A Girl’s Guide to Opening Weekend

Happy Major League Baseball Opening Day! Let’s talk all things baseball that you need to know for this weekend’s season opener.

Courtesy of MLB

Game No. 1 of 162 is finally here for 26 major league clubs who will open their 2025 season today: Thursday, March 27. 

This excludes the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs who began their seasons last week in the Tokyo Series. The Dodgers swept the Cubs in the two-game series and Shohei Ohtani blasted his first homerun of the season. This was the sixth time in history that MLB’s season opener took place in Tokyo.

There will be baseball all day today from 3:05 p.m. EST to 10:10 p.m. EST. The very first game will come out of the Bronx, New York, when the Yankees welcome the Milwaukee Brewers to town. The last two games of the night will be the Cubs at Arizona Diamondbacks and the Athletics at Seattle Mariners.

Tomorrow, Friday, March 28, will have nine games from 4:10 p.m. EST to 10:10 p.m. EST. Only two teams, the Colorado Rockies and Tampa Bay Rays, will play their first game tomorrow at 4:10 p.m. EST, making this the first of the day. Their series opener was moved back a day to give room for George M. Steinbrenner Field (the Yankees Spring Training complex) to be prepared for the Rays. 

16 other teams will be playing the second game of their opening weekend series. The final game Friday night will be the Detroit Tigers taking on the Dodgers in Los Angeles at 10:10 p.m. EST. The remaining 12 teams will have the day off and continue play on Saturday, March 29. 

Saturday is another day full of baseball, beginning with the Yankees and Brewers once again, but this time at 1:05 p.m. EST. I will be in attendance for this game in the Bronx and am counting down the hours until I’ll be back at Yankee Stadium for my first game of the year. 

Games will run until 9:40 p.m. EST Saturday night where the A’s and Mariners will play the third of their four-game series. Those who have an off day tomorrow Friday, March 28, will conclude their weekend series on Sunday, March 30.

A Change of Scenery

Courtesy of FOX Sports

As previously mentioned, the Tampa Bay Rays will be using the New York Yankees’ Spring Training facility (George M. Steinbrenner Field) as their home field for the 2025 season, due to the damages to Tropicana Field by Hurricane Milton in October. Yet, the Rays are not the only team in a new environment this year.

The Athletics are no longer in Oakland and will be in Sacramento for the next three seasons before moving to Las Vegas in 2028. Due to this move, the A’s were able to spend some more money this offseason, including giving Luis Severino the largest contract in franchise history. 

There were a countless amount of notable acquisitions this offseason that are essential to know. The biggest move of the offseason: Juan Soto signing the largest contract in professional sports history with the New York Mets in free agency. The Mets also acquired RHP Clay Holmes, who will be their Opening Day starter, after taking on the closer role for the Yankees. 

As for the Yankees, they acquired Max Fried, signing him to the largest contract for a left-handed pitcher. Surprisingly, Fried will not be the Yankees’ Opening Day starter, despite the loss of Gerrit Cole to Tommy John surgery. Fried, however, will get the ball on Saturday vs. Nestor Cortes Jr., who was traded to the Brewers from the Yankees this offseason, sending star closer Devil Williams to the Bronx. 

Other noteworthy moves include Alex Bregman to the Boston Red Sox, Roki Sasaki to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Corbin Burnes to the Diamondbacks, and Anthony Santander to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The 2025 MLB season will be a thrilling one, filled with many new additions to the league along with each individual team and ballpark, and it all starts this weekend. Lots of stadiums are getting new food menu items and upgrading their facilities while teams are launching new merchandise and game promotions. I’m excited to follow along for these next 162 games in my favorite season of the year!

Edited by Taylor N. Hall