The San Diego Padres have hopes of contending in 2022 after a disappointing finish last season. On Thursday, the Padres announced that Yu Darvish will be the team's Opening Day starting pitcher April 7th vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Darvish was an NL All-Star in 2021, when he posted fantastic first half numbers. Unfortunately, there was a second half to be played and the Padres starter would probably prefer to forget that. Darvish went 1-8 with a 6.16 ERA after the All-Star break.

This is the third time in Darvish's career that he will start on Opening Day. He was San Diego's starter last year. He also took the ball on Opening Day in 2017 with the Texas Rangers.

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Darvish leads a deep, talented pitching staff in San Diego that features former AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell. The Padres also have good young arms in Chris Paddack and Joe Musgrove in the rotation. The Padres are also hoping that Mike Clevinger can finally remain healthy and fill out the back of their rotation.

They brought Clevinger on board in 2020, trading for the young talented pitcher. He was forced to have Tommy John Surgery twice since he arrived in San Diego. Clevinger made his spring debut on Tuesday, allowing eight runs on seven hits over 1 2/3 innings, certainly not the ideal return.

Meanwhile, Darvish leads the staff into his 10th season in the Majors. The NL West is loaded again in 2022, with both the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants looking like contenders. So, it will not be easy for San Diego to finally break through.