2025’s Opening Day for Major League Baseball has come and gone. For some, it started in Tokyo with the Dodgers sweeping a two game set against the Cubs. For most others, it was a wonderfully exciting final Thursday in March. There were even two games with extra baseball to start the year.

The Tampa Bay Rays had to move their Opening Day against Colorado back, due to renovations at their “major league” stadium. The Rays will host teams at Steinbrenner Field as Tropicana Field undergoes reconstruction from damage inflicted by Hurricane Milton last year. Steinbrenner is actually the Yankees’ spring training facility and home to the Yankees’ Single A affiliate.

The first weekend is in the books and has seen some incredible feats already:

• The Yankees blasted 9 home runs in their second game of the season, including 3 by The Judge. They swept Milwaukee 36-16.
  • All this after some guru had New York rework their bats this offseason to “put more of the wood at the label” of the bat. Seems to be working.

• Baltimore opened the season with their own hot bats, hitting a franchise-record 6 home runs in their first game of the year.
  • Tyler O’Neil continued his own personal Opening Day streak with a home run in his 6th straight Opening Day.

• The back-end of bullpens were beaten for 23 runs in the ninth or later.

• Both the Red Sox and Giants spoiled home openers for the Rangers and Reds, respectively, with 3-run 9th inning home runs.

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For those of you who like to reminisce, and those who enjoy learning even more, here’s some fun facts about the best day of the year for baseball fans:

• The first National League game was played April 22, 1876 between the Boston Red Stockings and Philadelphia Athletics. Boston won 6-5.
• On Opening Day 1974, Hank Aaron, Home Run King, tied Babe Ruth’s HR record with his 714th career home run. It was a 3-run rocket in his first AB of the new year, against Cincinnati’s Jack Billingham. The Reds would go on to win the game, 7-6.

• Jackie Robinson shattered the “color barrier” on Opening Day 1947 when he stepped on the field to man first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers. While he was held hitless, Jackie did reach base on an error and scored the deciding run in the Dodgers’ victory over the Boston Braves.
• April 14 1910, William Howard Taft, became the first President to throw a ceremonial first pitch. President Taft threw from his Presidential Box to the Washington Senators’ starting pitcher.

• For many years, there was considered to only be one no-hitter ever thrown by an Opening Day starter. That honor was first achieved by Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians in 1940 when he no-hit the White Sox and the Indians did just enough damage to win 1-0.
• Feller, however, is not the only pitcher to complete the Opening Day no-hit feat in professional baseball. Leon Day pitched his own season-starting no-hitter for the Newark Eagles in the Negro League’s start to the 1946 season. Day achieved this only 3 months after being discharged from the Army.
• Detroit’s Tigers could not have possibly gotten off to a much better start to their major league franchise when they started in 1901. To open up their season, the Tigers played host to Milwaukee. Entering the ninth, things looked incredibly bleak for the young franchise down 13-4. The Tigers would end up rallying to walk off the Brewers on a 2-out 2-run double. The 10-run ninth inning comeback is the largest in MLB history.

• Tom Seaver, Mr. Perfect, holds the record for most Opening Day starts of any pitcher at 16 across 3 teams. Jack Morris holds the record for most consecutive Opening Day starts with 14 (1980-1993).

• Three players are tied for the most Opening Day home runs with 8 apiece. Frank Robinson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn. All three played for Cincinnati at some point in their career.

Back to the Future

While looking back can be more than just fun, it can be downright enlightening, we do have to look forward now.

Four teams remain perfect to start the season: Yankees, Cardinals, Dodgers, and Padres, meanwhile their counterparts; Brewers, Twins, Braves, and Tigers are still winless. We will see which of these teams can stay hot and which will bounce back as the season rolls into its first full week.

Cincinnati will look to improve on a 1-2 start when the Rangers come to town for three. Then, the Redlegs will be heading on the first road trip of the year up to Milwaukee and out to San Francisco. Elly has already shown plate discipline improvement. McClain barely missed a beat before getting back to his rookie form with 2 home runs over the weekend. Jeimer Candelario had some clutch at bats. And, despite a ninth inning debacle on Opening Day, the pitching staff has looked decent enough, with Ashcraft even coming in to pitch his first ever appearance from the bullpen. Martinez has the webgem of the year so far with a sweet, no-look, behind the back, snare of a Ramos comebacker.

I will be covering some other sports history topics throughout the next few weeks, so, if you enjoyed this post let me know! And, if there is anything you’d like me to delve into, I will do my best to cover any and all topics.