Glew: O'Neill homers again on Opening Day, adds to own MLB record
On Thursday, Langley Blaze and Junior National Team alum Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, B.C.) homered on Opening Day for a MLB record sixth consecutive time. Photo: MLB.com
March 28, 2025
By Kevin Glew
Canadian Baseball Network
It doesn’t matter what team Tyler O’Neill is with; he still homers on Opening Day.
The Maple Ridge, B.C., native, who signed a three-year, $49.5-million contract with the Baltimore Orioles in December, belted a three-run home run off Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Jose Berrios in the third inning of yesterday’s season opener at Rogers Centre. That round-tripper helped the O’s to a 12-2 win and added to O’Neill’s already MLB record by homering on his sixth consecutive Opening Day.
“I’m not trying to make too much of it,” O’Neill told reporters about the Opening Day homer record after the game. “I’m just trying to go out there and have a good first at bat and see what the game gives me from there. Obviously, [I] understand what’s going on but it’s not like I’m going up there and trying to do something crazy like that.”
O’Neill, who finished the day 3-for-3 with three runs and two walks, had friends and family in the stands at Rogers Centre.
“Playing in Toronto is always special for me, just being north of the border,” O’Neill told reporters. “The fans up here are great. The stadium is great. So, it was fun to have everyone in town today.”
On March 28, 2024, O’Neill homered on his fifth consecutive Opening Day game which set a new major league record. In that contest, he belted a solo home run in the eighth inning off Seattle Mariners reliever Cody Bolton in the Red Sox 6-4 win at T-Mobile Park.
As per Sarah Langs, of the MLB Network, O’Neill was previously tied with three other players - Yogi Berra (1955 to 1958), Gary Carter (1977 to 1980) and Todd Hundley (1994 to 1997) - who had homered on four consecutive opening days.
O’Neill’s four previous Opening Day homers came as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. His first was a solo shot that came in the third inning off Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Joe Musgrove on July 24, 2020 - in the pandemic shortened season - in a Cardinals’ 5-4 win at Busch Stadium.
In 2021, he clubbed a two-run shot off Cincinnati Reds right-hander Cam Bedrosian in the fourth inning of a Cardinals’ 11-6 win at the Great American Ball Park on Opening Day.
The following season, he belted a three-run shot off Pirates right-hander JT Brubaker in the second inning to help the Cardinals to a 9-0 victory at Busch Stadium.
And Blue Jays fans might also remember O’Neill taking right-hander Alek Manoah deep for a two-run shot in the third inning on Opening Day in 2023 at Busch Stadium. The Blue Jays ultimately won that contest 10-9.
You can watch all of O’Neill’s Opening Day home runs here:
Canadian Baseball Network statistician Neil Munro recently calculated O’Neill’s stats on the seven MLB Opening Days the slugger has played on:
This is O’Neill’s eighth major league season. The 28-year-old slugger joined the Orioles after smashing 31 home runs in 113 games with the Red Sox in 2024.
A third-round pick of the Mariners in 2013, O’Neill played parts of five seasons in the M’s organization before being traded to the Cardinals for left-hander Marco Gonzalez on July 21, 2017.
The Junior National Team and Langley Blaze alum made his major league debut with the Cardinals in 2018. His finest campaign came in 2021 when he batted .286 with 34 home runs and had a .912 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) and captured his second consecutive National League Gold Glove Award in left field.