By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
When Aaron Nola gets the ball for the Philadelphia Phillies on Opening Day, he'll be squaring off against Julio Teheran for the Atlanta Braves. The Braves announced Monday that Teheran, for the fifth consecutive season, will be their Opening Day starter. His counterpart, Nola, will be starting on Opening Day for the first time in his career.
Teheran, 27, is looking to rebound after a disappointing 2017 season in which he posted a 4.49 ERA and 4.95 FIP across 188.1 innings. Teheran has a 3.61 ERA in 26 career starts in March/April. The Colombian-born righty is 8-6 with a 3.38 ERA in 19 career games (18 of which are starts) against the Phillies.
It was expected that Teheran would start against the Phillies on Mar. 28, but what does the formal announcement mean for how Gabe Kapler's first lineup will look? In all likelihood, a right-handed pitcher on the mound means that Nick Williams will be the Phillies Opening Day right fielder. It is worth noting, however, that both Williams and Aaron Altherr hit better against right-handed pitching in 2017.
If it is Williams in right field, the guess here, as outlined in last week's edition of Phillies Nuggets, is that Williams will hit cleanup, breaking up Rhys Hoskins and Maikel Franco. Of course, if Hoskins hits second and Carlos Santana hits third, that likely would push Williams to another spot in the lineup.
It is rather incredible that Teheran is making his fifth consecutive Opening Day start at the age of 27. As FOX Sports South noted, Teheran is the first pitcher in Braves history to start on Opening Day five times in a row. MLB.com's Mark Bowman noted that Greg Maddux, Phil Neikro and Rick Mahler all made at least five Opening Day starts for the Atlanta Braves, but not in a row. Warren Spahn made six consecutive Opening Day starts for the Braves between 1957 and 1962 (he made eight total), but that was when the team played in Milwaukee. Steve Carlton was the last Phillies pitcher to make at least five consecutive Opening Day starts. Carlton actually made 10 consecutive Opening Day starts between 1977 and 1986.
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