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SAN DIEGO — The sun hung lazily over Petco Park on Thursday afternoon, as the hope, promise and renewal of a new MLB season hung over the stadium like a golden glow. Opening Day offers a clean slate, like a wave washing away footprints on the shore. 

But by the third inning, the tide had already come crashing in on the Padres.

And there was no lifeguard on duty to save them.

This was supposed to be a pitcher’s duel. A heavyweight fight on the mound between two aces — Tarik Skubal, the reigning American League Cy Young winner, and Nick Pivetta, a late-blooming force who had clawed his way into National League Cy Young relevance last season.

Instead, it felt more like a public unraveling.

Because while Skubal carved, Pivetta collapsed.

Pivetta allowed six runs on seven hits, with four strikeouts and three walks in his Opening Day debut. His ERA after pitching just three innings? A whopping 18.00. 

If Pivetta’s outing felt like a storm, Skubal’s was the calm that follows — controlled, precise, almost surgical. He allowed just one unearned run with no walks and six strikeouts, allowing just three hits over six dominant innings. Every pitch delivered with the quiet confidence of a man who understands exactly who he is on a mound.

And what he is … is one of the best pitchers on the planet.

The Padres never stood a chance. Not really.

Their lone flicker of resistance came off the bat of Ramon Laureano, a solo home run that briefly interrupted the inevitable. A momentary spark in a game already swallowed by darkness. 

Everything else belonged to Detroit.

And to Kevin McGonigle, who finished his debut 4 for 5 with two RBI and two runs scored — a performance so composed, so fearless, it felt like watching the future arrive ahead of schedule.

There’s something poetic about a rookie stealing the spotlight on Opening Day. Baseball has always been a game that honors its past while quietly handing the keys to the next generation. On Thursday, that passing of the torch didn’t feel subtle. It felt loud.

What it means

Pivetta might be regressing. He struck out Kerry Carpenter to start the game, but it all went south from there. What followed felt like a slow leak turning into a flood. Walks piled up. Contact got louder. Confidence drained. 

By the time the inning exhaled its final breath, the Tigers led 4-0. And the game, for all intents and purposes, was already over.

Who’s hot

A 21-year-old kid, barely old enough to legally toast his own debut, stepped into the box and announced himself to the sport with the kind of audacity that makes veterans shake their heads. McGonigle delivered the game’s biggest hit on the first pitch he saw of his career. 

McGonigle ripped a two-run double down the right field line off Pivetta in the first inning. A clean, violent stroke that split the afternoon open. It wasn’t just a hit. It was a declaration.

Welcome to the show, Kevin. 

Who’s not

Nick Pivetta. The man who was among the sport’s top pitchers last season was supposed to take a step forward as San Diego’s dominant ace this season. Instead, he delivered a dud on Opening Day. 

Pivetta loaded the bases after that opening strikeout, and instead of finding a way out, he spiraled deeper. A walk forced in the first run. Then came McGonigle’s double — a slicing line drive that seemed to carry the weight of inevitability with it. 

When he left the game, it was 6-0 Tigers and the Padres were chasing the scoreboard. 

Up next

The Padres (0-1) will try to shake off the sting Friday night when Michael King takes the ball in his season debut. Waiting for him will be another test — Framber Valdez, the longtime Astros ace now wearing Tigers (1-0) colors after a headline-grabbing offseason move. 

With Pivetta’s implosion Thursday, King could step into the role as Padres ace with a dominant performance. For San Diego, it’s only one game. Baseball will always humble you and remind you to turn the page, but this was a bad start to the 2026 season. 

For the Tigers, this felt like a warning shot to the American League: We’ve reloaded and are ready to compete for a title this year. 

Forty-two years ago, the Tigers and Padres met in the 1984 World Series with Detroit coming out on top. Both teams would love to meet again in the Fall Classic this year. They’ll have to start with Game 2 of the opening series on Friday. 

First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m.

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Well, it doesn’t get a whole lot better than that. Kevin McGonigle suited up for the first game of his major league career, and when the smoke cleared he had four hits, two RBI, two runs scored, and had a solid day defensively at third base.

McGonigle stepped in against the Padres’ Opening Day starter, right-hander Nick Pivetta, in the first inning with the bases juiced. That could set a rookie’s knees a-quakin’ but instead McGonigle said he knew he’d get something up in the zone, with Pivetta hunting for a pop-up or shallow fly ball to keep the run from scoring at third, and he was correct. Pivetta tried to jam him with a 92 mph cutter up and in, and the young batsmith smoked it down the right field line for a two-run double.

With that out of the way, McGonigle could settle in and do his thing, and his thing is raking. Three more hits followed, one a little infield squibber that he beat out, one a solid single to right centerfield, and one a third inning double off the top of the wall in right field that was followed by a two-run homer from Dillon Dingler. McGonigle became just the 15th player to collect four hits in an MLB debut going back to 1900.

Of note is that fact that McGonigle had hits on four different pitch types, a fourseamer, a sinker, a cutter, and a changeup. Guaranteed he’ll see a lot of breaking balls the next two days in San Diego.

It didn’t take long after draft day for Kevin McGonigle to seize the top spot in the Tigers’ farm system rankings, and by last year he was already near the top of top 100 lists around the game. On draft day, there were minor concerns about the small framed infielder’s raw power projections and ability to stick at the shortstop position. There were never many doubts that he would hit, and hit a lot.

He’s methodically erased the other concerns along the way. McGonilgle has launched numerous tape measure shots over the past year, and while he had work to do to develop his footwork and become more efficient in his actions defensively, he’s clearly put in the work to make that a reality. Hall of Famer Alan Trammell has put in a lot of time working with him on his defensive actions since last season, and that work has paid off big this spring. McGonigle looks a lot slicker anywhere you put him on the field, and while his arm is just average for a shortstop, and not geared to make crazy throws from deep in the hole, his range, quick transfer, and accuracy make up for a lot. I’ve thought he’d be an average shortstop for a while now, but his work this spring has him tracking more like an above average defender.

The final note of the day was the 30.2 feet per second sprint speed he posted on Opening Day in beating out an infield single. We’ve mentioned that his speed is underrated, but frankly that was a shocking number to see. Only Trea Turner averaged a higher sprint speed in the major leagues last year, and he averaged 30.3 feet per second. Stealing bases has been a more modest part of McGonigle’s game in the minor leagues, but the opportunity is clearly there for him to steal a lot more bags than expected. He stole 22 in 2024, but only 10 last year in a somewhat abbreviated season caused by a sprained ankle on Opening Day that cost him six weeks. Perhaps he didn’t push the ankle last year, but he’s clearly back to full speed and apparently one of the fastest players in baseball to go with his rather outrageous gifts in all other aspects of the game.

We didn’t see a home run, but it won’t be long. The other aspect of his game the Tigers’ faithful didn’t get a chance to see was his plus power. Here’s a sampling from earlier in the spring. Only Riley Greene and Javier Báez have more raw power than Kevin McGonigle, and he’s going to get to all of it once he settles in fully as a major leaguer. He makes tons of hard contact, and his swing and approach are already built to pull a lot of balls in the air.

All around, a very good day for the Detroit Tigers and Kevin McGonigle. Every player’s major league debut is special, but for a talent like this, it was a real coming out party that showcased to the Tigers’ fanbase just how good a player they’ve got here. By day’s end, McGonigle had the balls he hit for doubles in his locker, and was anxious to meet up with the family who helped get him here, saying “I didn’t do this. WE did this together.”

Good stuff. We’re going to have a fun time watching this young man’s major league career unfold, and his buddies in the farm system will be chomping at the bit this year to join him.

.@daniellabruce_ caught up with Kevin McGonigle after his historic MLB debut!

Subscribe to Detroit SportsNet: https://t.co/8Pjp0NCB1Dpic.twitter.com/rJCNRSqvlk

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) March 26, 2026

The season kicks off for the Diamondbacks, in Los Angeles against the World Champion Dodgers. The game is scheduled to start at 5:30 pm, and I’d probably recommend tuning it as close to that point as possible, unless you want to see the Dodgers getting their World Series rings and all that malarkey. [Hey, we are still the last team to beat Los Angeles in a post-season series] Mind you, with tonight’s game being a national game on NBC and Peacock, I’ve a feeling the broadcast is going to skew quite Dodgers heavy. If they mention us before the fourth inning, I’m going to call that a win.

It has been twenty-five years since the D-backs last beat the Dodgers on Opening Day. So it’s clearly about time, amIrite? That was a 3-2 victory in 2001, behind Randy Johnson, with a two-run shot from Luis Gonzalez in the seventh inning giving Arizona a come from behind victory. Since then, there have been four defeats and, to be honest, it has rarely been close. Only one of those losses has been by a margin less than six runs, with an overall run tally of 8-31. The last time we saw LA on Opening Day was in 2023, when Zac Gallen couldn’t get through five innings and took the L in an 8-2 loss. Still, that season ended up not too bad, didn’t it?

That’s definitely something to remember. It’s very easy to over-react – especially if you get pummeled, like the Giants did last night, or your ace and reigning Cy Young winner can’t get through one inning, like Pirates’ fans had to witness earlier today. But there’s a reason the baseball season is 162 games. It’s almost certain this team will lose sixty of them and win sixty of them. It’s what happens over the remaining forty-two – barely a quarter of the season – which will determine whether this year is a success or failure. So the odds are that today, in and of itself, won’t “matter” in the grand scheme of things.

Still, we hope for the best. There’s a lot of changes to look at here, with half the Diamondbacks line-up different from Opening Day last year:

• 1B: Naylor > Santana
• 3B: Suarez > Arenado
• LF: Gurriel > Lawlar
• CF: McCarthy > Thomas
• DH: Grichuk > Smith

On the mound, while Gallen remains the starting pitcher, none of the three relievers to come out against the Cubs (Ryne Nelson, Jalen Beeks and Bryce Jarvis) are in the 2026 version of the Arizona bullpen. All told, of the 26 players on the 2025 Opening Day roster, only eleven are also on the roster today. That feels low, though I haven’t checked to see how it compares to other teams. There may not have been a lot of high-profile changes over the winter – re-signing Kelly and Gallen were far and away the biggest moves – but there has certainly been a significant amount of roster churn. We’ll start to see how it works out tonight! Try and not over-react. 😀

Thursday’s Opening Day game against the Texas Rangers had everything a Phillies fan could want: A Schwarbomb, an impressive debut from a rookie, filthy pitching from Cristopher Sanchez, and a way-too-interesting ninth inning. Put it all together, and the Phillies improved to 1-0 on the season with a 5-3 win.

After Sanchez worked around two ground ball singles in the first, the Phillies scored their first runs of the season with the old bloop-blast combination. Trea Turner beat out an infield single, and Kyle Schwarber went opposite field.

🚨 OPENING DAY SCHWARBOMB! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/VDSCDlTGwZ

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) March 26, 2026

Rangers started Nathan Eovaldi settled down after that, but he did give up a single to Justin Crawford on the first pitch he saw as a major leaguer.

SAVE THAT BALL! ⚾

The first hit of Justin Crawford's @MLB career! pic.twitter.com/do0S4vzBph

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) March 26, 2026

In the fifth, Crawford improved to 2-2 in his career with another single, and when Turner followed with another hit, it looked like the Phillies were ready to pile on. But Eovaldi struck out Schwarber and Bryce Harper, which left things in the hands of Alec Bohm.

There were a lot of complaints about Bohm serving as the team’s cleanup hitter, but for one game, it certainly worked out well.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE BOHM! pic.twitter.com/Yx7NF9WjIl

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) March 26, 2026

Sanchez was faring far better than Eovaldi. He looked to be in midseason form as he tore through the Rangers’ lineup. He even seemed to be getting stronger as the game went on, striking out the last four batters he faced.

Make it 10 Ks for Cris! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Q9mNNbJSqv

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) March 26, 2026

There are some questions about the Phillies’ bullpen, and manager Rob Thomson tried to cover the final three innings with middle relievers Jonathan Bowlan, Zach Pop, and Kyle Backhus. Bowlan and Pop were able to get through their innings – including the Phillies’ first ever ABS challenge.

I question why Thomson didn’t use closer Jhoan Duran in the ninth. Yes, you normally don’t want to use your closer with a five-run lead, but it’s Opening Day: You’ve got an off day tomorrow, so why not give the festive crowd what they want to see? Not to mention, this would have been an excruciating loss, so why mess around?

Instead, we got Backhus, and the Spring Training darling did not look good. Two batters in, and the lead was cut to 5-2.

BURGER BOMB!

Distance: 438 ft
Exit Velocity: 108.1 MPH
Launch Angle: 21°
HR/Park: 30/30
Pitcher: Kyle Backhus
Pitch: Sinker (92.1 MPH)#MLB#JakeBurger#Rangers#OpeningDaypic.twitter.com/jD9Uk8LaMB

— Ride The Pine (@RideThePineMLB) March 26, 2026

After another single, Backhus was finally able to retire a batter, but a poor fielding decision by Bryson Stott and an errant throw by Bryce Harper, put a runner at third base.

Duran belatedly entered the game, and although he allowed the tying run to reach the plate, he eventually got Even Carter to ground out to secure the win.

Game Won#RingTheBellpic.twitter.com/ldmKtyb1YJ

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) March 26, 2026

Sadly, the Phillies’ momentum will be stalled by tomorrow’s off day. I understand why they schedule the break, but it’s one of the most annoying things in sports. On the bright side, we get an extra 24 hours to celebrate the big days by Schwarber, Bohm, Crawford, and Sanchez There are certainly worse fates in the world!

The Pittsburgh Pirates season appeared to get off to a great start after Brandon Lowe hit a two-run homer in his first Bucco at-bat.

Then the bottom of the first happened.

For the first time in his career, Paul Skenes failed to pitch out of the first inning. 

Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for the Pirates in their 11-7 loss to the New York Mets on Thursday afternoon.

Skenes allowed five runs on four hits and two walks. He only recorded two outs and was pulled after 37 pitches.

One major reason why is because of two major defensive lapses by Oneil Cruz.

Leading 2-1 with the bases loaded and one out, Skenes induced a fly ball to center field off Brett Baty. Cruz started in a few steps and misplayed what should have been the second out and a sacrifice fly. 

Instead, Baty cleared the bases and wound up at third. One batter later, Marcus Semien hit a fly ball to center that Cruz couldn’t find in the sun.

Another run scored. The inexcusable errors immediately erased a great start in the top of the first inning and the Pirates couldn’t battle all the way back.

Skenes and the Pirates trailed 5-2. Skenes punched out Carson Benge but hit Francisco Alvarez. His day was over. 

Oneil Cruz with two of the worst center field plays you'll see in a big league game

…in the first inning of the first game of the year pic.twitter.com/kaBWNd58a3

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) March 26, 2026

Yohan Ramirez responded with an impressive 2.1 innings and three strikeouts in relief, but the bullpen allowed another six runs.

Mason Montgomery, Isaac Mattson, and Justin Lawrence each allowed two runs. 

The Pirates’ offense totaled 10 hits and showed some positive signs for the year.

In his team debut, Lowe etched himself into the history books. Lowe hit his second homer of the game in the top of the third and became the seventh Pirate to homer twice on Opening Day. 

Having some déjà vu…another one for B-Lowe! pic.twitter.com/KamjiGYhhj

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 26, 2026

Henry Davis doubled down the left field line in the fifth for his first hit of the year to score Nick Gonzales, who recorded two hits. 

Ryan O’Hearn hit his first round-tripper as a Pirate in the sixth. It was an impressive opposite-field shot by the new Buc, who hit 17 a year ago.

Lowe, O’Hearn, and Gonzales each recorded two hits. 

The Pirates and Mets will battle in game two of the series on Saturday, with Mitch Keller taking the mound, looking for a bounce-back performance from the staff.

The Texas Rangers scored three runs but the Philadelphia Phillies scored five runs.

The last time the Rangers began a season against the Phillies, they won the World Series. That’s certainly a positive omen as we begin this 2026 season journey.

Those kinds of vibes didn’t last very long, however, as the Rangers whiffed on a scoring opportunity in their first half inning and then trailed 2-0 five pitches into Philadelphia’s first crack at the new campaign.

Opening Day starter Nathan Eovaldi has been excellent over his career in games where there are a lot of eyeballs on the action. He’s been great during his time in Texas. He won the franchise a dang World Series. He was enjoying arguably the best season by a starting pitcher in franchise history last year before it was derailed by ailments. Eovaldi is good for days like this. You feel comfortable with him as your Opening Day guy.

Despite all that, Eovaldi allowed a two-strike, two-run dong to Kyle Schwarber just two batters into this one.

Whoopsadoodle.

Throughout the 2025 season, Eovaldi allowed 25 earned runs total in his 130 innings of work. He allowed two before collecting an out in 2026.

Before his day was over, without even making it through five frames, Eovaldi allowed five runs on eight hits with zero walks and seven Ks. A back-breaking two-out, three-run shot off the bat of Alec Bohm ended Eovaldi’s afternoon in the bottom of the fifth.

Meanwhile, at the plate, the Rangers looked a lot like the group we left behind in 2025 for much of the game. Which is to say, *gulp*

The oft-maligned bats had a makeover over the winter, and they enjoyed some feel-good press for improved stat lines in Arizona, but that translated to all of four hits through the game’s first eight innings with scant few chances to score until a too-little, too-late ninth inning rally.

Granted, the lineup had the unenviable task of trying to get off on a good foot against arguably the National League’s best left-handed starter. Cristopher Sanchez took the mound for the Phillies and he shoved, continuing where he left off last season when he led the NL in bWAR (8.0) and produced a 2.50 ERA on his way to finishing second behind Paul Skenes for the Cy Young award.

In the end, Sanchez struck out ten Rangers in his six innings of scoreless work with lineup waiting for the ninth inning to finally get on the board via a two-run home run from Jake Burger. At the very least, they made things mildly intriguing by getting the tying run to the plate.

Ah well, there’s six months of baseball ahead of us for better days than this one. As far as Opening Days go, though, this one was a stinker.

Player of the Game: Rule 5 pick Carter Baumler deserves a nod for making his MLB debut and pitching a scoreless — albeit shaky — inning with his family hanging on every pitch in the stands.

But Jake Burger collected three of Texas’ eight hits, including the ninth inning home run that prevented Philly from enjoying an Opening Day shutout.

Up Next: The Rangers will take a day off on Friday before resuming this series on Saturday in a rematch of the 2023 opener with RHP Jacob deGrom on the mound for Texas opposite RHP Aaron Nola for Philadelphia.

The Saturday afternoon first pitch from Citizens Bank Park is scheduled for 3:05 pm CT and will be carried on the Rangers Sports Network.

Welcome back baseball, indeed!

On an absolutely GLORIOUS day in Cincinnati, the Red Sox took down the Reds by a final score of 3-0. This box score somehow feels earned despite the way the game went? Let me explain.

The Red Sox offense got the better of Andrew Abbott but couldn’t push a run across the plate until the 7th inning. 10 men left on base feels like the boys are picking right back up where they were last year—lots of bark, no bite to get multiple runs.

Thankfully, squeaking one out with a Ceddanne Rafalea RBI single in the 7th seemed to bring the game itself back to life, and then pouring on hits and walks in the 9th gave myself and hopefully everyone a little sigh of relief with insurance runs driven in by Trevor Story and Jarren Duran.

Crochet was Crochet. Exactly the workhorse ace you need him to be but not overextending him early on. Slaten, Whitlock, and Chapman were almost as clean as you can be, giving up only two baserunners total in the final three frames. For game 1 of 162, this was a decent start and showing signs of what should be coming in the 2026 season.

Take the night to soak in the win—the opening series off day is tomorrow so the Sox aren’t back until Saturday afternoon at 1:40pm!

Studs

Garrett Crochet (6 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 8 K)

After a rocky final start in Spring Training, the Pig showed everyone why it’s all just practice until the games count. Starting off with a four pitch first inning, he was a dominant force in Cincinnati on Thursday afternoon.

Roman Anthony (3-for-4, 1 BB, 1 run, 1 K)

The youngest Red Sox EVER with multiple hits on his first Opening Day, three singles, a walk created by a successful ABS challenge. Welcome to your first full season, Roman!

Marcelo Mayer (2-for-2, 2 runs)

Marcelo didn’t get the start today against a lefty starter, but he made an immediate impact upon coming in with a single, a double and two runs scored. I’m really intrigued to see how he fares at second—but his bat had a great start on Opening Day.

The ABS Challenge System (4 challenges, 3 successful overturns)

Today might be the day I realized how pivotal the ABS system is going to be to the success of baseball. Carlos Narváez did a phenomenal job with challenges behind the plate, going 2-for-3 on the day. That also includes turning an Eugenio Suárez walk into a strikeout to end the 4th inning. It was Roman Anthony’s challenge in the 9th that should be talked about the most. A strikeout to end the inning and leave Marcelo on base turned into a walk that sparked some insurance runs to seal the game is absolutely the kind of result ABS should be producing, Reward catchers for making good calls for their pitchers and getting them out of innings. Reward batters for making good calls by extending innings and starting rallies. I really enjoy this balance—I think full on robo-umpires is against the spirit of the game, but I appreciate the chance for in-game policing and taking that calculated risk to have an accurate call.

Duds

Caleb Durbin (0-for-3, 1 BB)

The lack of hits isn’t great…the error at third was egregious. It was a grounder he should be able to handle pretty easily. Thank the baseball gods they didn’t get burned for it.

Isaiah Kiner-Falefa (0-for-2, 1 K)

Wilson Contreras (0-for-4, 1 BB, 1 K)

I’ll say the same thing for IKF and for Willy…eh. Tepid and inoffensive debuts for each of them to the Red Sox faithful.

Play of the Game

In an absolute pitcher’s duel where neither offense could figure out the starter for long, Garrett Crochet working himself out of this bases-loaded jam proved to be absolutely pivotal.