Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I think the Texas Tech–Arkansas thriller more than made up for the lack of exciting games in the first two rounds of March Madness.

In today’s SI:AM:

⚾ Best of Opening Day
🐘 Alabama’s historic shooting
🇺🇸 Emotional routine for U.S. skaters

That was some good baseball

If you spent all winter waiting for baseball to come back, the first day of the 2025 season made it well worth the wait. Here are a few of the biggest stories to emerge from Opening Day.

Of course Shohei Ohtani homered

It wasn’t technically Opening Day for Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers since their season had already begun last week in Japan, but they gave their fans plenty to cheer for in their first game in L.A.

The Dodgers beat the Detroit Tigers, 5–4, as they got the better of reigning AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, who allowed four runs on six hits and had just two strikeouts over five innings of work.

The big story was Ohtani, of course. Ohtani homered in the second of the two games in Tokyo and followed it up with another dinger on Thursday, an opposite-field shot in the seventh to give the Dodgers an insurance run.

No matter which side of the Pacific he’s on, Ohtani’s bat remains hot.

Tyler O’Neill extends his preposterous streak

Ohtani isn’t the only player to homer in his home country to open the season. Baltimore Orioles outfielder Tyler O’Neill (a native of British Columbia) went deep in the third inning of his team’s opener against the Toronto Blue Jays.

It’s pretty cool that O’Neill got a highlight moment in just his ninth career game played in Canada. What’s even cooler is that it marked the sixth straight year that he hit a homer on Opening Day.

That’s a truly unbelievable streak. O’Neill is a good power hitter when healthy, having smashed 31 homers in just 113 games last season with the Boston Red Sox. But a variety of injuries have limited his availability of late. Over the past three seasons, he has played a total of 281 games, or 57% of all possible games. Just the fact that he has been healthy on six straight Opening Days should be cause for celebration, let alone knocking six straight season-opening homers.

Nolan Arenado takes a bow

The most emotional homer of Thursday’s action belonged to Nolan Arenado.

As recently as a month ago, it seemed increasingly unlikely that Arenado would be in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform on Opening Day. The Cards have acknowledged that they’re in a rebuilding phase and have been open about their desire to trade Arenado. He even used his no-trade clause to veto a move to the Houston Astros in December.

With the team unable to find another home for the veteran third baseman, Arenado was in the starting lineup on Thursday against the Minnesota Twins and provided some insurance with a solo homer in the eighth that stretched the Cards’ lead to 5–3. Afterward, the St. Louis fans urged him to emerge from the dugout for a curtain call.

“That was a pretty nice bow on it,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of Arenado’s home run. “This is a guy that’s worked really hard this offseason to come back and show what he’s capable of doing. That’s a big homer. It’s probably more meaningful than people think.”

Juan Soto whiffs to end Mets loss

All eyes were on MLB’s new richest player in his debut with the New York Mets—and it didn’t end well.

Juan Soto had a fine game, going 1-for-3 with two walks, but he also struck out for the final out of the game. The Mets were trailing 3–1 with two outs in the ninth and two runners on when Soto came to the plate. The stage was set for a legendary moment in his first game in orange and blue. Instead, Houston Astros closer Josh Hader completely baffled Soto with a 3–2 slider that left Soto flailing uncharacteristically.

“We all want to do something in a big spot,” Soto said later. “We’re all trying to get the knock and we’re all trying to bring the runs in. Try to help the team either way. But for me, I don’t mind taking a walk right there. It’s Pete [Alonso] behind me, and he’s a really good power hitter, so I think we have a better chance right there, lefty-righty matchup. [Hader] just got me in that situation.”

MacKenzie Gore shines

Speaking of Soto, one of the centerpieces of the 2022 trade that sent him from the Washington Nationals to the San Diego Padres excelled in his first Opening Day start.

MacKenzie Gore got the nod for the Nationals against the Philadelphia Phillies and pitched six innings of one-hit ball with a career-high 13 strikeouts and no walks. It was just the third time in his career that he struck out at least 10 and did not allow a run. (The bullpen let Gore down, though, as the Nationals lost 7–3 in 10 innings.)

Gore was taken with the No. 3 pick in the 2017 draft out of high school and was widely considered one of the 10 best prospects in baseball before he made his MLB debut with the Padres in ’22. But he has been inconsistent as a big leaguer, struggling with his command and posting a 4.20 combined ERA in his first three seasons, although he has shown an ability to get plenty of strikeouts. He’s still only 26, though, and so the Nats will hope that his dominant outing on Thursday is a sign of things to come.

The high point of the White Sox’ season

The Chicago White Sox are going to be terrible this year. Maybe not as terrible as they were last season, when they set a modern MLB record for losses in a season (41–121), but it’s still going to be a rough season on the South Side. Thursday went great, though.

Chicago opened its season with an 8–1 win over the Los Angeles Angels, which is already a lot better than last season started. In 2024, the White Sox lost their first four games en route to a dismal 3–22 start.

Chicago’s eight-run outburst was also noteworthy, since the White Sox only scored eight or more runs in a game nine times all of last season (eight times fewer than any other team in the majors).

The White Sox are still going to be dismal this season, but hope springs eternal on Opening Day.

Texas Tech's comeback and OT win over Arkansas highlighted a thrilling night of Sweet 16 basketball.
Texas Tech's comeback and OT win over Arkansas highlighted a thrilling night of Sweet 16 basketball. | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

The best of Sports Illustrated

The top five…

… things I saw last night:

5. The Maple Leafs’ two empty-net goals in the final minute to force overtime against the Sharks. (San Jose went on to win in a shootout, though.)
4. Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill’s leaping catch at the wall.
3. 51-year-old Ichrio’s 84 mph ceremonial first pitch.
2. The thrilling conclusion to the Texas Tech–Arkansas game.
1. The unbelievable finish to the Lakers–Bulls game, capped by Josh Giddey’s half-court game-winner.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Top Moments From MLB’s Opening Day.