When is MLB Opening Day 2025? Everything to know about the schedule, starting pitchers and Tokyo Series as the season begins

Rejoice, baseball fans, because the MLB regular season started earlier than ever in 2025. Tuesday marked the start of the Tokyo Series between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers.

While spring training is still in full swing for most teams, the Cubs and Dodgers traveled to Tokyo for a two-game series that counts toward the regular season. The reigning champion Dodgers got off to a hot start, winning the first game of the series 4-1 behind a strong start from Yoshinobu Yamamoto and some timely hitting from Shohei Ohtani.

With the Cubs’ and Dodgers’ 2025 seasons already underway, when does the rest of the league start playing regular-season games? Here’s everything you need to know about MLB Opening Day 2025.

When is MLB Opening Day 2025?

For the Cubs and Dodgers, Opening Day was technically Tuesday, March 18, in Tokyo. They will play another regular-season game Wednesday before flying back to the United States to finish spring training.

For 26 other MLB teams, Opening Day will take place Thursday, March 27, with 14 games scheduled that day. The Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees will get things started at 3:05 p.m. ET, and the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays will get underway two minutes later. The final two games of the day — the Cubs vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Athletics vs. the Seattle Mariners — will begin at 10:10 p.m. ET. Despite playing regular-season games on March 18 and 19, both the Cubs and Dodgers will play on March 27.

The Colorado Rockies and the Tampa Bay Rays are the only two teams that won’t play a regular-season game by the 27th. Those teams will open the season the following day, on Friday, March 28. The Rays and Rockies were initially set to begin play March 27, but the game was moved back a day after Hurricane Milton damaged Tropicana Field in October.

In fact, Tropicana Field will not be ready for the start of the season, forcing the Rays to play their home games this year at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, where the Yankees play their spring training games. The Rays pushed back their first regular-season game so stadium workers would have an additional day to transition the ballpark from Yankees to Rays.

What is the MLB Tokyo Series?

To kick off the 2025 MLB regular season, the league opted to play two games between the Cubs and Dodgers in Tokyo a week before domestic Opening Day. Both teams boast Japanese stars, including Ohtani, Yamamoto and Wednesday’s starter, Roki Sasaki, for the Dodgers, as well as Seiya Suzuki and Tuesday’s starter, Shota Imanaga, for the Cubs.

This is the second straight season in which the league has played its first regular-season game overseas. The Dodgers and the San Diego Padres opened the 2024 MLB season with a two-game series in Korea while the rest of the league was still in the midst of spring training.

MLB Opening Day 2025 schedule

As noted, the Brewers and Yankees kick things off on March 27 at 3:05 p.m. ET on ESPN. ESPN will also broadcast the Detroit Tigers vs. Dodgers contest, which starts at 7:10 p.m. ET. Those are the only two games that will be nationally broadcast that day.

Full schedule of March 27 games (all times Eastern):

• 3:05 p.m. – Milwaukee Brewers at New York Yankees

• 3:07 p.m. – Baltimore Orioles at Toronto Blue Jays

• 4:05 p.m. – Texas Rangers at Boston Red Sox

• 4:05 p.m. – Philadelphia Phillies at Washington Nationals

• 4:10 p.m. – Cleveland Guardians at Kansas City Royals

• 4:10 p.m. – New York Mets at Houston Astros

• 4:10 p.m. – San Francisco Giants at Cincinnati Reds

• 4:10 p.m. – Atlanta Braves at San Diego Padres

• 4:10 p.m. – Los Angeles Angels at Chicago White Sox

• 4:10 p.m. – Pittsburgh Pirates at Miami Marlins

• 4:15 p.m. – Minnesota Twins at St. Louis Cardinals

• 7:10 p.m. – Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers

• 10:10 p.m. – Chicago Cubs at Arizona Diamondbacks

• 10:10 p.m. – Athletics at Seattle Mariners

On March 28, the Colorado Rockies and Tampa Bay Rays will play their first regular-season game at 4:10 p.m. ET.

MLB Opening Day 2025 starting pitchers

With the regular season quickly approaching, a number of teams have already announced who will be on the mound for Opening Day. The Dodgers called on Yamamoto to start Game 1 of the Tokyo Series, and he opposed Imanaga in the contest.

The following pitchers will get the ball for their teams on domestic Opening Day:

• Freddy Peralta (MIL) vs. Carlos Rodón (NYY)

• Zach Eflin (BAL) vs. José Berríos (TOR)

• Garrett Crochet (BOS) vs. Nathan Eovaldi (TEX)

• Zack Wheeler (PHI) vs. MacKenzie Gore (WAS)

• TBD (CLE) vs. Cole Ragans (KCR)

• Clay Holmes (NYM) vs. Framber Valdez (HOU)

• Logan Webb (SFG) vs. Hunter Greene (CIN)

• Chris Sale (ATL) vs. Michael King (SDP)

• Yusei Kikuchi (LAA) vs. Sean Burke (CWS)

• Paul Skenes (PIT) vs. Sandy Alcantara (MIA)

• Pablo López (MIN) vs. Sonny Gray (STL)

• Tarik Skubal (DET) vs. TBD (LAD)

• TBD (CHC) vs. TBD (ARI)

• Luis Severino (ATH) vs. Logan Gilbert (SEA)

• TBD (COL) vs. Shane McClanahan (TBR)

The Cubs, Dodgers, Guardians and Rockies are the only four teams that have not named their starters ahead of their first regular-season games following the Tokyo Series.