Tyler O'Neill hits sixth straight home run on Opening Day, extending MLB record
For the sixth consecutive Opening Day, Tyler O'Neill has hit a home run, extending a peculiar streak unmatched by any player in Major League Baseball history.
After securing his place in the record books last year with his fifth straight Opening Day homer — he hit four with the St. Louis Cardinals from 2020 to 2023 and one with the Boston Red Sox last year — O'Neill's latest blast came with his third different team, as his Baltimore Orioles faced the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday at Rogers Centre. The record-extending hit happened in the home country of the 29-year-old outfielder, who hails from Burnaby, British Columbia.
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O'Neill hit a 2-1 pitch from Toronto starter José Berríos the opposite way, sending it over the right-field wall to give Baltimore a 5-0 lead in the third inning.
O'Neill is on an unparalleled run of homering in openers. Before separating himself last year with five straight, he was tied with Yogi Berra (1955-58), Gary Carter (1977-80) and Todd Hundley (1994-97), who homered in four consecutive Opening Days. O'Neill now sits two ahead of those legends and two back from matching the all-time Opening Day home run record of eight held by three players: Adam Dunn, Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank Robinson.
TYLER O'NEILL HAS HOMERED ON #OPENINGDAY IN SIX STRAIGHT SEASONS! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/0hE5YV87E7
— MLB (@MLB) March 27, 2025
A year ago, O'Neill started his Red Sox tenure by helping the franchise snap a three-year Opening Day losing streak in a 6-4 win over the Mariners in Seattle, playing three hours south of his hometown with some family members and friends in the crowd.
'It has to be something to do with the pregame ceremony or something,' O'Neill said last year about the performance.
'It's fun,' he added at the time. 'You always want to kick the season off with a bang.'
WELCOME TO THE SOX TYLER O'NEILL!
His FIFTH consecutive #OpeningDay home run 🤯 pic.twitter.com/sOHaWRcOYJ
— NESN (@NESN) March 29, 2024
After a productive 2024 season with Boston in which O'Neill had a team-high 31 home runs, his most since hitting 34 with St. Louis in 2021, O'Neill joined Baltimore in free agency and figures to provide the squad with a veteran power bat. In December, he signed a three-year, $49.5 million deal (which includes an opt-out after the first year) with the Orioles.
Before his trade to the Red Sox ahead of the 2024 campaign, O'Neill spent his first six seasons in the league with the Cardinals, where he became a two-time Gold Glove winner in 2020 and 2021, the latter of which marks his best season to date. That year, he slashed .286/.352/.560 with 138 hits in 482 at-bats but dealt with various injuries in the ensuing seasons.
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Thursday marked O'Neill's first Opening Day in Canada. He represented Team Canada at the 2017 and 2023 World Baseball Classic, hitting .615 (8 for 13) in four games on that 2023 team.
Here's a look at his other previous Opening Day homers:
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