After a long offseason, the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season is roughly 24 hours away from its first pitch.
With March Madness days from tipping off with the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments and the NCAA Wrestling Championships also taking place this week, sports fans are in for a treat this month with now the beginning of the 2025-26 MLB regular season.
Here’s everything you need to know about MLB Opening Day:
When is MLB Opening Day?
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs kick off the MLB regular season with a two-game series at the Tokyo Dome in Japan starting Tuesday.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Both teams feature many Japanese stars — such as three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani and Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga —so it only makes sense that they’d serve as the ambassadors for this international series.
The first pitch is scheduled for 5:10 a.m. CT. Viewers can watch the game on MLB.TV or with a Fubo subscription.
When is Opening Day for the rest of the league?
Traditional MLB Opening Day will be on Thursday, March 27, with 28 teams in action. Although the Dodgers and Cubs will already have two games under their belts, they will still be participating in Opening Day contests, with the Dodgers facing the Detroit Tigers at home, while the Cubs will play the Diamondbacks in Arizona.
When does the Iowa Cubs’ 2025 season start?
The Cubs open the 2025 regular season on Friday, March 28, with the first of a three-game series against the Omaha Storm Chasers. Tickets can be purchased by going to iowacubs.com.
Iowa is coming off a 68-82 season in 2024. Entering the 2025 season, the Iowa Cubs have seven players on their roster listed in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects, including infielders Matt Shaw and James Triantos, pitcher Cade Horton, catcher Moises Ballesteros and outfielders Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcantara
Register sports reporter Tommy Birch and USA Today sports trending reporter Jon Hoefling contributed to this report.
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
This story was updated to add a gallery.
