Opening Day starters named
MLB announced Opening Day starters: Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the Dodgers’ Game 1 starter and Cole Ragans draws the Royals’ Opening Day nod — the season opens Thursday, March 26 with the Giants and Yankees. The league’s full Opening Day starter tracker is updating as teams finalize rotations. (mlb.com) (mlb.com) (cbssports.com)
Yamamoto is slated to take the ball at Dodger Stadium for the March 26 home opener against Arizona, with first pitch set for 5:30 p.m. PT and the Dodgers scheduled to raise their 2025 championship banner that night. (mlb.com ) He finished the 2025 regular season with a 2.49 ERA and 201 strikeouts across 173.2 innings and was named the 2025 World Series MVP after three wins and 15 strikeouts in 17.2 World Series innings. (statmuse.com ) (mlb.com ) This will be Yamamoto’s second straight Opening Day start and makes him the first Dodgers pitcher to draw consecutive season-opening assignments since Clayton Kershaw’s run of Opening Day starts from 2011–18. (mlb.com ) (ocregister.com ) Cole Ragans will open for the Royals in Atlanta on March 27, marking his third consecutive Opening Day start and placing him among six pitchers in franchise history with three-plus straight Opening Day assignments. (mlb.com ) The Royals acquired Ragans on June 30, 2023, in a trade that sent Aroldis Chapman to Texas, and manager Matt Quatraro explicitly called Ragans “a frontline starter” when announcing the decision. (mlb.com ) MLB’s official Opening Day starter tracker and CBS Sports’ tracker are updating as clubs finalize rotations, while the league schedule shows a standalone Opening Night between the Giants and Yankees on March 25 followed by a 14-game traditional Opening Day slate on March 26. (mlb.com ) (cbssports.com ) (mlb.com )
