{"id":542221,"date":"2026-03-24T11:27:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/542221\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T11:27:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:27:07","slug":"what-to-know-before-sf-giants-opening-night-game-vs-aaron-judge-yankees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/542221\/","title":{"rendered":"What to know before SF Giants’ Opening Night game vs. Aaron Judge, Yankees"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 New Giants manager Tony Vitello<\/a> won\u2019t have the luxury of a soft landing for his first-ever regular-season game in the professional ranks.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday evening, the Giants will host Aaron Judge and the New York Yankeesat Oracle Park. The season opener won\u2019t just be the only game on the Major League Baseball calendar, but it will be streamed on Netflix (with home run king Barry Bonds<\/a> being part of the broadcast). Judge, a three-time MVP, and the Bronx Bombers are typically the center of attention, but the baseball industry will watch Vitello with curiosity as the experiment officially begins.<\/p>\n

The former University of Tennessee head coach\u2019s first spring training<\/a> went smoothly enough. The Giants finished Cactus League play with a 19-9 record, second only to the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> (20-8).<\/p>\n

The Giants also had several notable performers in the World Baseball Classic. Luis Arraez and Jos\u00e9 Butt\u00f3<\/a> played pivotal roles in Team Venezuela\u2019s championship run, Logan Webb pitched well<\/a> in his two starts for Team USA, and right fielder<\/a> Jung Hoo Lee<\/a> helped lead Team Korea to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2009.<\/p>\n

Vitello and company navigated their share of snags over their six weeks in Arizona. Hayden Birdsong<\/a> is set to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery this week, sidelining the talented right-hander until at least 2027. Vitello also created headlines early in camp when he went on an unprompted airing of grievances<\/a> about his final days at Tennessee. Still, the vibe going back to San Francisco was generally positive.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what to know ahead of the Giants\u2019 first game of 2026:<\/p>\n

Where can the game be watched?<\/p>\n

The Giants\u2019 Opening Night matchup against the Yankees will mark Netflix\u2019s first-ever live MLB broadcast. All that\u2019s needed to watch the game on the streaming platform is an active subscription.<\/p>\n

The game will not be broadcast on NBC Sports Bay Area, but the game can be heard on KNBR 680 \/ 104.5 FM.<\/p>\n

Who will be the Giants\u2019 starting pitcher?<\/p>\n

Webb, unsurprisingly, was tabbed as the Giants\u2019 Opening Night starter<\/a>, the fifth consecutive season that he will thrown the first pitch of the season for San Francisco. The two-time All-Star joins Hall of Famer Juan Marichal as the only other Giant to start at least five straight Opening Days since the team moved to San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Is Bryce Eldridge on the Opening Day roster?<\/p>\n

Top prospect Bryce Eldridge<\/a> was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento<\/a> last Thursday, meaning he will not be around for opening day. While Eldridge flashed his potential during spring training, there\u2019s more development necessary, both offensively and defensively, before he becomes a full-time major leaguer.<\/p>\n

Eldridge, 21, struck out in 19 of his 50 plate appearances (38.0%) during Cactus League play after striking out about 31% of the time last season with Triple-A Sacramento. He\u2019s only been one percent better than a league-average hitter against Triple-A pitching by weighted runs created plus (wRC+), and he wouldn\u2019t get consistent defensive reps in the majors since Rafael Devers is the team\u2019s starting first baseman.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s 21. He\u2019s going to be with him at some point. We want him to be ready to rock and roll, and I think he will be based off his work ethic and character,\u201d Vitello said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

What are Vitello\u2019s credentials?<\/p>\n

Vitello becomes the 40th manager in franchise history after spending more than two decades in the college game.<\/p>\n

Following 15 seasons as an assistant coach at Missouri (2003-10), TCU (2011-13) and Arkansas (2014-17), Vitello took over as the head coach at Tennessee and transformed the program.<\/p>\n

Over eight seasons in Knoxville, Vitello had a 341-131 record and led the Volunteers to the first national championship in program history. Vitello produced numerous pro players, including the Giants\u2019 Drew Gilbert<\/a>, Blade Tidwell, Gavin Kilen and Maui Ahuna.<\/p>\n

Who are the new players?<\/p>\n

Vitello, is the most prominent addition to the organization, but the Giants made numerous significant additions in recent months.<\/p>\n

In president of baseball operations Buster Posey\u2019s first offseason, he made two grand signings: shortstop Willy Adames and future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander. This time around, the Giants\u2019 brass went with a strength-in-numbers approach, signing nine players in free agency: starters Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle; relievers Sam Hentges, Jason Foley, Rowan Wick and Ryan Borucki; outfielders Harrison Bader and Will Brennan; second baseman Luis Arraez.<\/p>\n

Arraez<\/a>, who turns 29 in April, is the most decorated of the bunch, a three-time batting champion and three-time All-Star who has the highest career batting average (.317) among all active players. His production has dipped over the last two seasons, but the Giants are banking on Arraez producing as he did in 2022 and 2023 (.335 average, .829 OPS). Whether infield coach Ron Washington can help Arraez, a historically poor defender, be viable at second base remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Of the four relievers, only Borucki, who signed on Saturday<\/a>, might be on the Opening Day roster. Hentges and Foley will not be ready for the start of the season, while Wick, who signed a one-year deal with a club option for 2027, will miss this season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery.<\/p>\n

What about the coaching staff?<\/p>\n

Along with the players, much of the coaching staff<\/a> is new as well.<\/p>\n

Bench coach Jayce Tingler, who was Vitello\u2019s teammate at Missouri, will serve as bench coach. The pitching side features four new faces \u2014 Justin Meccage (pitching coach), Frank Anderson (director of major league pitching), Christian Wonders (assistant pitching coach) and Jesse Chavez (bullpen coach) \u2014 while Hunter Mense takes over as hitting coach.<\/p>\n

Shane Robinson and Hector Borg will be the team\u2019s first base and third base coach, respectively, while Washington will be infield coach. Alex Burg (catching coach\/field coordinator), Oscar Bernard (assistant hitting coach), Taira Uematsu (quality control coach) and Eliezer Zambrano (bullpen catcher) are the holdovers from last year\u2019s staff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 New Giants manager Tony Vitello won\u2019t have the luxury of a soft landing for his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2356,363,2329,99],"class_list":["post-542221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-california","tag-mlb","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}