SF Giants 2026 schedule has team do something it has only done once since 2010

MLB released team schedules for 2026 on Tuesday and the SF Giants will be playing the very first game of the 2026 season against the New York Yankees. They will also be opening the season at home which is a rarity.

Since 2010, the Giants have only had Opening Day at Oracle Park once back in 2022. This was after an acrimonious strike between MLB and the MLB Players Association delayed the start of the regular season as they negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement. It was an exciting game as the Giants won in walk-off fashion in the 10th inning as Duane Kuiper threw down his legendary, "Ruf is on the move" call.

SF Giants will have home opener in 2026 for only second time since 2010

Every other season since 2010 has seen the Giants open the season on the road. The Giants have preferred it that way so they can close the year at home and one cannot argue with the results as the team won three World Series titles from 2010 to 2014.

Scheduling is far from the only reason for that, but it has felt like a tradition that Opening Day for the Giants is always on the road and the regular season finale is always at home. In 2026, they will both open the regular season and close it at Oracle Park.

The Giants will square off against the New York Yankees on Opening Day next season. It will actually be Opening Night technically as the two teams will square off in San Francisco on the night of March 25th which will be the very first regular season game of the year followed every other team playing the next day on March 26th while San Francisco gets the day off. Perhaps Camilo Doval will get to pitch against his former team for the first time, assuming he does not get released after his intense struggles in New York so far.

San Francisco will close the year at home against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It is always fun when the two bitter rivals close the year against each other even if the rivalry could take a hit with MLB's potential realignment plans.

Still, it will be kind of weird to see the Giants have their first game of the regular season at home. It is also weird that this will be the second time in the past three seasons that the Giants and Yankees will face each other to start the regular season as the two teams squared off at Yankee Stadium to begin the 2023 season.

The Giants need to shake things up after a disappointing 2025 season, so maybe starting things off at home next year will be a nice change that leads to a better season.

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