The first full day of baseball in 2025 was action-packed, taut, thrilling and, well, worth the wait.
Here¡¯s a look at the biggest moments from Opening Day.
1) Dodgers World Series past meets present
It¡¯s pretty incredible that the Dodgers have had even one superstar hit a dramatic World Series home run on one leg. Instead, they¡¯ve had two of them do that, decades apart. So at the Dodgers¡¯ home opener on Thursday, a day on which they unveiled their 2024 World Series championship banner, it was fitting that 1988 World Series hero Kirk Gibson was there to throw out the first pitch, with 2024 hero Freddie Freeman there to catch it. It was easy to pull off, considering Gibson is a special assistant for the Tigers, but it allowed Dodgers announcer Joe Davis to relive his already-legendary ¡°Gibby, meet Freddie!¡± call after Freeman¡¯s homer. It¡¯s a very good time to be a Dodgers fan right now.
2) Tyler O¡¯Neill extends his own Opening Day record
The issue with O¡¯Neill, throughout his career, has never been his talent or his physical skills. The issue has been with his ability to stay on the field throughout a long season. The nice thing, though, about Opening Day is that, well, there hasn¡¯t been much wear and tear yet; it¡¯s Opening Day! And thus: It¡¯s O¡¯Neill¡¯s time to shine.
The newest Oriole extended his MLB-record streak of consecutive Opening Days with a homer to six with a three-run shot in the third inning of a 12-2 Orioles win over the Blue Jays. O¡¯Neill¡¯s dinger was one of six by the Orioles on the day, including two apiece from Adley Rutschman and Cedric Mullins. O¡¯Neill ended up 3-for-3 on the day, scoring three times, and as long as it¡¯s still Opening Day tomorrow, I am sure he will do it again. (Wait ¡ it turns out you only get one Opening Day a year. Alas.)
3) Paul Skenes makes history. Again
It feels like every time I type ¡°Paul Skenes¡± anymore, it¡¯s followed by the words ¡°makes history.¡± Skenes¡¯ Thursday accomplishment? He became the fastest No. 1 overall pick to make an Opening Day start in baseball history, zooming from being chosen in the 2023 Draft to starting the 2025 season in record time. He was also, at the age of 22, the youngest pitcher to make an Opening Day start since Jos¨¦ Fern¨¢ndez in 2014. He looked great, too, striking out seven in 5 1/3 innings, giving up just two runs and leaving with a lead. That lead, it turns out, ended up vanishing as the Marlins scored two in the eighth and got a walk-off single from Kyle Stowers to beat the Pirates, 5-4. Still, no matter how this season goes for Pittsburgh, every Skenes start figures to be a highlight.
4) Ichiro throws out a fiery first pitch
You didn¡¯t think Ichiro was going to be in the house for Opening Day and blend into the background, did you? The Mariners legend, invited to throw out the first pitch before Opening Day at Seattle¡¯s T-Mobile Park as a way to further celebrate and commemorate his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, showed up looking plenty fly. But the real fun was when Ichiro took to the mound and -- after spending more time than you might have expected warming up in the outfield -- fired off an 84 mph heater to Mariners manager (and former teammate) Dan Wilson. When he comes back to do it again at some Opening Day in the future, don¡¯t you expect him to throw just as hard then, too?
5) Josh Hader has other plans for Juan Soto¡¯s big moment
The Mets¡¯ offense was mostly silent on Thursday, with Framber Valdez tossing seven shutout innings, giving up just four hits. But in the ninth inning, facing Hader and down 3-0, the Mets¡¯ bats began to stir. Starling Marte and Tyrone Taylor led off the inning with singles, and Luisangel Acu?a walked. After Hayden Senger struck out, the Mets¡¯ highly paid MVP candidates came to the plate. Francisco Lindor hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Marte, and, with runners on first and third, Soto came to the plate with an opportunity to be the hero in his first game as a Met. He worked a 3-2 count, as Soto tends to do, but then Hader got him to chase way out of the zone on a slider, in a very un-Soto-like at-bat. Soto will, one suspects, have many opportunities to redeem himself.
6) Devin Williams hangs on against his former team
In other former-Brewers-closer news, Williams, acquired by the Yankees in the offseason, strolled out to the mound in the Bronx with a 4-1 ninth-inning lead. Facing the very Milwaukee team he¡¯d spent his entire career with, it went sideways on him fast. Joey Ortiz singled, and Isaac Collins followed up with a double. Williams then walked Jake Bauers, which got the Bronx faithful rather, uh, restless. But then Williams settled down, getting Brice Turang to hit a sacrifice fly before striking out Jackson Chourio (who was 0-for-5 with five strikeouts on the day) and Christian Yelich to secure the save. Williams wouldn¡¯t have been the first new Yankee to get booed in his first game had he blown the save. But he didn¡¯t, so he wasn¡¯t. The Yankees will hope he settles down from here.
7) Nolan Arenado gets a curtain call
The signature storyline of the Cardinals¡¯ offseason ¡ª the only storyline of the Cardinals¡¯ offseason, really ¡ª was the team¡¯s attempts to trade Arenado. Those attempts were obviously unsuccessful, largely because Arenado used his no-trade clause to block a deal to Houston, and he found himself back in the Birds on the Bat for Opening Day. He was greeted with multiple ovations, and he would ultimately reward the fans for all that love with a solo blast in the eighth inning of a 5-3 Cardinals victory over the Twins. After his homer, fans urged him to come out of the dugout for a curtain call. Upon doing so, he put his hand to his ear to egg them on, but the cheers were very much not difficult to hear.
8) Wilyer Abreu has himself a day
When people talk about all the young Red Sox position players, Abreu sometimes gets a little overlooked. He¡¯s a terrific outfielder, but his offensive contributions can be overshadowed on a team with Jarren Duran, Rafael Devers, Connor Wong and Tristan Casas. (Not to mention the team¡¯s top prospects.) But the guy who had 15 homers in 132 games last year now has two in one. His home run in the fifth tied the game against the Rangers, but it was his three-run shot in the top of the ninth that put the Red Sox in front and provided the winning margin in a 5-2 finish. There is a lot of energy around the Red Sox right now. And Thursday, it was Abreu who provided it.
9) MacKenzie Gore is brilliant ¡ but the Phillies are the Phillies
Gore, the Nationals left-hander, was a sleeper breakout pick in fantasy leagues, and he sure showed why on Thursday, striking out 13 Phillies in six innings without walking a batter, giving up just one hit and no runs. The veteran Phillies attacked immediately upon Gore exiting, though, getting homers from both Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber in the seventh inning to take a 2-1 lead. The game got more complicated after that ¡ª it would end up reaching extra innings before Alec Bohm had a two-run double in the 10th to spark a 7-3 Phillies win ¡ª but the story was absolutely Gore¡¯s brilliance. Hey, maybe he was already in the shower when the last few innings happened.
10) Here come the White Sox!
The beauty of Opening Day is that everyone ¡ª even if they just set an all-time record for losses ¡ª is 0-0 and tied for first place at first pitch. No team wanted to clean the slate from last year more than the White Sox, and they did more than that: They won! They cruised to an 8-1 victory over the Angels behind six scoreless innings from rookie Sean Burke and a three-run homer from Andrew Benintendi, who, in case you forgot, is still on this team. The White Sox are 1-0 ¡ and they¡¯re still tied for first.