Overreactions from each Opening Day game

Major League Baseball's Opening Day is an occasion of hope. Unless, of course, you lose. Then the season is over. Your chances of winning the World Series? Cooked. No team that's lost on Opening Day has gone on to win the Fall Classic. Don't fact-check that. Simply overreact.

Cubs @ Diamondbacks
Cubs win 10-6

Three games into their season, the Cubs are finally in the win column.

The final game of 2025 Opening Day had multiple repercussions. First, the Cubs are no longer alone in the NL Central's basement - a position they held solely for 10 days. Second, the Diamondbacks, who have a legitimate claim to being the second-best team in baseball, are now two full games back of the Dodgers; an insurmountable hole. And third, the Rockies aren't in last place in the NL West for the first time in 363 days. If Colorado happens to win its opener Friday, while the Padres and D-Backs both lose, it'll be the first time the Rockies are higher than fourth in the division in 722 days.

Athletics @ Mariners
Mariners win 4-2

Logan Gilbert's splitter is going to propel him to superstardom. The young righty threw five different pitches at least 10% of the time last year, even sprinkling in a handful of sinkers for a sixth pitch. Well, he's clearly identified that those sinkers weren't a good idea, and neither were his cutters (which had a .325 expected wOBA against). Both offerings are completely gone from Gilbert's repertoire through one start as he leaned a lot more on the splitter, making it his put-away pitch for six of his eight strikeouts. This may not even be an overreaction: he's an ace.

Tigers @ Dodgers
Dodgers win 5-4

Not a lot of people are paying attention to him, but watch for Shohei Ohtani to take a huge step forward this year. He's always seemingly had the tools to be a star, but hasn't quite put it together. Some people were alarmed when a former pitcher was batting leadoff as the Dodgers' designated hitter. But the 30-year-old went 2-for-4 with the game-winning home ru- (taps earpiece) ... He has how many MVPs and is paid how much!?

Earnestly, on the Tigers side, Spencer Torkelson might finally be ready for the bright lights. After going first overall in the 2020 MLB Draft, the slugger has really struggled to stick in the majors but has continued to show promise in the minors. At 25, he could finally be putting it all together, showing incredible discipline at the plate by walking four times while also socking a solo dinger. Buy in.

Twins @ Cardinals
Cardinals win 5-3

Teams are going to regret not beating down the Cardinals' door to acquire Nolan Arenado. The 10-time Gold Glove winner was aggressively shopped this winter by John Mozeliak and Co., but there were no legitimate suitors Arenado felt comfortable joining. Instead, the eight-time All-Star hit a clutch insurance homer off Griffin Jax to help seal the win in a 2-for-4 day. The asking price will increase the closer the trade deadline gets.

Braves @ Padres
Padres win 7-4

In what should have been an exciting potential postseason preview featuring reigning NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale against a top-heavy lineup, we have a game that was one of nine 4 p.m. ET starts. How does March Madness absolutely nail staggered start times on its first two days, but MLB is still figuring this out? Here, I've figured it out for you for 2026. Use this:

MLB's social accounts post memes about wanting us to call in sick to watch all these games. Make it worthwhile.

Red Sox @ Rangers
Red Sox win 5-2

The headlines are about stud prospect Roman Anthony and when he might debut, but the real lefty outfielder whom opponents have to plan around is Wilyer Abreu. The 25-year-old will be an unsung star for the Red Sox this year, and the opener showed why, as he slugged a pair of dingers in a 3-for-3 performance. If we only counted Abreu's at-bats, the Red Sox still would've beaten the Rangers.

Guardians @ Royals
Guardians win 7-4 (10)

Kyle Manzardo for AL MVP. The slugger almost hit for the cycle but couldn't get a single, objectively the least cool way to get a hit anyway. They don't pay you for singles and Manzardo knows it. He's heading into the second game of the year with a 2.250 SLG. A single would only lower that. (Even a double would, though by a marginal amount.) Why can't Manzardo just keep only getting extra-base hits? If it looks like a single, round for second base anyway.

Pirates @ Marlins
Marlins win 5-4

Time for Paul Skenes to demand a trade. To start off his sophomore campaign, the dominant righty outdueled an NL Cy Young winner in Sandy Alcantara. With the win in sight, the Pirates' bullpen folded like a cheap suit and Oneil Cruz made a pretty crucial gaffe on a deep fly ball off the wall in center to give Nick Fortes a leadoff triple. Once-elite closer David Bednar gave up the walk-off hit to Kyle Stowers. How many times will the Pirates have to apologize to Skenes this year?

Mets @ Astros
Astros win 3-1

Framber Valdez will beat his own record for consecutive quality starts. The underrated lefty fired 25 straight outings of at least six innings with three earned runs or fewer in 2022, breaking a record held by Jacob deGrom. Valdez started off his 2025 campaign against an incredibly potent Mets lineup, which includes $765-million man Soto, allowing four hits and two walks over seven shutout frames before turning it over to the bullpen. The streak starts now.

Giants @ Reds
Giants win 6-4

The worst thing you can do on Opening Day is compare any player to one of the best hitters of all time. With that said, Heliot Ramos is well on his way to becoming the first Giants hitter since Bonds to break the 30-homer plateau. This team just needed proven winner Buster Posey at the helm to start reliving its prime years again.

Phillies @ Nationals
Phillies win 7-3 (10)

Ace-level starting pitching is back, and the NL Cy Young front-runners are two-time runner-up Zack Wheeler and young lefty MacKenzie Gore. The latter, a former top prospect who came over in the Juan Soto trade, punched out a baker's dozen while allowing one hit over six innings against the Phillies. That's the most ever on Opening Day for a Nationals starter - a franchise that has employed Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. Mere months after we openly pondered if aces are gone, they're so back.

Angels @ White Sox
White Sox win 8-1

The Angels are going to set the record for most losses in a season. The White Sox did it last year, losing 121 contests to become the worst modern-era roster ever assembled. Starting your campaign with a loss to these White Sox, who objectively got worse this past offseason, is simply an insurmountable hole to climb out of.

Orioles @ Blue Jays
Orioles win 12-2

The Orioles should somehow convince Tyler O'Neill that every day is Opening Day. That's six straight with a homer for the slugger. And that's despite being on different teams for each of the last three. In those six games, he's hitting a Barry Bondsian .450/.555/1.350.

On the flip side, the only hitter who seemed to show up for the Blue Jays was offseason acquisition Andrés Giménez, who controversially hit cleanup despite a career .393 slugging percentage. His two-run homer represented Toronto's only tallies on the day. Maybe give him the $500-million extension.

Brewers @ Yankees
Yankees win 4-2

Austin Wells was born to lead off. There was much hand-wringing over the decision to put a catcher at the top spot of the Yankees' lineup, but Aaron Boone was immediately vindicated when Wells became the first backstop in MLB history to homer in his team's first at-bat of the season. Last year's AL Rookie of the Year finalist is going to be incredibly important to New York's success.

Rockies @ Rays
No game

Quick, name a Rockies player. Don't worry if you can't; this roster is so forgettable that MLB even forgot to schedule them to play today.

In actuality, this game was delayed because the league needed more time to prepare the Rays' temporary home for the season in Tampa. At least we can be glad that a real team's season wasn't postponed.