Giants' 2026 MLB season schedule features rare home opener vs. Yankees originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants will begin their 2026 MLB season with one of the year’s most interesting series, and in a twist, they’ll do it at Oracle Park.
MLB released the 2026 schedule on Tuesday, revealing that the Giants will open at home against the New York Yankees next March 25 with a night game that’ll be the first game of the MLB season. It’ll be just their second opening day at Oracle Park since 2009.
The matchup won’t thrill the organization’s business side. Opening weekend usually sells very well no matter what, so the Yankees visit won’t provide the same boost that it would in the middle of the season.
But it’s a nice change of pace for a fan base that has grown accustomed to having to wait an extra week to see the Giants in person. It’ll also be an easier week for the players, who get to stay home at the start of the year and also have two early days off since they’re kicking off the season on a Wednesday.
The Giants traditionally have preferred to open on the road so they can finish at home, but next year they’ll do both. Their final three games will be at home against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Here are some other highlights from the 2026 schedule …
Very Rare Home Opener
It actually hasn’t been that long since the Giants opened at Oracle Park, although that wasn’t by design. They originally were supposed to begin the 2022 season at Petco Park, but the lockout led to games being pulled off the schedule and they began that season at home on April 8 against the Miami Marlins.
This will be their first planned Opening Day at Oracle Park since 2009, when the Milwaukee Brewers visited. Tim Lincecum started that game and Randy Winn — who now runs the Giants farm system — was the leadoff hitter. Winn, Bengie Molina and Aaron Roward all homered in a 10-6 win.
The Giants opened at Yankee Stadium in 2023, which was some cheeky scheduling after years of rumors that Aaron Judge might return to his hometown team. Instead, he homered against the Giants.
Aside from Judge returning to the Bay Area and the whole Yankees thing, there should be plenty of storylines. Carlos Rodón almost certainly will pitch at Oracle Park for the first time since his one season in San Francisco. There’s also an outside chance the Giants host Gerrit Cole’s return to the big leagues, although the ace has said that he expects a 14-month recovery after having Tommy John surgery on March 11. It also should be Camilo Doval’s return to Oracle Park.
Homecoming for Bryce?
If top prospect Bryce Eldridge doesn’t debut this September, there’s a very strong chance he does it next March 25 against the Yankees. How’s that for a memorable first big league game?
Something would have to go wrong for Eldridge to not be the starting first baseman or DH by the middle of next April, which means he should get a nice stretch to play in front of family members and friends. The Giants visit the Baltimore Orioles on April 10 and the Washington Nationals the next weekend. In between, there are three games against the Cincinnati Reds.
It’s an odd trip, since the Cincinnati part will keep them from simply driving from Baltimore to the nation’s capital, but it should provide six early games back home for Eldridge, who grew up in Vienna, Virginia. He went to high school about half an hour from Nationals Park and grew up cheering for Bryce Harper and the Nats. Camden Yards is a little over an hour away from his hometown.
Rafi’s Return
What kind of reception will Rafael Devers get in his return to Fenway Park? He’ll find out on August 21 when the Giants visit Boston for a weekend series. Devers has 92 career homers in 519 career games at Fenway Park.
It also could be a #RevengeSeries for former Giants top prospect Kyle Harrison. He has been in Triple-A since the stunning trade but should be part of Boston’s pitching plans next season.
Division Rivals
The Giants went 3-10 against the San Diego Padres this year. They’ll get an early look at them next season, visiting Petco Park (and its new banana pudding) right after the season-opening series against the Yankees. (In another oddity, they’ll then return home for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, so they face both New York teams in the season’s first 13 games).
This season, the Giants had to wait until June 13 to see the Dodgers, which just felt wrong. They’ll host them next April and visit Dodger Stadium in the middle of May. The Giants also will spend deadline day in San Diego, which is convenient for beat writers who fear being on a long flight without Wi-Fi that time of year.
Happy Flights
The staff hasn’t been thrilled with some of the travel the last couple of years, but next season looks relatively easy on players, at least on paper. The Baltimore-Cincinnati-Washington D.C. trip would be a lot simpler if the Nationals and Orioles were back-to-back, but the other three-city trips at least make geographic sense.
There’s a 10-game trip in May, but it’s Los Angeles, Sacramento and then Phoenix. The only other three-city trip is Colorado, Milwaukee, Chicago, and the Giants can take buses between the latter two cities there.
They also finish the first half at home against the Rockies and then begin the second half in Seattle. That’s a hell of a lot easier than getting everyone to Toronto after the break, which they did this year.
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