2018 MLB Opening Day

There is baseball today, there will be baseball tomorrow, and the day after that.

And the day after that.

That’s what makes MLB Opening Day the best unofficial holiday. It isn’t just one day and then it’s over, it’s the start of a 2,430 game regular season.

Unfortunately fans of the Nationals and Reds are going to have to wait an extra day for their season to begin as their scheduled opener has been moved to Friday due to ‘inclement weather’. That scuppered the plan for all 30 teams to start their season on the same day, something that might sound like an obvious thing to do but hasn’t been the norm in recent history.

Still, Cincinnati and Washington fans can enjoy the rest of the games, as can we all.  Whilst seeing your chosen team in action for the first time is the priority, it’s impossible avoid the temptation to catch a glimpses of other games too. Here’s the full list of Thursday games with first pitches listed in BST.

17:40. Cubs at Marlins (Lester, Urena) *BT Sport/ESPN
18:10. Pirates at Tigers (Nova, Zimmermann)
18:10. Cardinals at Mets (Martinez, Syndergaard)
20:05. Twins at Orioles (Odorizzi, Bundy)
20:35. Astros at Rangers (Verlander, Hamels) *BT Sport/ESPN
20:37. Yankees at Blue Jays (Severino, Happ)
21:00. Red Sox at Rays (Sale, Archer)
21:05. Angels at Athletics (Richards, Graveman)
21:10. Brewers at Padres (Anderson, Richard) *MLB.com Free Game
21:10. Phillies at Braves (Nola, Teheran)
21:15. White Sox at Royals (Shields, Duffy)

00:08. Giants at Dodgers (Blach, Kershaw) *BT Sport3
03:10. Indians at Mariners (Kluber, Hernandez) *BT Sport3
03:10. Rockies at D-backs (Gray, Corbin)

You can gorge on MLB on BT Sport for a good 12-13 hours if you so wish over their four games, with MLB.TV subscribers able to switch between any they like.

My initial plan is a few innings of Cubs-Marlins, then watching Noah Syndergaard in action for the Mets, then dipping into the Astros-Rangers game for half an hour before switching over to the A’s opener. In other words, baseball followed by more baseball, followed by more baseball, and then a bit more baseball on top of that.

And that’s exactly what Opening Day is all about.

EDIT: updated to note that Brewers-Padres has been selected as the MLB.com Free Game