{"id":2334271,"date":"2026-03-18T02:56:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T02:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2334271"},"modified":"2026-03-18T02:56:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T02:56:55","slug":"cole-ragans-named-royals-opening-day-starter-mlb-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/cole-ragans-named-royals-opening-day-starter-mlb-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Cole Ragans Named Royals Opening Day Starter &#8211; MLB News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"post-1830294\">\n<h4 class=\"widget-title teamLogo KCbg\">\n                <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rotoballer.com\/player-news\/cole-ragans-named-royals-opening-day-starter\/1830294\" rel=\"bookmark\" title=\"Permanent Link to Cole Ragans Named Royals Opening Day Starter\">Cole Ragans Named Royals Opening Day Starter<\/a><br \/>\n            <\/h4>\n<div class=\"newsdeskContentEntry\" post_time=\"3\/17\/26 10:37 pm\">\n<div style=\"display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: space-between; margin-bottom: 5px;\">\n<div class=\"shareBox\"><span class=\"shareLabel\">Share:<\/span><a target=\"_blank\" class=\"share\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https:\/\/www.rotoballer.com\/player-news\/cole-ragans-named-royals-opening-day-starter\/1830294&amp;text=Cole+Ragans+Named+Royals+Opening+Day+Starter\"><\/a><a target=\"_blank\" class=\"share\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/submit?url=https:\/\/www.rotoballer.com\/player-news\/cole-ragans-named-royals-opening-day-starter\/1830294&amp;title=Cole+Ragans+Named+Royals+Opening+Day+Starter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rotoballer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/reddit-round-icon.png\"\/><\/a><a target=\"_blank\" class=\"share\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.rotoballer.com\/player-news\/cole-ragans-named-royals-opening-day-starter\/1830294&amp;title=Cole+Ragans+Named+Royals+Opening+Day+Starter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rotoballer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/facebook-round-icon.png\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n    <button class=\"share-button\" onclick=\"copyToClipboard('https:\/\/www.rotoballer.com\/player-news\/cole-ragans-named-royals-opening-day-starter\/1830294', 1830294)\"><br \/>\n        <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"14\" height=\"16\" viewbox=\"0 0 14 16\" fill=\"none\">\n<path d=\"M7.53125 0.218756C7.2375 -0.0749939 6.7625 -0.0749939 6.47188 0.218756L2.46875 4.21876C2.175 4.51251 2.175 4.98751 2.46875 5.27813C2.7625 5.56876 3.2375 5.57188 3.52813 5.27813L6.24687 2.55938L6.25 10.25C6.25 10.6656 6.58437 11 7 11C7.41563 11 7.75 10.6656 7.75 10.25V2.55938L10.4688 5.27813C10.7625 5.57188 11.2375 5.57188 11.5281 5.27813C11.8187 4.98438 11.8219 4.50938 11.5281 4.21876L7.53125 0.218756ZM1.5 10.75C1.5 10.3344 1.16562 10 0.75 10C0.334375 10 0 10.3344 0 10.75V13.25C0 14.7688 1.23125 16 2.75 16H11.25C12.7688 16 14 14.7688 14 13.25V10.75C14 10.3344 13.6656 10 13.25 10C12.8344 10 12.5 10.3344 12.5 10.75V13.25C12.5 13.9406 11.9406 14.5 11.25 14.5H2.75C2.05938 14.5 1.5 13.9406 1.5 13.25V10.75Z\" fill=\"black\"\/>\n<\/svg><br \/>\n    <\/button><\/p>\n<p>Link copied to clipboard!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>        <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"google-preferences-button\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=rotoballer.com\" style=\"line-height: 0 !important; text-align: end; width: 18%;\"><br \/>\n                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rotoballer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-18.png\" alt=\"Google Preferences\" class=\"google-preferences-image\" style=\"width: 100%\"\/><br \/>\n            <\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"player-news meta meta-post-time\" style=\"display:none;\"><span class=\"post-time\" data-timestamp=\"1773787072\" title=\"3\/17\/26 10:37pm\">March 17, 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Kansas City Royals announced on Tuesday that left-hander <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"rbPlayer mlb\" data-id=\"666142\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rotoballer.com\/mlb\/player\/666142\/Cole+Ragans\">Cole  Ragans<\/a> will start on Opening Day this year for the third consecutive season. Ragans will have a tough task with a matchup in Atlanta against the Braves for his first start of the 2026 campaign. 2025 was a lost season for the 28-year-old southpaw, as he missed time with groin and left-shoulder injuries, which limited him to just 13 starts. When healthy, the former first-round pick by the Texas Rangers in 2016 went 3-3 with a 4.67 ERA (2.50 FIP) and 1.18 WHIP with 98 strikeouts and 20 walks in 61 2\/3 innings. In 2024, he was a first-time All-Star and had 223 strikeouts in 186 1\/3 innings pitched. That was the only time in Ragan&#8217;s four MLB seasons that he&#8217;s exceeded 100 innings pitched. Under the hood, Ragans&#8217; advanced metrics are solid, suggesting he has ace upside at a potential discount this year. In 10 2\/3 spring training innings, he&#8217;s allowed 10 earned runs, but he&#8217;s walked only three and fanned 15. RotoBaller has Ragans ranked as the No. 10 fantasy starting pitcher going into his fifth year in the big leagues.<span class=\"newsByline\">&#8212;<i><a target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rotoballer.com\/author\/keithghernandezgmail-com\">Keith Hernandez<\/a><\/i><\/span><br \/><span class=\"newsSource\">Source: <a target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Royals\/status\/2034083794639327413\">Kansas City Royals<\/a><\/span>\n            <\/div><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.rotoballer.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cole Ragans Named Royals Opening Day Starter Share: Link copied to clipboard! March 17, 2026 The Kansas City Royals announced on Tuesday that left-hander Cole Ragans will start on Opening Day this year for the third consecutive season. Ragans will have a tough task with a matchup in Atlanta against the Braves for his first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2252054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[384309,422819,429831],"class_list":["post-2334271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-lineup","tag-risers","tag-top-headlines"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Hector-Neris-Signs-Minor-League-Deal-With-Royals-MLB-News.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2334271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2334271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2334271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2334272,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2334271\/revisions\/2334272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2252054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2334271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2334271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2334271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}