league pitchers for the most Opening Day starts, doing the honors 16 times in his career with the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, and Chicago White Sox. The record for most consecutive victories on Opening Day by a team in history is ten, shared by the Boston Beaneaters (1887–1896) and the Houston Astros (2011–present). Recent Opening Days Major League Baseball had most of its teams open the 2011 season on a Thursday (March 31) or Friday (April 1) rather than the traditional Monday, in order to prevent the World Series from extending into November. Similarly, most teams opened the 2012 season on Thursday (April 5) or Friday (April 6). However, subsequent seasons through 2017 returned to Monday openers for most teams. For the 2018 season, all 30 teams were scheduled to open the season on Thursday, March 29 (the earliest domestic start for a regular season in MLB history, and the first time since 1968 that all major league teams were scheduled to start the season on the same day, although two games were subsequently rained out and postponed to Friday, March 30). In 2019, MLB scheduled an even earlier opening day for most teams on Thursday, March 28; this excludes a two-game series on March 20 and 21 between the Seattle Mariners and Oakland A's at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. The opening of the 2020 season was originally scheduled for Thursday, March 26, but was rescheduled to Thursday, July 23 and Friday, July 24 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 season opened on Thursday, April 1. The opening of the 2022 season, originally scheduled for Thursday, March 31, was delayed to Thursday, April 7 due to the 2021–22 lockout. The 2023 Major League Baseball season opens on March 30. International Opening Games Quotes References External links Opening Day by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Important Dates by MLB.com Cincinnati Eager for Opening Day by MLB.com Opening Day Through the Years – slideshow by Life magazine April observances Major League Baseball culture Major League Baseball competitions Unofficial observances Annual events in Major League Baseball