As the smoke and acrid odor from Netflix’s over-the-top pregame production cleared, two figures emerged from the haze to throw out the ceremonial first pitch of the 2026 baseball season.
The packed house at Oracle Park stood and gave Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy the loudest cheer of the night, showering them with adoration.
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That reception was a vivid illustration for Tony Vitello of what your legacy can be if you succeed as manager of the San Francisco Giants.
If Wednesday’s opener was any indication, Vitello has his work cut out for him. In a game that was a harsh departure from a successful spring and an unpleasant reminder of last season’s failings, the Giants barely put up a fight, losing to the Yankees, 7-0.
Harrison Bader (9) and manager Tony Vitello watch the final out as the San Francisco Giants played the New York Yankees in their 2026 Opening Day at Oracle Park in San Francisco, on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. The Giants were defeated 7-0. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/S.F. Chronicle)
Two of the most iconic franchises in baseball history opened the MLB season. The Yankees believe they should contend for a World Series every year. The stakes are different for the Giants, who would simply like to stay in postseson contention all season, build something entertaining and reignite their once-torrid love affair with San Francisco.
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The optimist – and what other kind of person is there on Opening Day? – could envision that happening on Wednesday afternoon as the festivities got under way.
The city popped with beauty and life. Sun-speckled bay vistas. Perfectly manicured emerald grass. Skies so blue they seemed painted. Attractive people jogging, skating, strolling along the waterfront.
San Francisco was in the spotlight. And the city showed out.
The playing of the national anthem for the MLB Opening Night game between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle)
“You’re giving me chills,” president of baseball operations Buster Posey said, when I asked him what it was like to have his beloved team and city showcased. “That’s one of the driving factors of wanting this team to be back in the playoffs so badly, because I was fortunate to live it as a player and still get to hear stories from fans of what the city was like during those playoff runs.
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“I would imagine a lot of cities have a different energy when there’s a good baseball team in town, but I think this one’s at the top as far as the impact that a baseball team can have on the city.”
That is what the Giants want to recapture: an ability to light the city with energy and joy, the way it was until about a decade ago when the sparkle petered out.
The vibes Wednesday night were good. For about 20 minutes. In the Yankees’ vibe-killing second inning, they sent nine players to the plate and tagged starter Logan Webb for five runs.
Welcome to the bigs, Vitello. The new manager stood on the second step of the dugout, watching the damage unfold. From upon high, ensconced in the McCovey Suite, Bochy and Baker watched it, too.
Rafael Devers (16) hugs manager Tony Vitello during introductions before the San Francisco Giants played the New York Yankees in their 2026 Opening Day at Oracle Park in San Francisco, on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/S.F. Chronicle)
“This is a half-painful, half-easy press conference to do because it was pretty straight up,” Vitello said after the game. “We could nitpick but this wasn’t a March Madness game where we drew up the wrong play at the end.”
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No, it was pretty much a one-sided butt-kicking. If the much-discussed energy of Vitello was present, it didn’t seem to translate to his players. It was just one game, but the Giants looked a lot like they did last season: flat and outclassed for most of the game. The biggest excitement for Giants fans (as opposed to the large number of happy Yankees fans in the building) was seeing Aaron Judge go 0-for-5, striking out four times.
The concern has always been, from the moment the schedule was released, that the Giants could be swamped before they have a chance to get started. Their April schedule is particularly brutal, and it would be whether your manager is a newbie out of the college ranks or Sparky Anderson.
Vitello said he was too busy to really feel nervous. He’s been going nonstop since taking the Giants job in October and the last few days have been particularly packed. He said he got to sleep late Tuesday, forgot to put his phone on ‘do not disturb’ and was awakened early by someone on the East Coast.
“When you get to the meat and potatoes of the day, I think if you’re too excited or too nervous or too whatever, you’re going to miss some of the steps that we were taking here in the office,” he said. “You’d be crazy if you didn’t have some (nerves). But it’s all kind of being drowned out by everything else.”
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Part of the drowning out was the Netflix production, which added an extra layer of to-dos and hype to Vitello’s day. Netflix was producing its first ever baseball game, trying to create a legacy that extended beyond Grandpa wondering how the heck to watch the game.
“Maybe when we look back as a group, the excitement of being the home team and the hype, maybe things were a little too emotional,” Vitello said afterwards. “We certainly want to make adjustments because we want to make it a more competitive situation.”
The pregame ceremony included the Giants starters taking the field through a cable car – which Vitello called “that big old thing” – that was parked in front of their dugout. The Yankees’ starters strutted out between two yellow cabs. Both forms of transports were enhanced by gyrating dancers, wearing clichéd costumes reminiscent of a middle school production of “Rent.”
The bellowing announcer was not-particularly-funny comedian Bert Kreischer, who has nothing to do with baseball but has a new series on Netflix. Red, white and blue smoke shaped as an American flag hung in the air for a moment before quickly dissolving into a foul-smelling cloud that covered the ballpark and looked like a twisted tribute to, oh say, a military incursion.
It was weird. It was messy. And then the game started. One sixty-one to go.
This article originally published at Tony Vitello got a taste of everything in Giants’ big, weird Opening Day loss.