Here are some of the biggest takeaways from Thursday’s 11-game MLB Opening Day slate.
Making Sense of Paul Skenes’ Opening Day Struggles Against the Mets
It’s just one game, but Paul Skenes’ ERA in the 2026 season is 67.50 with a 9.00 WHIP. That’s because the star hurler only recorded two outs before being lifted in Thursday’s opener against the Mets, a game the Pirates would end up losing by an 11-7 score.
This is not a sign of things to come for Skenes, nor did he forget how to pitch. Even star-level pitchers like Skenes can have a bad day, although it’s worth noting that this was the first time he couldn’t even make it through the first inning in his young career.
Still, Skenes is coming off a 2025 season in which he won the NL Cy Young unanimously while posting a 1.97 ERA and 0.95 WHIP alongside a 216:42 K:BB over 187.2 innings. He’s a strong bounce-back candidate in his next scheduled outing.
Jacob Misiorowski and Garrett Crochet Dominate Opening Day
As some aces struggled Thursday, others shone and delivered impressive performances. Two hurlers who stood out among the pack were Garrett Crochet and Jacob Misiorowski, who led their respective teams, the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers, to victory.
Crochet was absolutely filthy and delivered a quality start to open the season after fanning eight while walking two and allowing three hits across six innings. He didn’t allow a single run, and the Red Sox bullpen completed the shutout when Aroldis Chapman closed the door in the ninth inning.
Misiorowski was taken deep by Chase Meidroth in his first at-bat of the season, but he settled down afterward and posted one of the best individual performances on Opening Day. The homer from Meidroth would be the only run Misiorowski would end up allowing, and he fanned 11 in five innings, allowing two hits and walking three.
The 11 strikeouts were a new Brewers franchise record on Opening Day, but the Brewers’ pitching dominance didn’t end there. Between Misiorowski and the four relievers that followed him, Milwaukee struck out 20 White Sox batters in total, tying the modern Major League mark for strikeouts in any nine-inning game since at least 1900.
Dodgers Open Their Title Defense With a Win Over Diamondbacks
The Dodgers were one of the teams everyone wanted to watch on Opening Day, as the two-time World Series champions opened their year at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Dodgers took advantage of the struggles endured by Zac Gallen on the mound and didn’t have to work too much to secure an 8-2 win in front of their fans.
It was a dominant effort from the Dodgers all around. Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out six and allowed two runs on five hits across six innings, and the bullpen allowed just one hit in the final three frames.
Shohei Ohtani went 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored, while Will Smith and Andy Pages went yard. New signing Kyle Tucker went 1-for-4 with a walk, an RBI, and a run scored. The only Dodgers player who didn’t record a hit was Freddie Freeman.
Which MLB Teams Disappointed on Opening Day?
It was a bad day to be a Chicago baseball fan on Thursday, as the White Sox and Cubs both lost. The White Sox suffered a 14-2 loss to the Brewers on the road, although that was to be expected, while the Cubs stumbled to a 10-4 loss against the Washington Nationals at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs grabbed the lead early on, but they couldn’t recover from a fourth inning in which they allowed six runs between Matthew Boyd and Ben Brown.
The White Sox were widely expected to lose in their trip to visit the reigning NL Central champions, but seeing them get dominated like this isn’t a good omen. To be fair, though, if the White Sox avoid the 100-loss threshold, it’ll already be considered a good season.
As for the Cubs, they simply had one inning that changed the whole game for them, and they are due to bounce back in the rest of the series at the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field.
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