This year marks the 65th season of Astros baseball and the 27th at Daikin Park.
The Houston Astros open the 2026 season at Daikin Park as they welcome in the Los Angeles Angels on Opening Day!
TODAY’S PITCHING MATCHUP: Today’s Opening Day matchup of RHP Hunter Brown vs. RHP José Soriano features a pair of starters both making their first career Opening Day starts.
Brown is coming off an All-Star season, in which he finished third in the AL Cy Young voting after going 12-9 with a 2.43 ERA (50ER/185.1IP)
in a career high 31 starts.
ON THE HUNT: RHP Hunter Brown, a 2025 All-Star, finished third in the AL in Cy Young voting last season after turning in the best year of his career with a 12-9 record, a 2.43 ERA (50ER/185.1IP) and posting a 1.03 WHIP. He held opponents to a career-low .201 average and posted 206 strikeouts in 185.1 innings pitched. His 2.43 ERA ranked 10th all-time among Astros starters and was the second-lowest by an Astros starter in the last 20 seasons (since 2005).
ON OPENING DAY: The Astros are 34-30 all-time on Opening Day, including a 25-20 record in home games on Opening Day.
The Astros are recently removed from an incredible, modern-day record, Opening Day streak of 10 consecutive wins from 2013-22. Following the streak, they lost on Opening Day in 2023 and 2024 before bouncing back for a 3-1 win over the Mets on Opening Day last season.
VS. THE ANGELS: The Astros will open the season with a divisional series against the Angels, who the Astros went 8-5 against in 13 games last season. This marks the second time the Astros have played the Angels on Opening Day, which also happened in 2022, resulting in a 3-1 Astros win.
OPENING DAY CORNERSTONE: 2B Jose Altuve, who’s under contract for the next four seasons (2026-29), will be making his 14th career Opening Day start today, which marks the third-most in franchise history. Only 2B Craig Biggio (19, 1989-2007) and 1B Jeff Bagwell (15, 1991-2005) have more in Astros history.
ABOUT THE ROSTER: The Astros Opening Day roster includes 13 pitchers and 13 position players. Nine players are making their first appearance on an active Opening Day roster: RHP Mike Burrows, RHP AJ Blubaugh, RHP Tatsuya Imai, OF Joey Loperfido, IF/OF Brice Matthews, RHP Roddery Muñoz, RHP Christian Roa, RHP Kai-Wei Teng and RHP Ryan Weiss.
NEW FACES: The Astros focused their offseason efforts on acquiring pitching, landing RHP Mike Burrows and RHP Kai-Wei Teng in trades and RHP Tatsuya Imai and RHP Ryan Weiss off the free agent market. They also added a Rule 5 pick in RHP Roddery Muñoz, the Astros first Rule 5 selection since the 2017 Rule 5 Draft.
AT THE HELM: Manager Joe Espada is entering his third season as the Astros skipper.
In 2025, for the second consecutive season, Espada and his staff were forced to deal with an extremely high number of injuries. Despite an ever-changing roster that often was missing key players, to his credit, Espada managed to navigate his club to an 87-75 record, finishing in a tie for the final AL Wild Card berth (lost tiebreaker to DET).
IN THE BOX: Today is the fourth Opening Day for the Astros under GM Dana Brown, who was named the club’s GM in January of 2023.
It’s the 15th Opening Day for Owner & Chairman Jim Crane since he purchased the club in November of 2011.
TODAY’S FESTIVITIES: Today is Opening Day, presented by Adobe, at Daikin Park.
The day starts with Opening Day Street Fest, presented by Budweiser, which will take place from 12-3 p.m.
The ceremonial first pitch will be a celebration of the WBC, which was won by Team Venezuela, who were managed by Astros bench coach Omar López. López will throw out the first pitch to Javier Bracamonte, the Astros longtime bullpen catcher who also served that same role for Team Venezuela.
All fans in attendance will receive a 2026 Astros Schedule Magnet, courtesy of United.
SUSTAINED SUCCESS: Dating back to the 2015 season, the Astros have made nine postseason appearances in 11 seasons, winning seven division titles, four AL pennants (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022) and two WS titles (2017, 2022).
In that span, the Astros became the only team in history to advance to seven consecutive ALCS (2017-23) and have posted the second-most wins in the Majors (976), trailing only the Dodgers (1,036).
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Thursday, March 26, 3:10 p.m. CST
Location: Daikin Park, Houston, TX
TV: Space City Home Network
Streaming: SCHN+
Radio: KBME 790 AM/94.5 FM HD-2; TUDN 102.9 FM
