On Saturday, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly named his starting pitchers for the first two spring training games and their order may surprise you a bit. Although the order in which starting pitchers appear is basically meaningless early in the spring games, Mattingly announced that soon-to-be 36-year-old left-hander Erik Bedard will be his spring training Opening Day starter when the Dodgers face their camp mates the Chicago White Sox at 1:05 pm (MT) at Camelback Ranch. Bedard will undoubtedly be followed by several of the many relievers in camp vying for very few spots in the Dodgers bullpen.

Erik Bedard shares a laugh with Dodgers manager Don Mattingly and minor league pitching coordinator Rick Knapp before throwing his first bullpen session as a Dodger. Bedard will start the first game of spring training on Wednesday afternoon. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Thursday’s starter will be defending 2014 NL MVP and three-time Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw – also against the White Sox at Camelback Ranch at 1:05 pm (MT) – with the Dodgers wearing their road gray pants and blue jerseys with the White Sox being the home team.

Although Mattingly has yet to name his starters for Friday’s split-squad games against the Mariners and Brewers at Camelback Ranch and Maryvale respectively, it will most likely be Zack Greinke and Hyun-jin Ryu who get the starts. This lines up Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson to start on Saturday and Sunday against the Indians and Brewers at Goodyear and Camelback Ranch respectively, although the order has yet to be determined.

So why is Bedard getting the nod over Kershaw for the spring opener? It’s actually a matter of reverse mathematics. Mattingly and Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt simply counted backwards from Opening Day on April 6 so that each of his starters will get at least five days of rest between spring training starts (plus an occasional extra day off) in preparation for the 2015 season. And while Mattingly has yet to officially name his regular season Opening Day starter, it goes without saying that it’s going to be Kershaw. In fact, Mattingly even joked about it with reporters on Saturday morning. “I’m not going to announce anything until we talk to our candidate,” as in one and only candidate.

With Kershaw starting the second game of the spring, he lines up perfectly to be the Opening Day starter – as if there was ever a doubt. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Almost without exception, starters rarely go more than two innings in their spring debuts, followed by another simulated inning in the bullpen. An additional inning is then usually tacked on with each subsequent start until they eventually stretch out to five or six innings leading up the the beginning of the regular season. The exception to this, of course, would be if their pitch count gets too high regardless of the number of innings pitched.

Bedard, who turns 36 on Thursday, was 4-6  with a 4.76 ERA with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2014. He appeared in 17 total games, having started 15 of them. In his 75.2 innings of work, the Ontario, Canada native struck out 64 while walking 29 before being released from the team in August.

Realistically, Bedard is a long shot to make the team out of spring training – something that Mattingly addressed with reporters on Saturday.

“He started off really well last year then kind of fizzled,” Mattingly said. “We’ll get him in camp and see what he looks like, we’ll leave it open. There are a lot of guys outside of our five guys we have slated that are competing and building up toward a season. We’ll see where that goes over camp.”

Although Bedard is one of only three non-roster invitee starting pitchers in big league camp (along with fellow lefties Chris Reed and Julio Urias), there are a slew of them on the 40-man roster – thus further diminishing his chances of making the Opening Day roster. But this hasn’t interfered with Mattingly giving the 11-year MLB veteran a legitimate shot at making the team – or at least keeping him in the top six or seven on the Dodgers starting pitching depth chart.

“It’s tough with the older guys and getting ready. I’m not trying to judge his bullpens and BP,” Mattingly said. “These guys know when to turn it up. I just know him from the past. He knows how to pitch, he can get to both sides of the plate.”