This article will include a brief history of the great American tradition, when the first game is, what the matchups are for Opening Weekend, and some fun facts about Opening Day! Now, let's get into it.
What is Opening Day?
Opening Day is a long-standing tradition in baseball that has been going on for over 100 years now. In short, it's the first game of the MLB regular season. The first Opening Day game took place on April 22, 1876, when the Boston Red Stockings defeated the Philadelphia Athletics 6-5.
Fast forward 44 years, and former U.S. President William Howard Taft threw out the first pitch on Opening Day in 1910, and it marked the beginning of what would become one of the biggest days in American sports. Thanks to him, the first pitch became a stage for Presidents to show what they can do from the mound.
Since then, every President except Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump has thrown the first pitch for Opening Day.
In modern times, Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith became the first person to lobby for Opening Day to be recognized as a National Holiday.
Since then, petitions have made their way to the White House. However, it's still not recognized...yet. Fans are still pushing for it every single year.
"An opener is not like any other game. There's that little extra excitement, a faster beating of the heart. You have that anxiety to get off to a good start, for yourself and for the team. You know that when you win the first one, you can't lose 'em all," said Hall of Fame pitcher Early Wynn (1920-1999).
When is the first game?
Rather than during the afternoon, Opening Day will actually begin at 8:05 p.m. (Eastern) on March 25th this year in a matchup between the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants. Even more so, the game will be streaming on Netflix - the platform's first-ever MLB game.
Both historic teams, the Giants from the National League and the Yankees from the American League, only played each other in one series (three games) last season, which the Giants ended up winning two of the three games with a combined score of 18-13.
Logan Webb will be the Opening Day starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. He was part of the USA World Baseball Classic pitching staff and is coming off back-to-back All-Star seasons. He will be making his fifth consecutive Opening Day start, which marks the second most in Giants history - Juan Marichal holds the record with six.
Webb finished 2025 leading the league with 34 starts and innings pitched (207), while leading the NL in strikeouts (224).
The Yankees tabbed Max Fried as their Opening Day starter. The vet is also coming off back-to-back All-Star seasons and finished fourth in AL Cy Young voting just as Webb did in the NL.
New York finished last season with a 94-68 record and are predicted to win the AL East this year. As for the Giants, they finished 81-81 last season and are predicted to finish second in the NL West.
What is the schedule layout?
It's good to understand that most teams will start their on March 26th, while a handful of others begin on March 27th. It won't be until Saturday, March 28th, that all 30 teams will be playing. For most, if fans look at the full schedule, they'll see most teams will skip a day after their first game, unlike during the rest of the season where all games are continuous within a respective series.
This is to ensure that any weather-related postponements can be rescheduled for those empty days so that teams don't have any problems playing their first series of the season.
For example, the Yankees and Giants will play on March 25th, but will have an off day on March 26th, before continuing their series on the 27th and 28th. So on and so forth. Besides the Yankees-Giants series, all of the Opening Weekend series will end on Sunday, March 29th, before moving on to their next series.
Only two matchups will start the season with a four-game series: Seattle Mariners vs. Cleveland Guardians and Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Angels.
What are the matchups?
Let's take a look at the matchups for Opening Day and Opening Weekend. Each game is ordered by start date, then time, and will include the dates of their other matchups within the series. Only the first games of each respective series will be listed.
March 25th
Yankees @ Giants - 8:05 p.m. (27th, 28th)
March 26th
Pirates @ Mets - 1:15 p.m. (28th, 29th)
White Sox @ Brewers - 2:10 p.m. (28th, 29th)
Nationals @ Cubs - 2:20 p.m. (28th, 29th)
Twins @ Orioles - 3:05 p.m. (28th, 29th)
Red Sox @ Reds - 4:10 p.m. (28th, 29th)
Angels @ Astros - 4:10 p.m. (27th-29th)
Tigers @ Padres - 4:10 p.m. (27th, 28th)
Rangers @ Phillies - 4:15 p.m. (28th, 29th)
Rays @ Cardinals - 4:15 p.m. (28th, 29th)
Diamondbacks @ Dodgers - 8:30 p.m. (27th, 28th)
Guardians @ Mariners - 10:10 p.m. (27th-29th)
March 27th
Athletics @ Blue Jays - 7:07 p.m. (28th, 29th)
Rockies @ Marlins - 7:10 p.m. (28th, 29th)
Royals @ Braves - 7:15 p.m. (28th, 29th)
Fun facts about Opening Day
Opening Day is filled with a century-long history and is rooted in some fun facts.
The major one that stands out is that Baltimore Orioles outfielder Tyler "Mr. Opening Day" O'Neill has hit a home run in six straight Opening Day games - an MLB record - and is looking to make it seven straight this season. He needs just three more Opening Day home runs to surpass the legend Frank Robinson (8), an Orioles Hall of Famer, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Adam Dunn for most all-time.
O'Neill is tied with Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper, who also has six Opening Day home runs. Meanwhile, Baltimore (6 - 2025) sits just behind the Los Angeles Dodgers (8 - 2019) for the most home runs by a team in a single Opening Day game.
The 1913 Detroit Tigers and 1929 Cincinnati Reds still hold the MLB record for most runs scored (17) on Opening Day. In 2024, the Arizona Diamondbacks came the closest to breaking that when they put up 16.
The New York Yankees tied the MLB record last season for most home runs (15) by a team in their Opening Weekend series, which made the 'torpedo bat' trending throughout the league.
Back to the Orioles, they will be sending out their fifth new Opening Day starter in the past five years with Tyler Rogers. Meanwhile, the Rockies are going the opposite way, as Kyle Freeland was named their starting pitcher for the fifth straight Opening Day.
White Sox starting pitcher Shane Smith will be making his first career Opening Day start against the Brewers, the team that originally signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2021. He'll be up against Jacob Misiorowski, who will be making his first Opening Day start as well - both were rookies last year.
Misiorowski will be just the third youngest Brewers pitcher in franchise history to get the ball for Opening Day at 23 years and 357 days.
There has only been one pitcher who threw a no-hitter on Opening Day - Bob Feller on April 16, 1940.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers) will become just the sixth pitcher since 1969 to record the final out of the World Series and start the next season.
Camilo Pascual (Washington Senators, 1960) still holds the record for most strikeouts (15) by a starting pitcher during Opening Day. Washington Nationals' Mackenzie Gore came close last season when he put up 13.
The Houston Astros (2013-2022) hold the record with 10 straight Opening Day wins, while the Yankees currently hold the longest Opening Day win streak with four, followed by the Orioles and Dodgers, who have three.
Baltimore has the most Opening Day wins (71) of all-time, while the Mets have the best Opening Day winning percentage of .641 (41-23).
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves have the longest active Opening Day losing streak with seven straight losses (2019-2025).
Will the Yankees continue their win streak? Will the Braves break their skid? What records will be broken? Anything can happen during Opening Day!