LOOK: Carlos Martinez honors Oscar Taveras, Yordano Ventura during Opening Day start

Carlos Martinez wrote No. 18 for Oscar Taveras and No. 30 for Yordano Ventura on the mound on Opening Day

By Mike Axisa

Apr 2, 2017 at 9:35 pm ET • 1 min read

The 2017 regular season officially opened Sunday with three games. The rest of the league will kick off their seasons Monday with the more traditional Opening Day.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs, two longtime rivals, started their seasons at Busch Stadium on Sunday night. And prior to throwing the first pitch of the game, Cardinals ace Carlos Martinez honored the late Oscar Taveras and Yordano Ventura by writing their uniform numbers on the mound.

Carlos Martinez honors Oscar Taveras and Yordano Ventura before tonightâs first pitch. pic.twitter.com/9SJrlda2gD
— MLB (@MLB) April 3, 2017

Taveras, who wore No. 18 with the Cardinals, was killed in a car crash in the Dominican Republic back in 2014. He and Martinez were very close friends. Ventura, who wore No. 30 with the Royals, was killed this past offseason, also in a car crash in the Dominican Republic. He and Martinez were not teammates, but they were countrymen.