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Aaron Judge perhaps set the tone for the Yankees’ 124th home opener Friday afternoon long before the first pitch or his key home run in the first inning. The night before the Yanks met the Marlins at Yankee Stadium, Judge sent a team-wide text:

“Suits tomorrow.”

So the Yankees showed up decked out in their finery, perhaps a sartorial declaration of a kind.

“That’s Cap…so everybody was fired up,” Ben Rice said.

Aaron Boone was grinning over the snazzy threads in the morning, hours before the Yankees beat the Marlins, 8-2. Seeing his players so nattily dressed, the manager said, helped show the importance of the first game of the year at Yankee Stadium.

“When they’re rolling in in suits today, I know that’s meaningful,” Boone said.

It’s been a remarkable season for the Yankees so far (caveat: it’s early). But the 6-1 Yanks ooze talent and potential. It all starts with Judge, just like, basically, their seventh game of the season did.

After the Marlins grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Xavier Edwards’ solo homer – the first home run allowed by a Yankee pitcher this season – Judge immediately responded. Trent Grisham led off with a walk and then Judge pounded a two-run homer for an instant lead. They never trailed again.

“They came out swinging, got a run on us,” Judge said. “Grish had a great at-bat in front of me. I'm just trying to do my job, which is to try to get him over, to get a good pitch and drive it. So, just happy to answer back.”

There is always outsized attention on Judge because he’s one of today’s great stars, probably the best hitter in baseball. It’s never too early – in some folks’ minds, anyway – to fret over his numbers if they are not Judge-ian. He entered Friday batting .125, not the sort of thing that goes unnoticed in the Yankee fishbowl, even if he had already hit two home runs so far, too.

If you are frantic over Judge’s start, maybe take a deep breath. It’ll be OK. Promise. Heck, he’s on pace for around 69 home runs right now.

Friday, his third homer put the Yankees ahead for good and was the highlight of what turned into a big game for both star and team. Judge reached base four times and was 2-for-3, scored twice, drove in three runs, walked and even stole a base. He was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded – more on that in a moment – to force in a run.

Beyond thumbing out texts to the boys, Judge has long been good at establishing something early in games. Friday’s homer was the 86th of his career in the first inning. Last year, he smacked 20 first-inning home runs, an MLB record, for a 94-win team.

Only two other Yankees had more first-inning homers in their careers – Babe Ruth (126) and Mickey Mantle (103). Those two sure played on a lot of winning teams, didn’t they? (Yes, we know they piled up championships, too, while Judge and these Yankees have not won the World Series. Yet).

It’s what they yearn to do. And their top tone-setter will surely play an enormous role in that pursuit. He authors some of the most meaningful swings among the current Yanks – since 2019, 138 of Judge’s 288 home runs have either tied the score or given the Yanks the lead, the team said.

That, in part, is why it’s “never a surprise,” Boone said, when Judge delivers like he did in the first inning. “Really good answer to them putting a run up on the board,” Boone said. “And, you know, I think it allowed Will (Warren, the starting pitcher) to get in a good rhythm, too.”

The Yanks got a jolt in the second inning when Judge was hit on the arm by an errant pitch from Marlins starter Eury Pérez with the bases full. Judge seemed fine and remained in the game, not that it wasn’t scary, too.

“Felt like he was probably OK, but I tend to jump up a little quicker when it’s him,” Boone said. “Yeah, you always hold your breath there a little bit, any time it’s running up and in there like that. I think it got him on the forearm, kind of the meaty part, so you knew in short order, we’re all right.”

Added Judge: “I've broken my wrist like that, so that's always your main concern. But once you feel like everything's intact, you should take it to first.”

The Yanks scored twice in the second inning without a hit, thanks to Pérez’s wildness and their own speed. They kept adding on, too. Rice homered in the seventh and smashed a two-run double in the eighth.

But Judge set the tone, stylistically and otherwise.

“That’s what he does best,” Rice said, referring to Judge’s vital homer.

“He’s so good at that.”

Ben Rice said that Aaron Judge texted in the Yankees group chat for everyone to wear suits for the home opener today pic.twitter.com/1fVwhlQ8tz

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 3, 2026

Blue Jays 4 at White Sox 5 (10)

A few weeks ago, I came across a humourous yet apt video describing this time of year as sucker punch spring for the swings in the weather. Apparently it also applies to the beginning of the season for the Blue Jays, as for the second successive game they took a tough extra inning loss that they even more painful than Wednesday’s.

Facing his former team, Dylan Cease was not particularly sharp, racking up 93 pitches without finishing the 5th inning, finishing with a final line of 3 runs on 5 hits in 4.1 innings. 3 walks against 6 strikeouts. He got into trouble right from the start, walking leadoff hitter Chase Meidroth before Munetaka Murakami drilled a single so hard he had to hold up at first to put runners on the corners.

Cease did limit the damage to one run, but another walk in the 3rd got him into more trouble in the 3rd. An infield single put two on, followed by a double steal which allowed Austin’s Hay single to plate two runs. The last walk with one out in the 5th inning ended his afternoon. Braydon Fisher held the line in retiring the next two hitters and working around back-to-back singles to start the 6th with a couple of strikeouts sandwiched around a pickoff. Brandon Little and Louis Varland followed with good shutout innings.

It looked like enough damage might already have been done however, as the Jays bats were largely asleep. Opener Grant Taylor dispatched them in order in the first. Sean Burke was welcomed rudely with a pair of doubles by Addison Barger and Alejandro Kirk to tie the game, but then he largely shut them down for the next 6 innings, working around a few hits here and there.

Just when it looked like the Jays might be going down as quietly as they did Wednesday afternoon, the White Sox went back to the bullpen for Jordan Leasure and once again the first two batters struck. Ernie Clement singled before Andres Gimenez resurrected the Jays’ hopes with a drive down the right field line for a game tying home run.

Skipping forward to extras, the Clement moved the Manfred Man over to third with one out but Gimenez struck out. The Jays caught a huge break when what should have been an inning ending roller to third pulled Murakami off the first base bag to plate the run.

It looked like that might be the decisive break, as Jeff Hoffman came out of the save. Despite the White Sox too moving their runner over with out, Hoffman too got a strikeout to leave them one out away. However, a foul tip off his wrist caused Kirk to depart (hopefully, that’s not the decisive break of the game). Derek Hill immediately challenged replacement Tyler Heineman by dropping down a bunt. Heineman not only didn’t get the out, allowing the tying run to cross, but threw it up the line to put the winning run in scoring position. Setting up former Ray (of course) Tristan Peters to line the game winning single to right field.

Jays of the Day: The extra inning Manfred Man confounds the raw WPA, as both Ernie Clement (+0.19 WPA) and George Springer (+0.39) have big numbers that are largely undeserved. So instead we’ll go with Gimenez (+0.07) for the critical HR, Varland (+0.11) and Rogers (+0.14) for important shutout relief innings, with hat tips to Fisher (+0.06) and Little (+0.02).

Boo Jays: By the numbers, Hoffman with the brutal -.800, but that neither accounts for the nature of the runners in extras nor how things happened. Instead, we’ll stick with Okamoto (-0.18) for the 0/4 golden sombrero, Cease (-0.15), Sanchez (-0.15) with the 0/5 sombrero, and I think Heineman for the wild throw though coming in cold.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, the Jays will look to even the series when they’ll send, well, someone to the mound in Cody Ponce’s spot to face old friend Anthony Kay

The Texas Rangers scored three runs but the Cincinnati Reds scored five runs runs.

The Reds hit three home runs and the Rangers had a bunch of hard-hit balls that went for outs and after a tied game through eight innings, Chris Martin allowed two, two-strike extra base hits — including Cincy’s third dong of the game — and the Rangers are now 0-1 at The Shed in 2026.

Player of the Game: Other than a couple of poorly located pitches, a three-run outing with nine Ks and zero walks over six innings is something you’d happily take from your starter. No victory today for Mackenzie Gore, however, but he’s been a bright spot through two starts so far this season.

Up Next: The Rangers and Reds are right back at it tomorrow evening with RHP Kumar Rocker making his 2026 debut at last opposite RHP Rhett Lowder for Cincinnati.

Saturday’s first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 6:05 pm CDT and you can watch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

Yankees left fielder Cody Bellinger had a highlight-reel catch in the ninth inning of Friday's home-opening win over the Miami Marlins.

With none out and a 1-1 count for left-hander Ryan Yarbrough, Xavier Edwards laced an 85 mph cutter over Bellinger's shoulder and to the warning track.

Leaping near the wall, Bellinger initially missed off the heel of his glove before swiping down and snagging the ball for the catch.

Cody Bellinger HOW?! pic.twitter.com/W7GXc80f5t

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 3, 2026

"Well, I definitely thought I had it from the jump," Bellinger said. "I should've caught it the first time. I don't even know. I think I squeezed the glove too early, and it just kind of dropped in front of me and I just got lucky. I definitely got lucky. I threw my glove out there."

Upon making the play, Bellinger spun and raised his arms with a smile while Yarbrough applauded from the mound.

"I genuinely thought I caught it the first time," Bellinger said. "I feel like I had a good beat on it the whole way, and I don't know -- I think I caught it off my wrist. I don't really know exactly what happened there. So, I'm just glad I came down with it then and there."

Bellinger's afternoon at Yankee Stadium included a 1-for-4 day offensively, hitting a ground-rule double to lead off the fifth inning before working an eighth-inning walk and subsequently scoring on Ben Rice's two-out double, polishing off the 8-2 final for New York (6-1) against Miami (5-2).

"We've been doing a great job," Bellinger said. "We're playing great baseball. We love each other in here. I think we have a pretty good idea, plan of who we are and what we want to do, and it's a tough competitor on the mound -- he's got really good stuff. So, ultimately, we did a really good job of controlling the zone, doing some damage there -- Ben Rice came through with a few big hits -- and, overall, just a really good game."

After last night’s offensive explosion which saw the Braves score nearly as many runs (17) as they had in their first six games combined (24), a left-handed starter on the mound for Arizona is forcing Atlanta to switch things up in the lineup.

With Eduardo Rodriguez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) taking the mound for the Diamondbacks, Ozzie Albies is up in the three-hole spot he’s consistently batted in against lefty starters this season. In a small sample size this season, the average splits have not been drastic for the switch-hitter (.300 vs. lefties, .294 vs. righties). But the slugging hits have been drastic, as he’s slugging .600 vs. lefties and .294 vs. righties with five hits, all of them singles.

Additionally, Eli White is back in the lineup hitting sixth and Jonah Heim will make his third appearance of the season behind the plate hitting ninth. It could have been an opportunity to give Baldwin an off night with Kyle Farmer 4-for-7 with a homer in his career vs. Rodriguez, but that would have denied Baldwin the opportunity to break the franchise record he tied last night when he scored a run for the seventh straight game to start a season.

Matt Olson is the only other Brave with a career homer against Rodriguez. Ronald Acuña Jr. is 2-for-6 with a double and three strikeouts, while Albies and Mauricio Dubon, who is back in the lineup batting seventh, are each 2-for-4.

The top four of Arizona’s lineup will remain the same for Thursday’s game, although Corbin Carroll will now be in right after DHing Game 1 while Gabriel Moreno will DH Friday after catching the series opener. James McCann, who pitched the ninth of Thursday’s blowout loss, will catch and bat seventh on Friday.

The drastic (and unfortunate) change for Arizona is promising young outfielder Jordan Lawlar being pulled from the lineup after it was revealed that he sustained a fractured wrist on a hit-by-pitch after hitting his first career homer earlier in the game. He’s been replaced by Tim Tawa (.204 career hitter in 206 career at-bats), who will hit ninth in the D-Backs order.

No Arizona hitter has faced Braves starter Grant Holmes more than five times. Moreno (2-for-5) and Alek Thomas (2-for-4) are the only player with multiple hits against him.

It all started so well, but the Nats dreams of winning the home opener collapsed quickly, as the Dodgers lineup showed why they are elite. The Nats were up 3-0 after two innings thanks to a CJ Abrams homer, but the Dodgers turned that into an 11-4 deficit in what felt like a blink of an eye. While the Nats have competed with the Cubs and Phillies, the Dodgers showed them levels today.

In this game, one thing stuck out like a sore thumb, and it was the performance of starting pitcher Miles Mikolas. He re-wrote Nationals history today, but not in a good way. The veteran right hander allowed 11 earned runs, the most in team history. Both of Mikolas’ starts with the Nats have been shaky at best, and he has not given the team a chance to win.

The craziest part is how fast things got out of control. Through the first two innings, Mikolas was cruising, getting the first six Dodgers hitters out. However, when you don’t have elite stuff, things can get ugly if you make mistakes. That is exactly what happened for Mikolas. 

Blake Butera was in awe of the Dodgers lineup, saying Mikolas “had to be almost perfect against these guys”. He was perfect in the first two innings, but when he stopped being perfect, disaster struck. From the third inning on, it felt like the Dodgers were taking batting practice. Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages all took Mikolas deep.

He was facing a tough lineup, but it just feels like Mikolas is a guy at the end of the line. The veteran will not be going anywhere, at least for now. Butera said they will watch the video, then Mikolas and the staff will work on how to make adjustments. It would feel a bit unfair to only give Mikolas two starts, but he is going to have to put together some competitive outings, and fast.

Between the third and fifth inning, the Dodgers scored 11 runs. This avalanche just drowned the Nats, even though their offense was solid today. Later in the game, Kyle Tucker hit the Dodgers fifth home run. It was his first one with the club, and it was the cherry on top for the defending champs.

While the Mikolas disaster will rightfully take up the headlines, the Nats offense looked promising once again. Everyone in the lineup actually got a hit. You do not see that often in a game you lose by 7. I guess that just shows the might of the Dodgers lineup. 

One guy I want to highlight is the man who got the party started and sent Nats fans into a frenzy in the first. That would be CJ Abrams, who hit his second home run in as many games. Both of his homers were quite similar. He has a unique ability to pull outside pitches for homers. That is what he did for both of his three run shots in the last couple games. 

Hot starts are nothing new for Abrams. He has had tremendous first half numbers each of the last two seasons before tailing off at the end. For his part, Blake Butera does not really think Abrams is off to a hot start. He said, “I am not really sure I would call this a hot start, this is just CJ”. 

He acknowledged that Abrams does need to put a full season together, but is confident that will happen. Butera talked about how if CJ can stick to his process, take things day to day and not get too wrapped up in small samples one way or the other, the consistency will come.

I am pretty bullish on Abrams keeping things up. With the new coaching staff and technology, he will have more tools to lean on when he inevitably goes through a rough stretch. The big thing for Abrams is preventing those rough weeks from turning into rough months.

Another hitter that has impressed me, really since Spring Training is Brady House. He looks like a completely different hitter this season. The confidence looks way higher and he is much more in control of his at bats. 

House taking two walks today felt really notable. He already has four walks in seven games. Last season, he only had 8 walks in 73 games. This is not a fluke, House just looks way more comfortable. 

House has a history of starting slow at a new level before solving it. We saw that in Triple-A, where he really struggled in 2024, before mashing his way to a big league call up in 2025. Now, it looks like he is figuring things out at the MLB level. Big league pitchers will adjust back, so he will have to be constantly evolving. However, House feels like he has found his footing in the box.

Obviously, today was a very discouraging home opener, but you could still find some silver linings. Jake Irvin will take the mound tomorrow, and hopefully his new look arsenal will play against the Dodgers. He was impressive in his first start of the season, but the homer prone righty is going up against an unforgiving Dodgers lineup.

Hopefully, the Dodgers got all the runs out of their system today and the Nats can bounce back these next two games. It was not the result anyone wanted, but it was nice to be back at Nationals Park and covering the home opener for the first time in the press booth.

UPDATE: Tonight’s game has been postponed due to expected inclement weather. The game will be made up tomorrow, when the Royals and Brewers will play a double header with games at 1:10 and 6:10. Good news for those without Apple TV access; both games tomorrow will be on Brewers TV.

The Milwaukee Brewers, coming off a 5-1 homestand to kick off the season, take their show on the road for the first time tonight when they take on the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. (Check out Harrison’s series preview here.) Chad Patrick is scheduled to pitch for the Brewers, while Luinder Avila will make his first career start after debuting with 13 (effective) relief outings down the stretch last seasonAv. There is weather in the area, though, so keep an eye out for delays.

Milwaukee swept the White Sox in their first series of the season and then took two of three from the Rays, and there was no shortage of dramatics along the way. Kansas City opened the season by losing two of three in Atlanta, but took two in a three-game series with the Twins to open their home schedule.

Patrick is coming off a start in which his final line wasn’t bad, but in which he didn’t seem to have his best stuff. He allowed just one run in 4 1/3 innings, but the White Sox made some hard, tough-luck contact toward the end of the outing. Still, he walked only one batter compared to four strikeouts, and his pitch count (74 in 4 1/3 innings) wasn’t disastrous.

Avila, a righty, counts as a rookie, though, as mentioned, he made 13 appearances and threw 14 effective innings (1.29 ERA, 2.14 FIP) last season, all but one in September. Avila isn’t a complete non-prospect (he ranked 19th on MLB Pipeline’s Royals list going into 2025 and 9th in 2026), but he’s never been a top 100 prospect. Avila does through pretty hard (he features a four-seam fastball and a sinker which sit at about 96 mph) but intriguingly he threw his curveball more than any other pitch last season, a whopping 43% of the time. We’ll see if that persists into this season, when he’ll presumably take a slightly different approach as a starter. He has struggled with control in the minors, and even when he was so good at the end of last season, he walked almost four batters per nine innings. Avila also made two scoreless appearances totaling four innings for the champions from Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic this spring, though he walked as many guys as he struck out and was perhaps fortunate to get through unscathed.

The Brewers’ lineup is, unsurprisingly, packed with lefties (their clearly stronger side, with Jackson Chourio and Andrew Vaughn out) against the right-handed Avila. Of note, David Hamilton is getting the start at shortstop, while Luis Rengifo slides into the starting lineup at third base. Joey Ortiz will start the game on the bench tonight. One right-handed surprise, though, is Brandon Lockridge in left-field, who gets a start versus the right-hander over the switch-hitter, Blake Perkins.

An old friend is in the Kansas City lineup tonight; Isaac Collins, who has warmed up a bit after a tough start, is in left field for the Royals. The main attraction, of course, is superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., batting second, who might be almost as good as Brice Turang.

There’s also Brewers news that doesn’t directly involve the major-league team: Cooper Pratt’s extension has been finalized, and he’s been added to the 40-man roster (and optioned to Triple-A Nashville, where he played last weekend). Steward Berroa has been designated for assignment to open that roster spot.

Tonight’s game, scheduled for 6:45 (but again, watch the weather), is exclusively on Apple TV. If you’re not an Apple TV subscriber, the game will, as usual, be on the Brewers Radio Network.