MLB Opening Day

About this event

Opening Day begins Major League Baseball's regular season, a 162-game schedule played by all thirty clubs from spring into autumn. It carries more weight than a first fixture normally would, and is treated in many American baseball cities as an unofficial holiday, with full ballparks, pre-game ceremonies and a starting rotation's best pitcher on the mound. The ceremonial first pitch is the enduring ritual: presidents have thrown one since William Howard Taft in 1910. The Cincinnati Reds, as the oldest professional franchise, traditionally hosted the season's first game and still open at home with a parade through the city. In recent seasons the league has also opened abroad, staging the first games in Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney and London to grow the sport outside North America. Because every club plays, the day is spread across the country rather than centred on one venue, and each franchise builds its own home opener around its team's history. The 2027 Opening Day is 27 March.