Pitching matchups announced for 2026 Opening Day Presented by Adobe
Major League Baseball, in conjunction with the 30 Clubs, announced today the scheduled pitching matchups for Opening Day presented by Adobe, spanning Wednesday, March 25th; Thursday, March 26th; and Friday, March 27th.
The Opening Day starters are headlined by reigning Cy Young Award winners Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers. The 23-year-old Skenes, who was also the NL Rookie of the Year just two seasons ago, will take the mound on the road against the New York Mets at Citi Field. The two-time All-Star, who became Pittsburgh’s youngest Opening Day starter last season, will be the first Cy Young winner to take the mound for the Pirates on Opening Day since Doug Drabek in 1992 and the first reigning Cy Young winner to do so for Pittsburgh since Drabek also started in 1991 following his award-winning 1990 campaign. In the NBC opener at 1:15 p.m. (ET) on Thursday, Skenes will square off against Freddy Peralta, who is the lone pitcher across the Majors debuting for a new club in an Opening Day start.
The 29-year-old Skubal will make his third consecutive Opening Day start for the Tigers in a road contest against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Skubal, the 12th pitcher in Major League history to win back-to-back Cy Young Awards, will become the ninth pitcher to start on Opening Day following consecutive award-winning seasons, joining Hall of Famer Jim Palmer (1976-77); Hall of Famer Greg Maddux (1993-96); Roger Clemens (1998-99); Hall of Famer Randy Johnson (2000-03); Hall of Famer Pedro Martínez (2000-01); Tim Lincecum (2009-10); Clayton Kershaw (2014-15); and Jacob deGrom (2019-20). Additionally, Skubal will become the first Tigers hurler to start three consecutive Opening Day contests since his teammate Justin Verlander made seven consecutive Opening Day starts for Detroit from 2008-14. With the start by Skubal, Detroit will start a left-hander on Opening Day for a seventh consecutive season, marking the longest active stretch in the Majors.
Three-time All-Star Max Fried of the New York Yankees and two-time All-Star Logan Webb of the San Francisco Giants will meet in the season-opening game on Wednesday, March 25th at 8:05 p.m. (ET)/5:05 p.m. (PT) on Netflix. Reigning Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers will toe the rubber against Zac Gallen and the Arizona Diamondbacks as the NL West rivals meet up in NBC’s prime time opener at 8:30 p.m. (ET)/5:30 p.m. (PT) on Thursday night. With the start, Yamamoto will be the first reigning World Series MVP to start on Opening Day since Madison Bumgarner for the Giants in 2015.
With two starters still to be determined, the current crop of 28 Opening Day starters include 23 All-Star pitchers and four Cy Young Award winners (Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins; Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves; Skenes; and Skubal). Atlanta’s Sale leads the way with his seventh Opening Day assignment, and he is followed by Miami’s Alcantara (sixth); Nathan Eovaldi of the Texas Rangers (sixth); Colorado’s Kyle Freeland (fifth); and San Francisco’s Webb (fifth). The Opening Day starters include 12 pitchers who also opened the season in 2025, as well as 10 pitchers who will make their first career Opening Day start, including Cincinnati’s Andrew Abbott; Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee; Houston’s Hunter Brown; Washington’s Cade Cavalli; Matthew Liberatore of the St. Louis Cardinals; Tampa Bay’s Drew Rasmussen; Baltimore’s Trevor Rogers; Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sánchez; Shane Smith of the Chicago White Sox; and José Soriano of the Los Angeles Angels.
MLB Network’s wide variety of regular season studio shows will return for Opening Night on Wednesday, March 25th. The early slate will consist of a simulcast of SiriusXM’s The Leadoff Spot (9:00 a.m. ET), the Emmy Award-nominated MLB Central (10:00 a.m. ET) and the Emmy Award-nominated MLB Now (12:00 p.m. ET) all making their regular season debuts. A 2026 Predictions Special will air at 4:00 p.m. (ET), followed by Intentional Talk, MLB Network’s longest running talk-show returning at 5:00 p.m. (ET), and MLB Tonight: National Pregame Show at 6:00 p.m. (ET) leading into the Giants and Yankees. Opening Day on Thursday, March 26th will see MLB Network air its first live game of the season, with the Detroit Tigers taking on the San Diego Padres at 4:00 p.m. (ET). A three-hour edition of the Emmy Award-winning MLB Tonight will air at 7:00 p.m. (ET), followed by the season debut of Quick Pitch at 10:00 p.m. (ET).