Mar 28, 2025, 01:18 AM ET
The 2025 MLB season is officially underway!
Twenty-eight of 30 teams were in action Thursday, with the opening matchup between the Colorado Rockies and Tampa Bay Rays scheduled for Friday.
The New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers got things started on ESPN, with new Yankees closer Devin Williams getting the save for the win. After that, things really heated up with nine games starting just after 4 p.m. ET — highlighted by two extra-inning games, a number of down-to-the-wire finishes, and a win by the Los Angeles Dodgers, who raised their World Series banner before a 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers.
What did we see — and what did we learn — in the first day of games as the season gets started? We have you covered with the best moments from every game, as well as takeaways from each matchup.
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Takeaways | Relive all the action | Friday previews
Takeaways from every Opening Day game
New York Yankees 4, Milwaukee Brewers 2
In the ultracompetitive American League East, every team has a formula to win games. The Yankees’ played out to near-perfection in their 4-2 Opening Day victory over the Brewers on Thursday. It went something like this: a few extra-base hits from their non-Aaron Judge everyday players, a solid outing from their starter and a bullpen cobbling together enough to hang on for the win.
Austin Wells‘ leadoff home run — the first by a Yankee on Opening Day — and Anthony Volpe‘s second-inning shot, both off Brewers starter Freddy Peralta, got New York started. Carlos Rodon twirled 5⅓ innings of one-run ball, relying on a slider that induced nine whiffs on 15 swings. And the quartet of Tim Hill, Mark Leiter Jr., Luke Weaver and new closer Devin Williams picked up the last 11 outs. It got hairy for a bit in the ninth, with Williams allowing loud contact and baserunners aplenty in a 36-pitch save. But a win’s a win, and if the Yankees follow this formula for the rest of the season, they’re going to wind up with plenty more. — Jeff Passan
Baltimore Orioles 12, Toronto Blue Jays 2
Welcome to the Orioles, Tyler O’Neill. Baltimore’s new right fielder already held the MLB record by homering on five straight Opening Days — and improbably extended it to six when he hit a towering three-run home run to power the Orioles to victory. Next up for O’Neill in 2026: Frank Robinson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn share the record with eight career home runs on Opening Day.
In the bigger picture for the Orioles, it was certainly encouraging to see Adley Rutschman follow up his excellent spring training with a three-hit game, including two home runs. Rutschman struggled the final three months in 2024, a key reason the Orioles were three games under .500 in that stretch — and then scored one run in two games in a quick playoff exit. The Orioles finished with six home runs, just the fourth team with at least six home runs a season opener. The record: The Dodgers hit eight in 2019. — David Schoenfield
Chicago White Sox 8, Los Angeles Angels 1
On a cool, cloudy day on the South Side of Chicago, the White Sox had an opener as perfect as the weather was flawed.
With an 8-1 drubbing of the Angels on Thursday, the White Sox kick off 2025 with a win, remaining perfect one day into the season. Ordinarily you wouldn’t point out such an obvious thing but lest we forget that this team lost 121 games a season ago. Chicago began 2024 by dropping four straight and nine of its first 10. The team never sniffed .500. In 2023, the White Sox won their opener, lost their second game and never again climbed above break even.
Thus, in winning their first game of 2025, the White Sox climb above .500 for the first time in two calendar years. In the end, it might not be much — but for now, it’s a one-game perfect start that means a lot.
It was also a perfect start for new White Sox manager Will Venable, tasked with turning around this sunken ship. He’s now the only undefeated manager in White Sox history, at least for a day. The team marked the occasion by dousing him with the ritual Gatorade shower in the clubhouse. Perfect.
“Obviously a great way to start the season,” Venable said, still damp from the celebration. “You know, they were very supportive of me getting my first win.”
Finally, it was a perfect opener for rookie starter Sean Burke. Not in the sense that he retired every Angels batter he faced, but in the emotional sense. Burke was making his first career Opening Day start in just his fourth start overall. He wasn’t dominant, but he held the Angels to three hits over six scoreless and efficient innings. From the bottom of the second until his departure, Burke was very much perfect: He retired the last 14 Angels batters he faced.
The 2024 White Sox had very few, if any, high points. The beauty of Opening Day is that all that is a sunk cost, and the season begins with a clean slate. For one day, that flawless White Sox slate remains, well, perfect. They should enjoy it while they can. — Bradford Doolittle
San Francisco Giants 6, Cincinnati Reds 4
Wilmer Flores had a 2024 campaign that he would much rather forget: -0.6 WAR and a .595 OPS before a knee injury ended his season in early August. Well, you know what’s a really good way to put a season like that in the rearview? By being the ninth-inning hero on Opening Day, which is exactly what Flores did Thursday when he belted a game-deciding three-run homer.
The bottom of the Giants’ lineup is one of those you look at and wonder where the production is going to come from, but Flores is also not that far removed from posting a 137 OPS+ in 2023. If the Giants can get that version in 2025, the bottom of their lineup could suddenly be much more dangerous. — Dan Mullen
Boston Red Sox 5, Texas Rangers 2
The Red Sox and Rangers are two of the most popular picks to come out of the AL from our MLB experts and Thursday’s opener in Arlington had a big-game feel to it. But for all the hyped new arrivals young (Kristian Campbell, Garrett Crochet) and older (Alex Bregman) who have many predicting Boston could be the AL’s World Series rep in six months, it was a lesser-known returnee who came up biggest on Opening Day. Wilyer Abreu put the exclamation mark on a two-home-run game with a decisive three-run blast in the ninth inning.
For the Red Sox to live up to their breakout team expectations, it’s going to take contributions from all over the roster — like a player who hit 15 homers in 132 games a season ago belting two big homers from the seven-hole on a day that the first five hitters in Boston’s lineup went a combined 1-for-19. — Mullen
Cleveland Guardians 7, Kansas City Royals 4 (10 innings)
It looked like a familiar formula for Cleveland: Cade Smith, Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis and Emmanuel Clase — each of whom had a sub-2.00 ERA in 2024 — putting up zeroes to close out a one-run victory. Except the Royals tagged Clase for three hits and a game-tying run in the bottom of the ninth. There were a couple of soft singles in there, but it wasn’t the best way for Clase to erase his horrors of last October. The Guardians rallied for three runs in the 10th inning anyway, showing some of the same “figure out a way” fortitude they had last season. And Clase? He should be fine, although this was a reminder that he also had a lot of bad luck on balls in play in 2023, when he lost nine games. — Schoenfield
Houston Astros 3, New York Mets 1
This matchup had a few pregame storylines: Jose Altuve‘s first game as a left fielder; Cam Smith, the 22-year-old slugger, making his major league debut less than a year after he was drafted; and Clay Holmes, the former Yankees All-Star closer, starting his first game since 2018. But it was, above all, about Juan Soto.
Buster Olney ranks MLB’s best at every position for 2025. Check out who makes the list on ESPN+.
The $765 million man stepped into the batter’s box five times and fives times the sellout crowd at Daikin Park booed him. He singled in his first at-bat, and walked in his second and fourth plate appearances. Finally, in the ninth inning, with runners on the corners and the Mets down to their last out, Soto walked to the plate and heard the loudest boos of the day. He jumped ahead 3-0 against Josh Hader, who appeared willing to pitch around Soto. But Hader did not surrender and Soto struck out, waving at a slider out of the strike zone.
Hader’s escape preserved a gem from left-hander Framber Valdez. The veteran began his platform season by holding the Mets’ potent lineup scoreless over seven innings on 90 pitches. — Jorge Castillo
Philadelphia Phillies 7, Washington Nationals 4 (10 innings)
Once a top prospect and a headlining name in Washington’s return in their Juan Soto trade with San Diego, MacKenzie Gore has shown flashes but hasn’t really put it all together in the majors. Could 2025 be the year that changes? Gore went toe-to-toe with perennial Cy Young candidate Zack Wheeler on Opening Day, striking out 13 hitters in six scoreless innings. Gore hit 98 mph and got 20 swings and misses while striking out every member of the Phillies lineup at least once.
Things went downhill in a hurry for the Nationals once Gore came out though. Bryce Harper hit his sixth Opening Day home run — his first with the Phillies — and Kyle Schwarber followed with his first blast of the season before Philadelphia broke the game open with a four-run 10th inning. — Mullen
San Diego Padres 7, Atlanta Braves 4
If he arrived in the majors almost any other year, Jackson Merrill would be the reigning National League Rookie of the Year. The year that Paul Skenes burst onto the scene is not any other year, so Merrill had to settle for a runner-up finish instead. But he might be in the conversation for another award this season: MVP.
Merrill showed off why on Opening Day, driving in the first runs of the season for San Diego with a beautiful two-strike single off reigning NL Cy Young Chris Sale, making a jaw-dropping catch near the center-field wall and adding some insurance with a late sacrifice fly. Oh, and have we mentioned he doesn’t turn 22 until April 19? — Mullen
Miami Marlins 5, Pittsburgh Pirates 4
All eyes will be on Paul Skenes as he embarks on his second season as the Cy Young favorite. His first start against a Marlins lineup that won’t exactly be confused with the iconic 1927 Yankees was solid, but hardly dominant. He certainly won’t be happy about walking the final two hitters he faced in the sixth, which knocked him out after 5⅓ innings and led to a second run scoring on his ledger. He finished with seven strikeouts, six of those coming on fastballs, and topped out at 99.9 mph, but he had some trouble finishing off batters as the Marlins battled with 24 foul balls.
For the Marlins, Sandy Alcantara made his first regular season start since 2023 and the stuff was there, hitting 99 mph, but he walked four in 4⅔ innings. However, the Marlins rallied with three runs in the final two innings against a Pittsburgh bullpen that was a problem last year to secure the win. — Schoenfield
St. Louis Cardinals 5, Minnesota Twins 3
The “no-trade” guys came through for the Cardinals as Sonny Gray pitched them to a victory while Nolan Arenado earned a curtain call with an eighth-inning home run. Arenado jumped out of the dugout, cupping his hand to his ear after his blast that barely cleared the left-field wall. It delighted the 47,395 people in attendance, many of whom sat through a 90-minute rain delay before first pitch. Over the winter, Arenado turned down a trade to Houston and Gray made it known from day one that he didn’t want to go anywhere either (despite also being the subject of trade rumors). Gray struck out six in five innings, including four in a row at one point.
Both players have no-trade clauses — which might or might not be invoked later in the summer — but for one day, the veteran Cardinals came through in a big way. — Jesse Rogers
Los Angeles Dodgers 5, Detroit Tigers 4
Blake Snell lasted only five innings, during which he put nine hitters on base, and yet it didn’t matter. The Dodgers found a way to win their stateside opener, as they did their two games in Japan and as they will continue to do so often in 2025. Snell continually weaved in and out of trouble, and two of his new teammates provided some much-needed support. First, it was Teoscar Hernandez, the man who so badly wanted to return to L.A. during the offseason, launching a three-run shot to straightaway center field in the fifth. Then it was Shohei Ohtani, the reigning National League MVP, hitting a seventh-inning, opposite-field solo homer to provide what ended up being a much-needed insurance run. In the end, the Dodgers snuck by Tarik Skubal and a gritty, up-and-coming Tigers team. They’re now 3-0. They won both games against the Cubs even though Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman did not play in them, and they prevailed against a Tigers team that put the leadoff runner on in six of nine innings and continually came up empty. — Alden Gonzalez
Seattle Mariners 4, Athletics 2
We had belt-gate and bunt-gate and finally Jorge Polanco‘s go-ahead two-run home run for the Mariners in the eighth inning — right when it appeared Tyler Soderstrom would become the first hero in (Sacramento) Athletics history with two home runs of his own. Polanco played through a bad knee in 2024 that required surgery after the season and hit only .213, but the Mariners re-signed him as a free agent, and he started the season with a 3-for-3 effort. This is a guy who hit 33 home runs for the Twins in 2021 and was a solid hitter for them in 2022-23. If he’s healthy again, he’ll help a Mariners lineup that certainly needs the help. — David Schoenfield
Chicago Cubs 10, Arizona Diamondbacks 6
The Diamondbacks are usually one of best defensive teams in the majors, but the key play in the Cubs’ win was Miguel Amaya‘s two-out, bases-clearing double in the fifth inning — on a line drive that popped out of the glove of center fielder Jake McCarthy and should have been ruled an error. After hitting .172 in their two losses in Tokyo, the Cubs did get the bats going, showing patience against a wild Zac Gallen and reaching double digits in hits. Though the Cubs’ offense should be fine over the long haul, the bullpen is a question. On Thursday, at least, Caleb Thielbar, Porter Hodge and Ryan Pressly closed it out with three innings of one-run ball. — David Schoenfield
Relive Opening Day
Friday previews
Colorado Rockies at Tampa Bay Rays
First pitch: 4:10 p.m. ET
The pitching matchup: Kyle Freeland vs. Ryan Pepiot
The big storyline: This game was supposed to be about Shane McClanahan‘s return to the mound after sitting out 2024, but he went down with nerve irritation in his left triceps in his final spring training start, landing on the IL. Instead, Pepiot will get the ball as the Rays host the Rockies in their adopted home field, George M. Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees’ spring training stadium. Two players to watch for the Rays: second-year third baseman Junior Caminero, who hit four home runs in camp, but otherwise struggled, hitting .149; and infielder Curtis Mead, who hit .529. Mead is expected to get the start at first base, with Yandy Diaz serving as the DH.
For the Rockies, center fielder Brenton Doyle and shortstop Ezequiel Tovar are two of the most exciting defenders in the game — both won Gold Gloves in 2024 — but, barring a miracle, the Rockies aren’t going to score enough runs to be competitive. — Schoenfield
One thing to know for Tampa Bay: The Rays will be playing this season’s home games at the Yankees’ spring training facility after their home park of Tropicana Field sustained damages from Hurricane Milton in October.
One thing to know for Colorado: Doyle, who has won Gold Gloves in each of his first two seasons in the majors, will look to become the third Rockies player to win the award in three consecutive seasons since Nolan Arenado (2013-20) and Hall of Famer Larry Walker (1997-99).
