NEW YORK — All-Star slugger Juan Soto debuts in his New York crosstown move from the Yankees to the Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes is an opening day starter for the first time at age 22, and Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcántara returns from Tommy John surgery.
It’s been a week since the Los Angeles Dodgers — dominant in winning last fall’s World Series against the Yankees — swept a two-game series against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo to open Major League Baseball’s 2025 regular season. On Thursday, 26 other teams get underway in Canada and the United States, and one day later the Colorado Rockies and the host Tampa Bay Rays become the final clubs to take the field this year.
Tampa Bay was given extra time in order to move into Steinbrenner Field, the spring training headquarters of the Yankees in Tampa, Florida, and the Rays’ temporary home this season after Hurricane Milton destroyed the roof at their Tropicana Field across the bay in St. Petersburg last October.
And the Athletics — no city preceding the team nickname — start the first of at least three years at their makeshift home at a minor league park in West Sacramento, California, when they host the Cubs on Monday. Opening day for the A’s is Thursday against the host Seattle Mariners with Luis Severino on the mound after he agreed to a franchise-record $67 million, three-year contract in December, a little more than two months after the team played in Oakland for the last time.
Across the majors, a trio of teams have new managers: Clayton McCullough (Marlins) and Will Venable (Chicago White Sox) are first-time MLB skippers, while the Cincinnati Reds will become the fourth franchise to be led by Terry Francona, who is back in the dugout after a year away following his 11 seasons in Cleveland (he helmed the Boston Red Sox from 2004-11 and the Philadelphia Phillies from 1997 to 2000).
Thursday’s schedule — most of the 14 contests are day games — begins in the Bronx with the Yankees hosting the Milwaukee Brewers at 3 p.m. on ESPN.
Carlos Rodón will make his first opening day start for the reigning American League champions, mostly because the Yankees are without three-fifths of their starting rotation after injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt. In addition, designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton and infielder DJ LeMahieu are hurt.
Freddy Peralta will be first on the mound for Milwaukee, which could face former closer Devin Williams for the first time after he played his first six MLB seasons for the Brewers. His last appearance in Milwaukee is one he and the team would like to forget: Peralta buckled when he allowed a go-ahead, three-run homer to the Mets’ Pete Alonso in the ninth inning of the decisive third game of a wild-card series in the National League playoffs.
He’s not the only new Yankee, of course, with the Bronx Bombers eager to take that final step for a record-extending 28th time and win the World Series after coming up short in last year’s Fall Classic, where the Dodgers built a 3-0 series lead in the best-of-seven set and won it in five games.
The Yankees had some offseason losses, too. Holmes left for a $38 million, three-year deal with the Mets and will make his first start since his 2018 rookie season, when he was with Pittsburgh, having spent most of his MLB career in the bullpen. Framber Valdez will be on the mound for the Astros.
Soto signed an MLB-record $765 million, 15-year contract to go from the Yankees to the Mets, who have totaled $1.36 billion in payroll and luxury tax over four years under owner Steve Cohen but remain without a World Series championship since 1986.
The Mets may have trouble closing the deal — they’ve made the World Series twice since that championship against the Boston Red Sox, losing in five games both times (to the Yankees in 2000 and to the Kansas City Royals in 2015) — but they don’t have as much trouble giving their fans early hope. Their all-time record in regular-season openers 41-22, at .651 the best winning percentage of any franchise. After losing their first eight openers, they have won 41 of their past 55.
They visit the Houston Astros, who will send Framber Valdez to the mound.
The Dodgers will celebrate their second MLB title in a five-year span and eighth overall by lifting the World Series flag above Chavez Ravine before their home opener against the Detroit Tigers at 7 p.m. Eastern in the nightcap of ESPN’s doubleheader.
Two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell — in 2018 with the AL’s Rays and in 2023 with the NL’s San Francisco Giants — joined the Dodgers for a $182 million, five-year contract that was part of a spending spree in which the club committed $458.5 million to nine players.
Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal starts for the Tigers, who won 15 of their final 20 games in the 2024 regular season, then swept the Astros in the wild-card round and lost to Cleveland Guardians in a five-game series in the divisional round.
The Pittsburgh-Miami matchup could be a pitchers’ duel as the Pirates send reigning NL rookie of the year Skenes to the mound and the Marlins counter with veteran Alcántara, the 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner.
At 22 years, 302 days old, Skenes will be the youngest opening day starting pitcher since the Marlins’ José Fernández was 21 years, 243 days old in 2014. The 29-year-old Alcántara, meanwhile, makes his first appearance for Miami since Sept. 3, 2023. He had Tommy John surgery less than a month later and missed all of last season.
The reigning NL Cy Young winner is left-hander Chris Sale, who will be a starter on opening day for the sixth time in his MLB career, but this is his first such start for Atlanta (he did it three times for the White Sox and twice for the Red Sox). Sale, who turns 36 next week, joined the Braves ahead of last season and had a comeback year — injuries limited him his final few seasons in Boston — as he won the NL’s pitching triple crown by leading the league with 18 wins, 225 strikeouts and a 2.38 ERA.
Sale was mostly healthy last season for the otherwise injury-plagued Braves, but even he was unavailable at the end of the regular season as the Braves scratched out a wild-card berth to the playoffs, where he was left off the roster. Atlanta was swept in the wild-card round by the San Diego Padres, and those teams will match up at 4:10 p.m. Eastern on Thursday.
The Padres are hosting again, and with Yu Darvish sidelined by elbow inflammation, Michael King will start for the Padres. He pitched seven scoreless innings while striking out a dozen batters in the wild-card opener against Atlanta.