{"id":632119,"date":"2026-03-19T18:02:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T18:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/632119\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T18:02:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T18:02:50","slug":"mlb-opening-day-2026-schedule-matchups-previews-and-more-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/632119\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB Opening Day 2026: Schedule, matchups, previews and more"},"content":{"rendered":"


The World Baseball Classic<\/a> might be over — but there’s more fun just around the corner with MLB opening week.<\/p>\n

The 2026 season kicks off with a matchup between the New York Yankees<\/a> and San Francisco Giants<\/a> on March 25, followed by 11 Opening Day games the next day. The remaining six teams will play their first games of the season on March 27.<\/p>\n

Thirty of the best pitchers across the majors will take the mound, including eight who will be making their first ever Opening Day start and15 All-Stars.<\/p>\n

What are the most important things to know from the offseason going into the 162-game marathon that is the 2026 season? What are the most exciting matchups? What are some storylines to watch?<\/p>\n

We have you covered on everything you need to be prepared for Opening Day, from season previews and analysis to the schedule.<\/p>\n

\"\"Opening Day schedule<\/p>\n

(All times ET)<\/p>\n

March 25
\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The pitching matchup: Max Fried<\/a> vs. Logan Webb<\/a><\/p>\n

March 26
\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The pitching matchup: TBD vs. Freddy Peralta<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The pitching matchup: Shane Smith<\/a> vs. TBD<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The pitching matchup:Cade Cavalli<\/a> vs. Matthew Boyd<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The pitching matchup: TBD vs. Trevor Rogers<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The pitching matchup:Garrett Crochet<\/a> vs. Andrew Abbott<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The pitching matchup:Jose Soriano<\/a> vs. Hunter Brown<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The pitching matchup: Tarik Skubal<\/a> vs. TBD<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The pitching matchup: Nathan Eovaldi<\/a> vs. TBD<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The pitching matchup:Drew Rasmussen<\/a> vs. Matthew Liberatore<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The pitching matchup:Zac Gallen<\/a> vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The pitching matchup: TBD vs. TBD<\/p>\n

March 27\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The pitching matchup: TBD vs. Kevin Gausman<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The pitching matchup:Kyle Freeland<\/a> vs. Sandy Alcantara<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The pitching matchup: Cole Ragans<\/a> vs. TBD<\/p>\n

\"\"2026 season guides<\/p>\n

Jeff Passan’s 2026 season preview<\/a><\/p>\n

MLB Rank Top 100<\/a><\/p>\n

Top breakout players for all 30 teams<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The World Baseball Classic might be over — but there’s more fun just around the corner with MLB…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2389],"tags":[81129,22,42,3890,46,47,5,48,24,49,50,51,52,53,649,139,54,3211,55,56,57,58,59,60,4,61,62,25,64,18,66,65,67,68,69,70,71],"class_list":{"0":"post-632119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-astros","8":"tag-81129","9":"tag-arizona-diamondbacks","10":"tag-astros","11":"tag-athletics-athletics","12":"tag-atlanta-braves","13":"tag-baltimore-orioles","14":"tag-baseball","15":"tag-boston-red-sox","16":"tag-chicago-cubs","17":"tag-chicago-white-sox","18":"tag-cincinnati-reds","19":"tag-cleveland-guardians","20":"tag-colorado-rockies","21":"tag-detroit-tigers","22":"tag-espn","23":"tag-houston","24":"tag-houston-astros","25":"tag-houstonastros","26":"tag-kansas-city-royals","27":"tag-los-angeles-angels","28":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","29":"tag-miami-marlins","30":"tag-milwaukee-brewers","31":"tag-minnesota-twins","32":"tag-mlb","33":"tag-new-york-mets","34":"tag-new-york-yankees","35":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","36":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","37":"tag-san-diego-padres","38":"tag-san-francisco-giants","39":"tag-seattle-mariners","40":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","41":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","42":"tag-texas-rangers","43":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","44":"tag-washington-nationals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}