Opening Day full of Phillies feel-good stories
PHILADELPHIA — Pick your favorite feel-good Phillies story from Opening Day. There’s plenty to choose from in the Phillies’ 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers at Citizens Bank Park to open the 2026 season.
The first at-bat of Kyle Schwarber’s first contract with the Phillies resulted in a long home run to fire up the crowd on Opening Day against the Athletics in 2022. New contract, same result as Schwarber homered four years later in his first at-bat of another big deal with the Phillies against another AL West opponent.
Schwarber, who re-signed with the Phillies on a five-year, $150 million deal this past offseason, took advantage of a hanging curveball from Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi and drove it the other way to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. The ball was carrying. The sold-out crowd at Citizens Bank Park didn’t think it was out off the bat, but Schwarber knew it.
Only Mike Schmidt has more Phillies Opening Day home runs than Schwarber.
“Kind of a little bit of a flashback to ’22,” Schwarber said. “But a little bit of a different circumstance, been here. Just happy to be back. This is the place where I wanted to be from the get-go.”
Alec Bohm, after months of offseason conversation on where he stands with the club and in the lineup, smacked an Eovaldi cutter the other way for a three-run home run. It was his second career Opening Day home run against the Rangers; he homered off Jacob deGrom at Globe Life Field on Opening Day 2023.
“The way that he takes his at-bats, his profile and his game, it plays for us,” Schwarber said about Bohm. “And it plays for a lot of teams.”
The home run was hit on the same day the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Bohm is suing his parents over mismanaged finances. Bohm, when asked about the report after the game, declined to comment.
Batting in the ninth spot in his major league debut, Justin Crawford hit a line drive up the middle on the first pitch he saw for his first major league hit. More than 40 family and friends watched Crawford go 2-for-4. His father Carl, the longtime big leaguer best known for his time with the Tampa Bay Rays, wore a Phillies jersey with his last name and son’s No. 2 on the back. The television camera captured Carl filming a video of his son’s third at-bat.
Crawford met with his family on the field after the game. He’s not sure what he’ll do with his first hit.
“Between my Mom, my Dad and my Grandmas, I’m sure a few people are going to be fighting over who wants (the ball),” Crawford said.
In the first Opening Day start of his career, Sánchez dominated. He allowed zero runs, zero walks and struck out 10 batters over six innings to earn his first win of the season. The new Phillies ace became the franchise’s first starter to record double digit strikeouts on Opening Day since Curt Schilling on April 1, 1997. He pumped up the crowd as he left the mound in the sixth.
Could he have envisioned this day three years ago? At this time in 2023, Sánchez, on his final season with minor league options, was starting in Lehigh Valley. He made a spot start in April before being recalled for good in June.
“If I tell you that I did, then I would be lying,” Sánchez said through a team interpreter. “I never could have imagined going through this on a day like today.”
The list of Phillies with good days is long. Brandon Marsh doubled twice, Trea Turner and Bryson Stott recorded two hits and new Phillies relievers Jonathan Bowlan and Zach Pop pitched clean innings.
Pop became the first Phillie to use the ABS challenge system in the eighth inning with a 3-2 count and two outs against Brandon Nimmo. The call was close, but home plate umpire James Hoye’s original call of a ball inside was upheld. Pop was the only player to use the challenge system during the game.
But the Rangers broke the shutout in the ninth with a two-run home run from Jake Burger against lefty Kyle Backhus. Backhus recorded only one out, leading to a rare Jhoan Duran save attempt with an inherited runner on. The Rangers brought the tying run to the plate, but Duran was able to secure the Phillies’ first win of the season.
Somehow, he is the first Phillies closer to record a save at home on Opening Day. Jeanmar Gómez, who recorded a save on Opening Day on April 3, 2017 in Cincinnati, is the last Phillies pitcher to earn a save on Opening Day.
Game two against the Rangers is Saturday at 4:05 p.m. ET. Aaron Nola will face off against the pitcher who beat him out for the 2018 NL Cy Young Award, Jacob deGrom.