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==History==
[[File:FindlayMarketParade.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The [[Findlay Market]] Parade at [[Fountain Square, Cincinnati|Fountain Square]] in [[Downtown Cincinnati]] in 2015. The parade has been held annually since [[1920 Cincinnati Reds season|1920]] to celebrate Opening Day in Cincinnati.]]
For generations, Opening Day has arrived amid pageantry. In [[Cincinnati]], home of the sport's [[Cincinnati Red Stockings|first openly all-professional team]], the annual [[Findlay Market]] Parade marks an official "city holiday" with young and old alike taking the day off to cheer on the [[Cincinnati Reds|Reds]]. For decades, the first pitch of every major league season officially took place in Cincinnati, and the Reds remain the only major league team to always open the season with a home game (the sole exceptions, since the beginning of the 20th century, being in 1966, when they started the season at Philadelphia after rain washed out the opening series in Cincinnati; 1990, when due to a [[1990 Major League Baseball lockout|lockout]] affecting the schedule they opened the season at Houston; and 2022, when another [[2021–22 Major League Baseball lockout|lockout]] led to their opening the season at Atlanta).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/2022/03/01/cincinnati-reds-2022-opening-day-canceled-started-mlb-season-road-games-1966-rain-1990-lockout/9337333002/|title=Reds to open MLB season on road for third time since joining National League in 1890|newspaper=Cincinnati Enquirer|last=Clark|first=Dave|date=March 11, 2022|accessdate=April 7, 2022}}</ref> The [[Chicago Cubs]] have been the Reds' most frequent Opening Day opponent, visiting Cincinnati for 36 season openers, most recently in 2007. The [[Pittsburgh Pirates]], against whom the current Reds organization played their first opener in 1882, are a close second with 32, most recently in 2023; no other team has more than 19 (by the [[St. Louis Cardinals]], most recently in 2014), largely due to the Cubs and Pirates rotating as the Opening Day opponents from 1899 to 1916, then the two teams and the Cardinals rotated from 1917 to 1952.<ref>[http://www.baseball-almanac.com/opening_day/odschedule.php?t=CN5 Cincinnati Reds Opening Day History] ''Baseball Almanac''</ref> Following the then-[[Boston Braves]] relocation to [[Milwaukee]] during the 1953 spring training, the Braves swapped schedules with the Pirates and the Opening Day opponent for the Reds began to be rotated amongst the rest of the [[National League (baseball)|National League]].<ref name=bbgtnm>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=o2MbAAAAIBAJ&pg=6044%2C448338 |work=Pittsburgh Press |agency=United Press |title=Boston Braves go to Milwaukee |date=March 18, 1953 |page=1}}</ref> Fittingly, the Reds were also the first team to host an [[Interleague play|Interleague game]] on Opening Day when the team hosted the [[Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim]] in the first year of year-round Interleague play in 2013.<ref>[http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2013_04_01_anamlb_cinmlb_1&mode=recap&c_id=cin#!/box Choo does his part, but bats stifled as Reds fall in 13]{{dead link|date=October 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} MLB.com (04/01/2013)</ref>
Since 1994 [[ESPN Major League Baseball|ESPN]] has often televised a regular-season game the night before "Opening Day" and recent years have seen the staging of season-opening series in [[Mexico]], [[Puerto Rico]], Japan, and Australia. While these are technically "opening games", Major League Baseball still reserves the title "Opening Day" for the first day in which multiple games are played. (For the first time ever, three televised games were played on Sunday, April 3, 2016, before the traditional "Opening Day" slate of games on Monday, April 4.)<ref>{{cite web|last1=Newman|first1=Mark|title=3 Opening Day games to be played on first Sunday|url=http://m.mlb.com/news/article/157684628/3-mlb-opening-day-games-on-first-sunday|website=MLB.com|access-date=28 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Hyber|first1=Josh|title=Opening day 2016: Schedule for all 30 MLB teams|url=http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb-news/4692627-opening-day-2016-dates-times-schedule-april-3-april-4-espn|website=SportingNews.com|access-date=28 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Fehr|first1=Israel|title=MLB announces tweaks to 2016 opening day schedule|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/mlb-announces-tweaks-to-2016-opening-day-schedule-211156324.html|website=Sports.Yahoo.com|access-date=28 March 2016}}</ref>
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Opening Day is a state of mind as well, with countless baseball fans known to recognize this unofficial holiday as a good reason to call in sick at work or be [[Truancy|truant]] from school (as most teams typically play their home opener on a weekday afternoon) and go out to the ballpark for the first of 162 regular season games. Teams' home openers serve as the only regular season games during the year in which the entire rosters of both teams as well as coaches and clubhouse staff are introduced to the crowd prior to the games; for the rest of the year, ballparks only introduce the starting lineups and the teams' [[Manager (baseball)|manager]]s. Some teams, among them the [[New York Mets]], have had their broadcasters as the master of pre-game ceremonies for their home openers, which also typically feature appearances by retired players, local celebrities or media personalities, politicians, and other dignitaries.
Prior to Opening Day, the teams' managers have to decide the starting [[pitcher]]s for the game, an assignment typically given to the [[ace (baseball)|ace]] of each team's staff.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120402&content_id=27845066&vkey=news_bos&c_id=bos |title=Red Sox lefty Jon Lester will start second straight Opening Day
In 2014, [[Ozzie Smith]], with the support of [[Anheuser-Busch]], began a campaign using the ''[[We the People (petitioning system)|We the People]]'' site on [[WhiteHouse.gov]] to petition the U.S. government to make Opening Day an official [[Public holidays in the United States|national holiday]].<ref>{{cite web|url=
==Memorable moments==
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==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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100914&content_id=14659090&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb|title=2011 MLB slate packed with exciting matchups|last=Newman|first=Mark|work=MLB.com|date=September 14, 2010|access-date=September 15, 2010}}</ref> 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).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/09/12/mlbs-schedule-opens-march-29-earliest-regular-start/105533830/|title=MLB's schedule opens March 29, earliest regular start|newspaper=USA Today|agency=Associated Press|date=September 12, 2017|access-date=March 27, 2018}}</ref> 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 [[2019 Seattle Mariners season|Seattle Mariners]] and [[2019 Oakland Athletics season|Oakland Athletics]] at the [[Tokyo Dome]] in Japan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24447611/mlb-open-2019-season-march-28-earliest-start-ever|title=MLB slate includes regular-season games in Tokyo, London and Mexico|publisher=ESPN|date=August 22, 2018|access-date=February 25, 2019}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/sports/baseball/mlb-season-opening-day-coronavirus.html|title=M.L.B. Pushes Back Opening Day Over Coronavirus Concerns|last=Kepner|first=Tyler|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 12, 2020}}</ref> The 2021 season opened on Thursday, April 1.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mlb.com/news/opening-day-2021-guide|title=Opening Day! Your guide to today's games|last=Simon|first=Andrew|website=MLB.com|date=April 1, 2021|accessdate=March 1, 2022}}</ref> The opening of the 2022 season, originally scheduled for Thursday, March 31, was delayed to Thursday, April 7 due to the [[2021–22 Major League Baseball lockout|2021–22 lockout]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/baseball-opening-day-mlb-11646172815|title=Baseball's Opening Day Will Be Delayed as MLB Owners, Players Fail to Agree on New Contract|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|last=Diamond|first=Jared|date=March 1, 2022|accessdate=March 1, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://theathletic.com/news/mlb-players-association-agree-to-cba-opening-day-set-for-april-7/BX9hzsUlHiCp/|title=MLB, Players Association agree to CBA; Opening Day set for April 7|last1=Rosenthal|first1=Ken|last2=Drellich|first2=Evan|website=The Athletic|date=March 11, 2022|accessdate=March 12, 2022}}</ref>
The 2023 Major League Baseball season opened on Thursday, March 30. It was the first time since 1968 that all major league teams played and the first opening day that 30 teams played as there were only 20 teams in 1968. The opening of the 2024 season
==International Opening Games==
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|[[2019 Seattle Mariners season|Seattle Mariners]]||5–4 <small>(12)</small>||[[2019 Oakland Athletics season|Oakland Athletics]]||<ref>{{cite web |url=https://gd2.mlb.com/content/game/mlb/year_2019/month_03/day_21/gid_2019_03_21_seamlb_oakmlb_1/boxscore_col.html |title=Seattle Mariners (2-0) 5, Oakland Athletics (0-2) 4 |website=[[MLB.com]] |date=March 21, 2019 |access-date=March 28, 2019}}</ref>
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| rowspan="2" |[[2024 Major League Baseball season|2024]]|| rowspan="2" |{{flagicon|KOR}} [[Seoul]]|| rowspan="2" |[[Gocheok Sky Dome]]||[[2024 Los Angeles Dodgers season|Los Angeles Dodgers]]||5–2||[[2024 San Diego Padres season|San Diego Padres]]||<ref>{{cite web |url=https://gd2.mlb.com/content/game/mlb/year_2024/month_03/day_20/gid_2024_03_20_lanmlb_sdnmlb_1/boxscore_col.html |title=Los Angeles Dodgers (1-0) 5, San Diego Padres (0-1) 2 |website=[[MLB.com]] |date=March 20, 2024 |access-date=March 20, 2024}}</ref>
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|[[2024 San Diego Padres season|San Diego Padres]]||
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| rowspan="2" |[[2025 Major League Baseball season|2025]]|| rowspan="2" |{{flagicon|JPN}} [[Tokyo]]|| rowspan="2" |[[Tokyo Dome]]||[[2025 Los Angeles Dodgers season|Los Angeles Dodgers]]||–||[[2025 Chicago Cubs season|Chicago Cubs]]||
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|[[2025 Los Angeles Dodgers season|Los Angeles Dodgers]]||–||[[2025 Chicago Cubs season|Chicago Cubs]]||
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