Happy MLB Opening Day!

The 2026 season has arrived, starting with a 7-0 blowout victory for the New York Yankees over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night and continuing with season openers for the rest of MLB on Thursday and Friday. Whether it was ace showdowns, powerhouse matchups or new faces in new places you want to see, there was something for everyone in Thursday’s games.

What are we watching as the season gets started? Here’s our takeaway from each completed game and a pregame look at what you need to know for the remaining games Friday (including lineups, each team’s initial 2026 Power Ranking and final offseason grade).

Jump to: Relive the action|Takeaways |Friday games

TakeawaysFriday’s games

In a matchup of playoff hopefuls with elite lefties on the mound, the Braves and Chris Sale breezed against the Royals and Cole Ragans. Sale was sharp, mixing good stuff and velocity that touched 98.3. He also benefited from a slew of excellent defensive plays behind him, many with runners on base.

Ragans’ stuff wavered through the outing, as did his command. Ragans walked four and gave up three homers to three different hitters on three different pitches, including one of his signature change-ups that he left up to Ozzie Albies. The highlight for the Royals was really Salvador Perez‘s work behind the plate challenging pitches. Three times Perez challenged pitches on the lower edge of the strike zone that Doug Eddings called low, and three times he got the pitches turned into strikes. Looks as if the old dog has picked up a new trick.

For the Braves, it’s just one win but it probably means more to win the opener this year. Flash back to a year ago, when the touted Braves opened with a seven-game road trip to San Diego and Los Angeles – and lost all seven games. Getting that ‘0’ out of the ‘W’ column right off the bat has to feel like a boost. — Bradford Doolittle

Thursday’s games

The Guardians and the Mariners are coming off division titles, but though the Mariners are a popular World Series pick, the Guardians are not expected to return to the playoffs. Cleveland served up four home runs but pulled out the win anyway, with — who else? —Jose Ramirez driving in the go-ahead runs with a two-out double in the seventh. Chase DeLautermight be the key to Cleveland’s playoff hopes.

You might remember him making his MLB debut in the wild card series, so when he homered in the top of the first, he technically homered in his first career at-bat (but not his official MLB debut). He also singled ahead of Ramirez’s double to keep that inning aliveand then blasted another home run in the ninth. Cleveland needs offense — and DeLauter might be the answer.– David Schoenfield

The Dodgers’ offense is incredibly deep and supremely talented. Also, as the Diamondbacks learned on Opening Day, it’s the type you can’t hold down for long. Zac Gallen did it for four innings, allowing just two baserunners. Then, the Dodgers exploded, scoring four runs in the fifth and another four in the seventh, a stretch highlighted by home runs from Andy Pages and Will Smith.

The Dodgers totaled 12 baserunners in those two innings. By the end of the night, they cranked out 10 hits, including an RBI double from newcomer Kyle Tucker. Seven of those hits — including Tucker’s — came with two strikes. It was a reminder of what makes this offense so dangerous: The Dodgers are never out of it, no matter how well one executes. — Alden Gonzalez

The Cardinals came back to beat the Rays on Alec Burleson‘s home run that capped an eight-run sixth inning, and that wasn’t the only sobering development for Tampa Bay. St. Louis deployed a strategy that might haunt dangerous Rays slugger Junior Caminero all season after he blasted 45 homers last year. The Cardinals walked him in four of his six plate appearances, refusing to throw him fastballs.

Given his bat speed and power, Caminero might face this game plan all summer, unless teammates around him in the Tampa Bay lineup do damage. Caminero, who drew only 41 walks in 2025, might have to wait for pitches to hit this year. — Buster Olney

It’s Opening Day. Everyone is allowed to dream big, such as dreaming about a vintage Mike Trout season. This game looked like Trout circa 2016 or so. His 403-foot home run that broke a scoreless game in the seventh was a classic Trout swing, golfing a low fastball to left field. In his heyday, nobody hit a low fastball better than Trout. He walked three times. He played center field. He even stole a base, which gives him half his total from last season.

As for the Astros, their concerns heading into the season were lineup depth and bullpen depth. They didn’t score, and the bullpen allowed all three runs. — David Schoenfield

After some aces got touched up in their first outings of the year, Cristopher Sanchez threw a masterful — and typical — six innings for the Phillies. Texas managed just three hits, didn’t draw a walk and struck out 10 times, including the final three batters Sanchez faced. The last was particularly nasty, a left-on-left changeup — one of the hardest pitches to throw effectively — that got Corey Seager swinging.

Buoyed by a pair of home runs, Sanchez filled in admirably for Zack Wheeler on Opening Day. And with his return to a rotation that already includes Jesus Luzardo and Aaron Nola coming, the Phillies have reason to feel good well beyond Opening Day. — Jeff Passan

The Tigers’ season opener played out as if manager A.J. Hinch had drawn up a script. Tarik Skubal, winner of back-to-back AL Cy Young Awards, pitched out of first-inning trouble against the Padres, with help from his changeup, and allowed just an unearned run in six innings, hard-launching his season. Touted prospect Kevin McGonigle started his career with two doubles and an infield single; he finally made his first out in the seventh inning then picked up his fourth hit on a ninth-inning single. Dillon Dingler obliterated a two-run homer deep to left field. And Javier Baez extended an at-bat with an ABS challenge and ripped a single on the next pitch. A near-perfect game on a perfect San Diego day. — Buster Olney

It’s always nice when your biggest stars show up on Opening Day, and that’s what happened with the Red Sox. Garrett Crochet, aiming to end Tarik Skubal’s run of Cy Young Awards, pitched six scoreless innings. Crochet escaped a one-out bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning of a scoreless game, striking out Eugenio Suarez and Spencer Steer.Roman Anthony,who hit leadoff and went 3-for-4 with a walk, is already a star. He will score a ton of runs. And let’s call Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman the other big stars for the Red Sox. The relief duo was dominant a year ago and closed this one out after the Red Sox tacked on a couple of late runs. — David Schoenfield

Baltimore’s new-look rotation had a similar feel to last year, at least for Opening Day. Trevor Rogers, who sported the best ERA in the American League last year from May 24 until the end of the season — yes, even better than Skubal’s — navigated around four walks and a hit-by-pitch to spin seven scoreless innings. His fastball wasn’t overwhelming but it got outs, and Rogers carved the Minnesota Twins’ iffy lineup, which mustered a run off Tyler Wells in the eighth inning before Ryan Helsleyshut them down in the ninth to secure his first save as Orioles closer. In the gnarly American League East, every out-of-division win matters, and Baltimore has its first. — Jeff Passan

A howling wind knocked down one ball for him, but Matthew Boyd didn’t look like the pitcher who made the All-Star team last season and was a member of Team USA in this year’s World Baseball Classic. He gave up six earned runs to the lowly Nationals, who jumped on all sorts of hittable pitches during a six-run fourth inning.

It was more runs than Boyd gave up in any start last season. He was chased after just 3 innings after the Cubs handed him a 2-1 lead. The veteran lefty faded some down the stretch last year, so was this a sign of things to come or a simple Day 1 bad outing? The good news is he struck out seven batters over the first three innings before falling apart. — Jesse Rogers

A year ago, 37 games separated the 97-65 Brewers from the 60-102 White Sox in the MLB-level standings. Despite projections that suggested the gap had narrowed, Opening Day certainly felt like it has not. The Brewers began the day with the unexpected news that Jackson Chourio had landed on the injured list, but that didn’t stop them from dominating the White Sox in every phase. From Jacob Misiorowski‘s franchise-record 11 Opening Day strikeouts to the strike zone dominance of the entire Brewers lineup, it was no contest from the early innings. Even the sausage race, won by the Italian Sausage, was a blowout. For now, 2026 looks for both teams a lot like 2025. But it was, after all, only one game. — Bradford Doolittle

That’s not how anyone envisioned Paul Skeneswould launch his NL Cy Young Award defense. An unusual lack of execution combined with misfortune and terrible defense behind him produced the worst start of Skenes’ young career. The right-hander gave up five runs on four hits, a walk and a hit batter over just two-thirds of an inning. The Mets’ first two hits were a bloop single and a swinging bunt, but they made Skenes work. New York fouled off 10 of his 37 pitches and, other thanCarson Benge‘s strikeout on three whiffs in his first career plate appearance, swung through just two. And yet Skenes would’ve escaped the trouble had center fielder Oneil Cruz not botched back-to-back routine plays, which led to four runs instead of the end of the inning. If Cruz makes those plays, Skenes gets through the inning and could have rebounded. But he wasn’t sharp, and it cost him. — Jorge Castillo

Wednesday game

It has become something close to a legal obligation to assess the Yankees’ offseason by using the words run it back. But lost in the implied criticism of the team’s offseason, which included no splashy additions, is this: The guys they’re running it back with are pretty good.

In the first game of the 2026 season, a stand-alone spectacle at Oracle Park that was long on pomp and short on suspense,Max Friedcruised through 6 innings, allowing just two hits and one runner past first base, as the Yankees beat the Giants and made rookie manager Tony Vitello’s debut one he’ll probably want to forget.

Vitello became the first person to go directly from college head coach to big league manager, and Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey made the out-of-the-box decision in part to inject the former Tennessee head coach’s unique brand of energy and intensity into a team that has hovered around .500 for the past four seasons. But a pitcher like Fried can sap the energy of even the most rabid group, and with him on the mound, the Yankees’ five-run second inning made the outcome all but inevitable. — Tim Keown

Friday games

First pitch: 7:07 p.m. ET |Pitching matchup: Luis Severino vs. Kevin Gausman

What to know about the Athletics

Power ranking: 23 | Offseason grade: D

Biggest change since we saw them last: It wasn’t the splashiest offseason for the Athletics, but their biggest move was adding veteran Jeff McNeil to their already-promising lineup in a trade with the Mets.

What to know about the Blue Jays

Power ranking: 4 | Offseason grade: B+

Biggest change since we saw them last: The Blue Jays showed they’re serious about getting back to the World Series after their crushing Game 7 loss to the Dodgers when they lavished top free agent starter Dylan Cease with a seven-year, $210 million deal.

First pitch: 7:15 p.m. ET |Pitching matchup: Kyle Freeland vs.Sandy Alcantara

What to know about the Rockies

Power ranking: 30 | Offseason grade: C-

Biggest change since we saw them last: It’s a whole new ballgame for the Rockies, who turned their baseball operations department over to former Cleveland Browns (yes, you read that right) exec Paul DePodesta.

What to know about the Marlins

Power ranking: 25 | Offseason grade: C+

Biggest change since we saw them last: Acquired in an offseason trade with the Cubs for starter Edward Cabrera, Owen Caissie is an outfielder with the kind of offensive upside the Marlins have been craving.

Relive Thursday’s action

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