MLB opening day is a time of great excitement for many fans, as it means that America’s pastime is starting up once again. This year’s opening day was—like always— packed with many exciting matchups that gave us great games, as well as the chance to see both many familiar and unfamiliar faces.
The festivities started in San Francisco on Wednesday night, where the San Francisco Giants took on the New York Yankees. Captivated by a five-run second inning, the Yankees dominated, getting a 7-0 win to start out the season.
However, despite their great offensive performance, there was one massive hole: 6’ 7” Aaron Judge, Yankees star and reigning American League MVP, went 0-5 with four strikeouts—the most he’s had in a game since 2024.
This game also made history, as Yankees shortstop José Caballero became the first player to challenge a pitch using the MLB’s new ABS challenge system in the fourth inning. He ended up losing the challenge on his first pitch strike.
The Automated Ball-Strike system, or ABS for short, is a brand new edition to the MLB this year that does what it says: it automates calling balls and strikes instead of leaving it up to the discretion of the home-plate umpire. With this new system, if you watch a game on television, you will no longer see a discrepancy between the umpire’s call and the strike zone projected on the screen (as long as it’s calibrated correctly).
Moving on to Thursday, the majority of MLB teams kicked off their season with a total of 11 games being played.
It started in Queens, New York, as the Pittsburgh Pirates took on the New York Mets. Two batters in and the Pirates had taken a 2-0 lead on a Brandon Lowe two-run home run. Just one half inning later, however, and the Mets led 5-2 off the back of a three RBI triple by Brett Baty.
What shocked many is that the Pirates pulled their ace, Paul Skenes, after making only two outs and giving up five runs. After this, the runs kept on pouring in, with a total of 18 being scored. This number was skewed in the Mets’ favor as they won 11-7.
Chase Meidroth hit a lead-off home-run for the Chicago White Sox in their game versus the Milwaukee Brewers. Not much else went well for the White Sox, though, as the Brewers had an offensive explosion, scoring a total of 14 runs. They were also led by their ace, Jacob Misiorowski, who pitched a great game, only allowing one run and striking out 11 White Sox through five innings on their way to 14-2 victory.
The Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs found themselves in the third high-scoring affair of the day, with the Nationals winning 10-4, which notched manager Blake Butera his first managerial win in the big leagues. The game started out close, as the Cubs found themselves leading 2-1 going into the fourth inning. However, the Nationals exploded for a six-run fourth inning, capped off by a two-run home-run by Jacob Young.
The Baltimore Orioles and Minnesota Twins played the first game in the late afternoon slot. Unlike the previous games, this one wasn’t a slugfest for either team as each team’s ace, Trevor Rogers and Joe Ryan respectively, each pitched five-plus innings without giving up any runs.
It took until the bottom of the seventh for the first runs to score, with the Orioles taking a 2-0 lead off a Colton Cowser sacrifice fly and a Blaze Alexander RBI single. Luke Keaschall drove in Byron Buxton on a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth to cut the Orioles lead to one. However, they maintained their lead and hung on to win 2-1.
The Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds played a similar game to the previous one, with the Red Sox taking home a 3-0 victory. Each team’s ace, Garrett Crochet and Andrew Abbott respectively, pitched six shutout innings. In the top of the seventh, Ceddanne Rafaela hit an RBI single to give the Red Sox the lead. In the top of ninth, an RBI single by both Jarren Duran and Trevor Story furthered the Red Sox’s lead, cementing their 3-0 victory.
The Detroit Tigers came out of the gates hot in their game against the San Diego Padres, as they scored four runs in top of the first off a Spencer Torkelson RBI walk and Dillion Dingler single, as well as a two RBI double by Kevin McGonigle. In the top of the third, they scored two more runs off a Parker Meadows single.
Two innings later, Dingler hit a two-run home-run to give the Tigers a 8-0 lead. An RBI double for both Xander Bogaerts and Ramón Laureano in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, cut the Tigers lead down to six. However, they held onto their lead and won 8-2.
The Philadelphia Phillies put runs on the board early in their game against the Texas Rangers, as Kyle Schwarber hit a 2-run “Shwarbomb,” to put the Phillies up 2-0 in the bottom of the first. The game cooled down for the next few innings before the Phillies struck again in the fifth inning off a three-run Alec Bohm homer.
In a sequence all too familiar to Phillies fans, their bullpen started to slip when they had a lead in the ninth inning. Jake Burger hit a two-run bomb in the top of the ninth and Danny Jansen drove in Kyle Higashioka to cut the Phillies lead down to two. But (unlike many previous instances), the Phillies held on to their lead and won 5-3 in front of their home fans.
The Los Angeles Angels and Houston Astros first game of the year was a slow, low-scoring affair dominated by each team’s pitching. However, Mike Trout—who went for one for two on the day with three walks—hit a home-run in the top of the seventh inning to put the Angels up 1-0. An Oswald Peraza RBI single and Nolan Schanuel solo home-run in the eight and ninth innings respectively led the Angels to their 3-0 victory.
The Tampa Bay Rays and the St. Louis Cardinals found themselves in another high-scoring game, with an incredible 14 runs being scored in the sixth inning. The Rays came into the top of the sixth coming off a Jonathan Aranda home-run in the top of the fifth—which tied the game at 1-1 after an earlier home-run by Cardinal JJ Wetherholt—and proceeded to score six runs.
The speedster Chandler Simpson started the party with an RBI single, which Aranda continued with a sacrifice fly. Then Ben Williamson, Jonny DeLuca, and Nick Fortes each hit RBI singles to center field, which put the Rays up 7-1.
However, this must have lit a fire in the Cardinals, as they answered back with 8 runs of their own. Nolan Gorman and Nathan Church each hit two RBI singles to put the score at 7-5. Wetherholt and Ivan Herra then each hit sacrifice flies to tie the score at 7-7. Alec Burleson then hit a two-run home run to put the Cardinals up 9-7. They held onto this lead and won by the same score.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks kicked off the evening games with an expected result for defending World Series champions: Dodgers win big. However, the Diamondbacks did get on the board first with a Geraldo Perdomo two-run home-run in the top of the fourth inning.
The Dodgers answered with a four-run fifth inning off of a three-run Andy Pages home-run and a Will Smith RBI single. Two innings later, they piled on the scoring as they scored four more runs off an Kyle Tucker RBI double, Mookie Betts RBI single, and a two-run Will Smith home-run to give the Dodgers an 8-2 lead. They maintained their lead and won by the same score.
The Cleveland Guardians and Seattle Mariners played the last game of the night—and it was a good one. Chase DeLauter homered in the top of the first to put the Guardians up 1-0 early. The Mariners answered right back with a Brendan Donovan home-run in the bottom of the first to tie it at 1-1. An inning later, Dominic Canzone hit a home-run to give his Mariners a 2-1 lead.
Brayan Rocchio then hit a two-run double to give the lead back to the Guardians in the top of the fifth. Luke Raley then hit a home-run in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 3-3. In the top of the seventh, José Ramírez hit a two-run double to give his Guardians back the lead, which made the game 5-3.
Canzone hit his second homer of the day to cut the Guardians’ lead down to one in the bottom of the seventh. In the top of the ninth, DeLauter hit his second homer of the day to extend the Guardians’ lead back to 6-4. Their pitching would hold on in the bottom of the ninth and the Guardians would take home the victory.
In conclusion, this year’s MLB Opening Day was an extremely fun-filled day with numerous great games and was a great day for baseball fans all over the world. It also saw the debut of the MLB’s new ABS system as well as a great new trivia stat: Aaron Judge is the only reigning MVP to achieve a “golden sombrero” (four strikeouts) on opening day.
