4 with a 2.25 ERA. Despite missing a month with a back injury, Kluber led the league in complete games (5) and shutouts (3), not to mention logging his fourth straight 200-inning season. Rough postseason aside, he’s as good as it gets.

4. Chris Sale – Boston Red Sox (@ Rays, 4:00 ET)

Sale will start his first opener for the Red Sox after previously starting three for the White Sox. The 28-year-old left-hander was his typical dominant self last season, leading MLB in innings pitched (214.1) and strikeouts (308). He also earned his sixth straight All-Star selection and sixth straight top six finish in the AL Cy Young voting.

5. Justin Verlander – Houston Astros (@ Rangers, 3:35 ET)

After starting 10 of the last 11 season openers for Detroit, Verlander will do the same for the World Series champion Astros. The 35-year-old right-hander proved to be the final piece of Houston’s championship puzzle last season. He was especially good in the postseason, picking up four wins while allowing just nine runs in 36.2 innings. Those contributions likely gave him the edge over another former Cy Young Award winner in Dallas Keuchel and Houston’s newest ace, Gerrit Cole.

6. Noah Syndergaard – New York Mets (vs. Cardinals, 1:10 ET)

After a partially torn lat muscle limited Syndergaard to only seven starts in 2017, he‘s appeared to be full strength so far this spring. In fact, he‘s often looked like the ace who helped carry New York to the NL Wild-Card Game in 2016. That’s a good sign, and you can bet first-year manager Mickey Callaway will be relying on “Thor” heavily this season.

Story continues