Zack Greinke will face his former future team tonight

Zack Greinke will be facing his former future team, the Giants, tonight at AT&T Park.

If you remember November, it was widely reported that Zack Greinke was chosing between signing with either the Giants or the Dodgers. Then—like an RKO—Dave Stewart came in out of nowhere to bring him to the Diamondbacks. Nobody in the baseball world saw this coming; the Diamondbacks had never given out a contract of more than $68 million before giving Greinke his $206.5-million deal.

The San Francisco crowd should give Greinke a very, very warm reception tonight. Greinke’s rejection of the Giants forced the team to look elsewhere for starting pitching help—with the ultimate signing of Johnny Cueto. This isn’t something the fans are going to forget.

A 1-2 punch of Madison Bumgarner and Greinke could have become the best such combo in baseball. But instead, the two pitchers will be facing off against each other tonight. This game, between the Greinke angle, the pitching matchup and the divisional rivalry, will definitely be one fans won’t want to miss. It could be as close to a playoff atmosphere as an April baseball game can get.

If precedent is any factor, it should be a good night for Greinke. He is 2-0 with a lifetime 1.78 ERA in four starts at AT&T Park.

So tonight’s game can’t be considered a reunion for Greinke, since he never actually played with the Giants. But it will be fun to face his former future team—and one of the best pitchers in baseball—in a spectacular divisional matchup.