JUPITER, Fla. -- It only took three days for the most straightforward decision of what looks to be a competitive Marlins camp.
Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara will make his franchise-leading sixth Opening Day start, the organization announced on Friday afternoon on social media. Miami will host Colorado at 7:10 p.m. ET on March 27 at loanDepot park to begin the 2026 season.
"Another great opportunity for me," Alcantara told MLB.com. "Like I always say, always feel blessed about God giving me those opportunities to step out of my bed and get me to play baseball. Great opportunity for me -- six times, Opening Day for the Marlins. I can even remember the first day when I came here, just fighting for a spot, and now I have six times Opening Day starts for the Marlins. It always means a lot to me."
Manager Clayton McCullough delivered the news from his office early Friday on the third day of camp, once Alcantara had gotten into a routine and acclimated to the newly renovated Marlins Jupiter Academy.
“Felt like today, bring him in this morning, and to certainly let him know that [we’re] excited for him to take the ball again for the Marlins on Opening Day,” McCullough said. “And reiterated to him that a lot has been talked about ‘25, and I'm not going to continue to revisit that. I'm probably most proud of just how he continued to push forward last season, and how he was able to finish, and what that meant to a lot of people in our clubhouse, the opportunity to watch how he handled himself. And no one more deserving than him to get the ball for us Opening Day.”
The Marlins have gone 2-3 in Opening Day starts made by Alcantara, who introduced a sweeper to his arsenal during Thursday’s live batting practice. Last season in his return from Tommy John surgery, Alcantara took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before being chased after giving up two runs. Miami would go on to walk off Pittsburgh in the ninth.
The 30-year-old Alcantara, who will leave Marlins camp in a few weeks to pitch for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic for the second time, is in a much better place compared to a few months ago. Though Alcantara's season ERA (5.36) ranked as the second-highest among qualifying MLB starting pitchers, he posted a 2.68 ERA over his final eight starts to look more like himself.
“I'm thrilled,” president of baseball operations Peter Bendix said. “I like Sandy very much as a person. I respect him, and I think he's going to be a much, much better pitcher this year than he was last year. I think we saw the really good version of Sandy the last two or three months of the season, and I think we all forget that he didn't have the opportunity to rehab after he got hurt. He was essentially rehabbing in the big leagues on the fly last year the first half of the season, and we saw a little bit of rust. We saw a little bit of just not quite back to where he was, and then that flipped in the second half. So seeing the full version of Sandy on Opening Day is really exciting.”
Despite trade rumors following Alcantara over the past year, the Marlins elected to keep him. Instead, Miami dealt Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers from its starting-pitching depth over the offseason.
This season will mark Alcantara’s eighth with the Marlins, giving him more time to climb toward the top of the franchise's leaderboards. He is among the best in several pitching categories, including: bWAR (20.7, second), ERA (3.64, third), wins (52nd, fourth), WHIP (1.171, first), H/9 (7.802, second), BB/9 (2.733, third), K/9 (7.769, fifth), innings (1,067, second), strikeouts (921, second) starts (169, second), complete games (12, third) and shutouts (four, tied for fourth).
"It means a lot," Alcantara said. "I thought last year was going to be my last year here. But at the end of the day, I realized that I'll stay for one more year. [It] made me happy to stay here, made me happy to be out there on the mound the first day, see the love from the fans, from my teammates. It's going to be always a great moment for me and my family."