Tyler Glasnow’s no-hit mastery of Giants justifies Dodgers’ Seoul Series opener role

The Dodgers took a surprising left turn when they announced that Tyler Glasnow would be their Seoul Series Game 1 starter over Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was widely expected to sit atop the rotation from the jump. Yamamoto in Game 1 would have put him up against Samurai Japan teammate Yu Darvish pitching for the Padres, and it just would've made sense for them to give their $325 million man a chance before anyone else this year.

Kicking Yamamoto to Game 2 could have something to do with a tough second start in spring training (not at all helped by the defense of Gavin Lux and Max Muncy), but it's still disappointing that we won't see a Yamamoto/Darvish matchup.

But Glasnow is no slouch. There's a reason that he also become one of the Dodgers' highest-paid players this offseason, with a five-year, $136.5 million extension quickly coming into place after a trade from the Rays. If he can stay healthy this year, he'll probably garner Cy Young votes for the first time in his career.

On Wednesday, during his third spring start for the Dodgers, he reminded us of his potential to dominate and justified the Dodgers' decision to make him their Opening Day starter. He pitched 5 1/3 no-hit innings with eight strikeouts and just one walk.

Tyler Glasnow pitched 5 1/3 hitless innings against the SF Giants after being crowned Dodgers' Opening Day starter

Glasnow's first outing in spring was rocky; he pitched 1 2/3 innings and gave up four hits, one run, and walked one with only one strikeout. However, he was spotless during a three-inning effort on March 1, striking out five and walking one. After the March 12 appearance, he left the field to a standing ovation. The no-hitter was immediately broken up when Nick Ahmed got a single off of Ryan Brasier in the top of the sixth and the Giants eventually scored four runs for a 6-4 ballgame, but Glasnow still made a remarkable showing and locked up the win for LA.

He's never pitched more than 120 innings in a year, so it doesn't feel inaccurate to say that we haven't seen the best of Glasnow yet. He's yet to get his first All-Star appearance or receive Cy Young votes, but if he can do more of what we saw on Tuesday and stay healthy, both could be coming down the line for this season.