PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Bartolo Colon will start for the New York Mets on Opening Day against the Washington Nationals in D.C., with Jacob deGrom slated to get the home opener a week later, organization sources told ESPN.com.
The Mets plan to announce their full rotation on Monday.
However, sources told ESPN.com that Colon will start on April 6 against the Nats. After a day off, deGrom will start on April 8. Matt Harvey will make his first regular-season start since Tommy John surgery the following day.
As a result, deGrom will draw the April 13 home opener against the Philadelphia Phillies, with Harvey starting the following day.
Harvey last pitched in a regular-season game on Aug. 24, 2013. He underwent Tommy John surgery two months later.
Fans had been clamoring for Harvey to start the season or home opener. But manager Terry Collins has indicated that Harvey did not deserve either honor because he was absent last season, while other pitchers performed well. DeGrom is the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, which was an allure in giving him the home opener.
Colon is slated to become -- at 41 years, 317 days old -- the oldest Opening Day starter in the majors since Jamie Moyer (43 years, 136 days) and Randy Johnson (42 years, 205 days) in 2006. He also would become the Mets' oldest Opening Day starter ever, surpassing Tom Glavine in 2007 (41 years, 7 days).
Colon went 15-13 with a 4.09 ERA a season ago. He logged 200 innings for the first time since winning the AL Cy Young in 2005.
This would be Colon's seventh career Opening Day start -- the most recent having come in 2006 with the Los Angeles Angels.
The Nats have not announced their Opening Day starter, but it is expected to be new ace Max Scherzer.