On March 26, the Chicago Cubs opened the 2026 MLB season at “The Friendly Confines,” marking the beginning of a season of high expectations and a three-game series against the Washington Nationals. Coming off a good 2025 campaign which saw the Cubs finish second in the NL Central and fall just short of the National League Championship Series, there was plenty of promise and excitement in Chicago. In the offseason, the Cubs lost one of their star players, Kyle Tucker, to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but made up for it in the addition of World Series champion Alex Bregman. 

On opening day, Wrigley Field was packed with just under 40 thousand fans filling up the stadium. As each player was announced, they were met with a thunderous roar of applause from the Chicago faithful. Wrigley rocked for Pete-Crow Amstrong, who had just signed a six year extension with the franchise, worth $115 million. Bregman also received loud applause, as opening day marked the beginning of a new endeavor for the superstar. Many Cubs legends and Hall of Famers were also recognized before the game, including Fergie Jenkins, Kerry Wood and a member of the 2016 World Series-winning team, Anthony Rizzo, who, along with two others, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. 

After the festivities and celebrations, the game kicked off. The wind was blowing straight in from left field, but that didn’t stop the Nationals from answering first with a one-run homerun. The Cubs answered in the next inning with back-to-back RBI singles, one being from Crow-Armstrong, marking his first of the year. However, it would all go downhill from there, as in the fourth inning, Washington responded with six runs, giving them a 7-2 lead. The same legends sang the seventh inning stretch, which gave the fans a nice treat — something to take their mind off of the baseball they were watching. The Cubs would crawl back, but it wasn’t enough, and with two more insurance runs in the ninth, the Nationals beat the Cubs 10-4, tallying eight hits, three of them being home runs. The Cubs stranded nine runners as Matthew Boyd was given the loss, an unfortunate start to his 2026 season.

Despite the loss, Wrigley Field remained quite full for the whole game, despite the rapidly dropping temperatures. A Chicago Cubs home opener is an experience like no other, and with the smell of Vienna hot dogs, the sound of vendors and the ivy wall that has yet to grow, Chicagoans alike can agree it is unforgettable every year.