All eyes will be on Tony Vitello when he begins his tenure as the San Francisco Giants’ manager. On Wednesday night, the Giants host the New York Yankees to begin the 2026 MLB season. It is a standalone game with the rest of the league getting started later this week.
The opening game between the Giants and Yankees is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California. It will air exclusively on Netflix.
The pitching battle for the game is slated to be Max Fried for New York vs. Logan Webb for San Francisco. The starting lineups are yet to be announced.
The 2026 MLB season starts in San Francisco 🤩
Get your tickets at https://t.co/FhiQgDSDpy pic.twitter.com/dRrjAXDUJK
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) March 25, 2026
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Vitello joins the Giants after completing a historic turnaround of Tennessee baseball’s program at the college level. In just his fourth year leading the program, he led the Vols to the College World Series after finishing first in the SEC East.
In his third trip to Omaha, Vitello got over the hump and brought the program its first national title. He finished his eight-year tenure (2020 had just 17 games played before being cancelled) with a 341-131 (125-85 SEC) record. He snagged two regular-season and two SEC Tournament titles along with his national championship.
Vitello was named the Perfect Game Coach of the Year in both 2021 and 2022 and the SEC Coach of the Year in 2022.
Now, Vitello is the manager of the Giants, making an unprecedented move this off-season. He just completed spring training and is ready to get the real season started for the first time at the MLB level.
In Knoxville, Josh Elander was promoted to head coach and is in the midst of his first season. The Vols are currently 18-7 (3-3 SEC) as they prepare for a weekend set at Vanderbilt.
