5(ish) Things to Know Before MLB Opening Day 2025
The MLB 2025 season begins… wait… IT BEGAN ON MARCH 18?! Technically, yes! The regular season began even before the Spring Equinox in Tokyo with a two-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs. If you haven’t paid close attention to baseball in recent years or if your mind has been occupied by *hand gestures toward the sky and all around*, this may come as a surprise, but it is actually the sixth time MLB held its season opener overseas. As you can probably guess, the Cubs lost both games (Dodgers 4, Cubs 1; Dodgers 6, Cubs 3).
MLB’s traditional Opening Day is scheduled for Thursday, March 27 and is the earliest Opening Day in MLB history. For my fellow Detroit Tigers fans, they will play an interleague series against the Dodgers with Cy Young Winner Tarik Skubal as their starting pitcher.
Here are five things everyone should know before their club takes the field:
Source: PEANUTS (@Snoopy) on X
RULE CHANGES: Infield shift & Overrunning second OR third base
Both rule changes being instituted this season are minor in the greater scheme of things, but they are worthy enough to note.
First, the rule limiting defensive infield shifts that we’ve become acclimated to the past couple seasons remains, but the repercussions of failing to follow the infield shift rule are new. Teams must not have more than two players on either side of second base when the pitch is thrown so that infielders cannot reposition themselves to be on the side of the infield the batter is likely to hit the ball. The rule also prohibits having “four outfielders,” meaning that every infielder must be within the outer boundary of the infield when the pitcher is on the rubber.
Previously, the penalty for violating the rule was an automatic ball unless the batting team chose to accept the results of the play. Now, if a team violates the infield shift rule, the batter will automatically get to go to first base, and any runners on-base will be able to advance one base as well, i.e., the penalty is heightened to an automatic hit. You are definitely onto something if this seems like a substantial change. On its face, going from an automatic ball to an automatic hit can greatly affect a game and, simultaneously, disincentivize fielders from stacking one side of the field. It could have been smart game strategy in select scenarios to position a player to violate the rule and simply risk receiving a ball. In reality, it truly is a minor rule change. 57% of games in the first 100 games of the 2023 season had at least one violation with an average of 0.87 infield shift rule violations per game. The percentage of violations continued to drop in the back half of the 2023 season, and there were only two infield shift rule violations throughout the entire 2024 season.
The second rule change definitely should only come into play on rare occasions, too. MLB is allowing umpires to review whether or not a player overruns second or third base, being able to call them out for abandonment. Moreover, this will be allowed even in situations where abandonment is not the subject of the original review. This rule change would most likely come into play in a two-out scenario. For example, if there are runners on first and third, the runner forced to come off first may choose to run through rather than slide into second base to (1) get there faster and beat the throw, and (2) to draw attention away from the runner going to home, especially if throwing to second is the easier play. The runner who overran second base would likely get caught up in a weird pickle-like situation if they beat the throw and get tagged out, but the runner going home would be able to score on that play if they touched home plate before the third out was ruled. Previously, if that runner called out at second and a replay review showed that the runner did beat the throw before stepping on the other side of the bag, umpires would have to disregard that they overran the base and let him stay at second. Now, if that runner beats the throw but overruns the base, they are regarded to have abandoned the bag the moment both feet step on the other side of the base, and the runner going home would be able to score on that play only if they touched home plate before the other runner was ruled to have abandoned that plate.
HOW TO WATCH THE GAMES
The good news is that there are a lot of ways to view MLB games live this season. The bad news is that there are a lot of ways to view MLB games live this season, meaning that many fans will need to use a ludicrous combination of modes to maximize their viewership. The mode will depend on (1) whether your team’s matchup is a national or local broadcast, and (2) whether you want to watch via a linear (aka over-the-air, cable, or satellite) television or streaming service.
Lo and behold, MLB fans are still victim to the Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy that has seriously plagued the sports broadcasting market, but there have been some encouraging developments since last season. After one of the most major antitrust arrangements in modern sports history, Diamond Sports Group operated 16 regional sports networks (“RSNs”) that affected MLB clubs under the “Bally Sports” brand, declared bankruptcy in 2023, and has since reemerged from bankruptcy as Main Street Sports Group. Beginning with the 2025 season, all of the formerly Diamond Sports Group-owned RSNs are going to be broadcast under the FanDuel Sports Network, which the reemerged entity owns. What’s more, the group entered into a deal with Amazon Prime Video to distribute games on those 16 (now) FanDuel Sports channels as an “add-on subscription” for Prime Video subscribers. Therefore, fans can stream their favorite team’s games in their home market - blackout free - for the first time.
Note: I feel obligated to acknowledge that there are mixed feelings about using Prime Video and giving more money to billionaires in the current political setting. I know I have my own stance. Follow your priorities, & remember, one of the best options may be to go support a local sports bar or restaurant that airs your team’s games.
There are a number of teams that also made deals with MLB to offer direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) game packages. To illustrate, NBC Sports Regional Networks (broadcasting home for the Athletics, Giants, and Phillies) is offering DTC packages for in-market games as paid add-ons, though this option requires an active Peacock subscription on top of it. It entered into a separate deal with MLB to offer DTC packages for its RSN programming on MLB.tv, too, and while this option does not require a Peacock subscription, it does not include other teams’ games.
On top of all the above, it is worth noting that MLB is just over halfway through its national broadcasting deals with Apple TV+, Fox, and TBS, and due to exercising a mutual opt-out, this is the final season in MLB’s current contract with ESPN for national broadcasts.
This is just a peek at the broadcasting hot mess that MLB is putting everyone through in “maximizing the economies for the clubs” as it chases after its long-term goal of controlling broadcasting rights for all 30 clubs itself. Truth be told, local radio may become your best friend if it hasn’t already.
SCHEDULE ADJUSTMENTS: MORE RIVALRIES
Each MLB team is scheduled to play a slate of 162 games for the 2025 season, and the league is spicing things up in an ultra dramatic way! [Yes, please steep in the sarcasm.] Any serious fan can tell you their team’s rival(s). In previous seasons, prime interleague rivals have played two two-game series, but in the 2025 season, that number increases to not one, not two, but three two-game series!
The fun doesn’t stop there. MLB is adding another special weekend celebration in the spirit of capitalism… Rivalry Weekend! Games on May 16-18 will spotlight 11 “rivalry” series. Honestly, it is kind of a fun idea, but I’m not looking forward to the stupid amount of promotion that will likely happen despite labeling some of these series as rivals. For instance, the Detroit Tigers will be at the Toronto Blue Jays as one of the featured matchups. It is a reasonable, region-based decision to have these teams play each other in a featured three-game series, but that is all it is - it does not feel quite like a “prime” interleague rival but rather a basic regional matchup and the only three times these two teams will play each other in the 2025 regular season. Nevertheless, there are some historical matchups scheduled for Rivalry Weekend, such as the Atlanta Braves at the Boston Red Sox.
NEW (OR OLD?) UNIFORMS
Most baseball fans can probably recall last season’s controversial uniform changes or, at a minimum, came across some memes about it. The 2024 MLB uniforms used a new design template called the Nike Vapor Premier, designed by Nike and produced by Fanatics. They were almost invariably criticized by players and fans alike. While some players liked that the uniforms felt lighter and had a better fit, which was great for warmer weather, several complaints were, including but not limited to, poor fit, small lettering, thin and nearly see-through fabric, cheap materials causing pant-splitting, unflattering sweat stains, supply shortages, and mismatched gray colors for away uniform pieces.
How did that whole debacle come to be? Well, Nike and MLB entered into a 10-year deal that began in 2020 for Nike to be the exclusive provider of on-field uniforms for all 30 MLB teams. This deal also has a third arm that gives Fanatics consumer product licensing rights, i.e., the right to produce and distribute all the Nike MLB retail product. Since the parties are only at the midpoint of their contract, plenty of reasons existed for Nike and Fanatics to make some modifications to its designs. Nike said it was going to evaluate different options, especially related to moisture and aesthetics, and Fanatics believed it was unfairly getting the majority of the blame.
Alas, the MLB uniforms issues are resolved, mostly! Nike and Fanatics returned to the previous cut, including pant customization options, and the larger lettering. Away uniforms are returning to the pre-2024 fabric this season, and home uniforms will return to the old fabric in 2026. This is a fine example of internal and public pressure working together. Good work, team. Let’s take this energy outside of the sports realm.
TEMPORARY VENUE CHANGES
After years of failed negotiations and funding drama between the Athletics ownership and the City of Oakland, MLB’s dream of having a club in Las Vegas had legs. Back in November 2023 (which admittedly seems like a very, very long time ago), MLB owners voted and approved the Athletics’ relocation from Oakland to Las Vegas. There was one big problem, though - the club would be homeless while the Vegas ballpark is under construction because its lease at the Coliseum in Oakland expired after the 2024 season. So, the Athletics are playing at the San Francisco Giants’ top minor league affiliate’s home, Sutter Health Park, in West Sacramento, California for the 2025-2027 seasons. The arrangement also contains an option for the 2028 season if the new ballpark is not ready to go.
Even though the Athletics are playing in Sacramento, the club will not have a geographic reference in its name and will only be called the “Athletics” or “the A’s” in media references (and “ATH” on scoreboards). This is part of the branding transition guidelines MLB issued. Fans of other sports may acknowledge that this is not the first time a team has gone without a traditional name during a transition. For example, the NFL had the Washington Football Team before the team changed its nickname to the Commanders, and the NHL has the Utah Hockey Club, which is in the process of landing on a nickname, after a quirky relocation arrangement. The fact that the Athletics will have absolutely no reference to a city/state/region makes an already unusual situation for American sports teams that much more of an outlier. Courtesy of ownership, the A’s are unquestionably the nomad of MLB.
Additionally, because Hurricane Milton unfortunately tore through Florida and caused Tropicana Field’s roof to collapse, the Tampa Bay Rays are temporarily playing at the New York Yankees’ spring training stadium in Tampa, George M. Steinbrenner Field. The Yankees have heavily invested in stadium upgrades to make this happen, and after getting to personally experience it this February during Spring Training (Tigers 4, Yankees 0), this fan can attest that it looks and feels like a major league ballpark from the fan experience level, which regrettably includes prices depending on your situation. Apparently, it is from a player perspective as well since there is a fully renovated clubhouse [see a tour here]. How long “temporarily” is, though, is unknown, and even the Ray’s future home location is unknown. The parties have pitched many plans, involving whether to renovate Tropicana Field and, if so, how much to invest in renovations from private and public financing, or whether to move the club to a picturesque St. Petersburg location.