Major League Baseball’s Opening Day has arrived. The 2026 regular season kicked off in earnest Thursday with 11 games and plenty of appetizing pitching matchups. The Yankees shut out the Giants in the lone game on Wednesday’s schedule before the Mets and Pirates kicked off Thursday’s action in Queens before a bevy of mid-afternoon games got underway. There were pitchers’ duels, blowouts, tight games, and home runs. Lots and lots of home runs.

Here now are some early winners and losers from the Opening Day action.

Winners: Players making their MLB debut

As always, several top prospects made Opening Day rosters this year, and they all showed out on the first day of the new season. First, Mets outfielder Carson Benge went deep for his first big-league hit. He also drew two walks and stole two bases in New York’s win over the Pirates and Paul Skenes.

A few hours later, Kevin McGonigle, baseball’s top prospect, roped the very first pitch he saw as a big leaguer into right field for a two-run double. He banged a ball off the wall for a double his next time up, then singled twice after that. McGonigle is the 25th player in history with four hits in his MLB debut and just the second Tiger (Billy Bean in 1987).

Not long after McGonigle recorded his first big-league hit, Justin Crawford did the same for the Phillies. He laced a single back up the middle, then singled in his second at-bat too. The Phillies are going with the youngster in center to improve their team speed and defense, but Crawford can hit too. He put together a .411 on-base percentage in a full season at Triple-A year ago.

It was time for JJ Wetherholt next. He became just the sixth Cardinal to make his MLB debut as the leadoff hitter on Opening Day and the first since Tommy Glaviano in 1949, then he launched a solo home run to center in his second at-bat. An 0-2 pitch off the plate to dead center? This is an impressive piece of hitting:

Last, but certainly not least, White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami hit a home run in his first MLB game, and it was a bomb into the second deck. Murakami is a 26-year-old Japanese veteran, not a top prospect like Benge or McGonigle or Crawford or Wetherholt, but still, your first game in the big leagues is always special. So is your first homer:

Benge, McGonigle, Crawford, Wetherholt, and Murakami went a combined 9 for 18 with two doubles and two homers on Opening Day. They reached base a combined 13 times. The future of this game is in very, very good hands.

Loser: Oneil Cruz

I’m not sure you can have a worse day while getting a hit in your first at-bat than Oneil Cruz did Thursday. The Pirates’ center fielder misplayed a fly ball into a bases-clearing triple and then overran a fly ball coming in, allowing it to fall in for a double. Those mistakes happened on back-to-back plays in the first inning.

“It was really uncomfortable today to have the sun right in front of my face,” Cruz said after the game. “I was trying my best, but it was tough.”

Yes, for sure, the sun was in Cruz’s face, but he also rates very poorly defensively. He finished last season with minus-14 defensive runs saved, second worst among qualified center fielders. He has bad lapses and too many mental mistakes. Paul Skenes didn’t pitch well on Opening Day, but Cruz did him zero favors in center field.

Because the two misplays weren’t bad enough, Cruz also struck out three times. On one, he took what he thought was ball four and began to walk down to first base, only to have it overturned to strike three on an ABS challenge. On another, he let go of his bat on strike three and it went flying. An Opening Day to forget for the talented Mr. Cruz.

Winner: The Miz

It’s not often a team scores 14 runs on Opening Day and the story is the starting pitcher. That was the case in Milwaukee, where the Brewers blew out the White Sox while Jacob Misiorowski blew them away at the plate. Misiorowski struck out an Opening Day franchise record 11 batters in five innings. He allowed a leadoff homer to Chase Meidroth, then nothing else.

The 11 strikeouts are one shy of Misiorowski’s career high and three more than the franchise’s previous Opening Day record of eight strikeouts. That was set by Ben Sheets in 2002, the day before Misiorowski was born. At 23 years and 357 days, Misiorowski is the youngest pitcher with double-digit strikeouts on Opening Day since Félix Hernández fanned a dozen in 2007.

Loser: Tyler O’Neill’s home run streak

For the first time since 2019, Tyler O’Neill did not hit a home run on Opening Day. His record six-year Opening Day home run streak came to an end not because he had a bad game, but because he went “only” 1 for 2 with a walk in the Orioles’ win over the Twins. Three catchers held the previous record with a four-year Opening Day homer streak: Yogi Berra (1955-58), Gary Carter (1977-80), and Todd Hundley (1994-97). Better start a new streak next year, Tyler.

Losers: Home plate umpires

Thursday was the first full day of the ABS challenge system and, well, reviews did not go great for the guys behind the plate. In the nine afternoon games, players went 16 for 26 in challenges for a 62% success rate. The poor umpires were proven wrong more than six times out of 10. Here is the first successful overturn in baseball history:

That 16 for 26 is split into 7 for 13 (54%) for the hitters and 9 for 13 (69%) for pitchers and catchers. 

Winner: The Pirates’ welder’s helmet

Home run props aren’t for everyone, but I think we can all admit the Pirates’ welder’s helmet is an elite — elite — home run prop. It has a connection to the city’s steelworkers, so right off the bat that makes it cool, plus it looks badass:

“We know our fan base includes a lot of blue-collar workers. We wanted to represent them,” new Pirate Ryan O’Hearn told MLB.com before the team’s Opening Day game. Well done, Buccos.