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With absolutely nothing left to play for in 2025, the bottom-dwelling Pittsburgh Pirates shifted their focus to the 2026 season quite a while ago. After Tuesday's MLB schedule release, that focus just got even more real.
The Pirates will begin the 2026 season on the road against the New York Mets on March 26, the earliest start to a season in franchise history. From there, they'll head to Cincinnati for a three-game series against the Reds before returning to PNC Park for their home opener against the Baltimore Orioles on April 3 – their second home opener against the Orioles in the last three seasons.
While the Pirates' 2026 season will start earlier than any other season in their history, it will begin the same way each of the last nine seasons have – on the road. Pittsburgh hasn't hosted an Opening Day at home since they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-1, on April 3, 2016.
The Pirates also haven't hosted a fellow National League opponent for their home opener since their 2-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park on April 12, 2022.
The Pirates' full 2026 schedule, per release: pic.twitter.com/TuuqA6keMH
— Colin Beazley (@colin_beazley) August 26, 2025
Embarrassing Pirates Opening Day streak continues with 2026 MLB schedule reveal
Perhaps it's sheer coincidence that the Pirates will have opened 10 consecutive seasons on the road. Maybe it's not a coincidence, but rather for some innocuous reason, like the weather. Late March and early April don't exactly feel like a tropical paradise in Pittsburgh. (Though the same could be said about New York, where the Pirates will open the 2026 season.)
Perhaps, then, it's because principal owner Bob Nutting doesn't have much pull in MLB power circles. His constant refusal to spend on talent while raking in his share of the total league revenue year after year would make that incredibly easy to believe.
Regardless of the reasoning, the penny-pinching Pirates will find themselves on the losing end of more than just the box score at the start of the 2026 season on the road – notably, against the team that led the league in payroll spending in 2025.
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