The San Francisco Giants are taking on the Cincinnati Reds on Opening Day Thursday as the 2025 MLB season commences.
When first pitch is thrown, the Giants will have made some rather unorthodox MLB history.
2025 will be the 19th consecutive season that San Francisco starts a different player at left field on Opening Day. It's a streak that dates back to 2007, which was Barry Bonds's last season in MLB. They'll tie the longstanding record held by the St. Louis Browns and Baltimore Orioles which ran from 1937 to '55. No other teams in MLB history have started a greater number of different players on Opening Day at any position, according to research by Sarah Langs of MLB.com.
Since Bonds's retirement, the Giants have had a revolving door in left field. This year, it'll be Heliot Ramos drawing the start at left field on Opening Day. In 2024 they trotted out Michael Conforto at the position on Opening Day, and prior to that it was Blake Sabol in '23.
The full list of players to start at left field on Opening Day for the Giants since '07 includes Bonds, Dave Roberts, Fred Lewis, Mark DeRosa, Pat Burrell, Aubrey Huff, Andres Torres, Mike Morse, Nori Aoki, Angel Pagan, Jarrett Parker, Hunter Pence, Connor Joe, Corey Dickerson, Austin Slater, Joc Pederson, Sabol and Conforto.
With Ramos set to carry the torch in 2025, Giants fans can only hope he'll be back in that same position to start the '26 season, and put an end to this elongated streak of revolving left fielders.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Giants Set to Make Bizarre MLB History on Opening Day.
