NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball is set to have its earliest opening day next year except for international games, starting on March 24 — if there is an opening day.
MLB said Thursday its 2027 season will start with a single game to be televised that night by Netflix. The teams have not been chosen.
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Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (17) reacts as Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno throws during the third inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Sunday, July 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
San Diego Padres' Mason Miller throws in the ninth inning during the MLB baseball All-Star Game between the American League and National League, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Chicago White Sox's Miguel Vargas celebrates as he rounds the bases after hitting a home run against Los Angeles Dodgers' Justin Wrobleski in the eighth inning during the MLB baseball All-Star Game between the American League and National League, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
American League players celebrate after they beat the National League in the MLB baseball All-Star Game, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Singer Patti LaBelle performs the national anthem ahead of the MLB baseball All-Star Game between the American League and National League, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Philadelphia.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Opening matchups include Cleveland at the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis at Cincinnati, the Chicago White Sox at Detroit, Texas at Houston, Minnesota at Kansas City, Atlanta at the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Mets at Miami, the Los Angeles Angels at Milwaukee, Toronto at the New York Yankees, the Athletics at Pittsburgh, Arizona at San Diego, Colorado at San Francisco, Boston at Seattle, Baltimore at Tampa Bay and Philadelphia at Washington.
Baseball’s labor contract expires Dec. 1 and a management lockout is expected. In 2022, an agreement wasn’t reached until March 10, causing opening day to be pushed back from March 31 to April 7.
Chicago’s Wrigley Field will host the All-Star Game on July 13 and a rivalry weekend will follow.
The regular season is scheduled to end Sept. 26.
The Athletics are scheduled to play most of their home games in West Sacramento, California, for the third straight season before moving to a new ballpark in Las Vegas. They will have a homestand at the Triple-A ballpark in Las Vegas starting May 31 against San Diego and Cincinnati.
With no labor contract in place for 2027, no international games are scheduled.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (17) reacts as Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno throws during the third inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Sunday, July 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
San Diego Padres' Mason Miller throws in the ninth inning during the MLB baseball All-Star Game between the American League and National League, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Chicago White Sox's Miguel Vargas celebrates as he rounds the bases after hitting a home run against Los Angeles Dodgers' Justin Wrobleski in the eighth inning during the MLB baseball All-Star Game between the American League and National League, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
American League players celebrate after they beat the National League in the MLB baseball All-Star Game, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Singer Patti LaBelle performs the national anthem ahead of the MLB baseball All-Star Game between the American League and National League, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Philadelphia.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Bird remains found on the wreckage of a sightseeing helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River last year in New York City and killed 6 people suggest that it struck several geese, investigators said Thursday.
The National Transportation Safety Board reports released Thursday describe the evidence and witness reports that support there having been a bird strike before the helicopter plummeted into the river on April 10, 2025. The reports were not final, so don't identify a definitive cause of the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration has said that helicopters are especially vulnerable to bird strikes because they fly at low altitudes. Helicopter bird strikes are unusual, but they can be devastating.
The victims of last year’s accident included a Siemens business executive from Spain, his family and the pilot. Passengers Agustin Escobar, 49; his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal, 39; and their three children, Victor, 4; Mercedes, 8; and Agustin, 10, all died. The pilot was Seankese Johnson, 36, a U.S. Navy veteran who received his commercial pilot’s license in 2023. The crash renewed safety concerns about the popular sightseeing flights and prompted New Jersey’s governor to ask for additional restrictions on nonessential helicopter flights.
Remains of several geese were found on the helicopter’s rotors and left horizontal stabilizer. One witness told the NTSB that just minutes before the crash a large flock of geese took flight in the area.
“The geese were big and there were many of them. When the helicopter went bang, I immediately thought it was a bird strike,” the witness told NTSB investigators.
The Smithsonian Institution’s Feather Identification Lab identified remains from different breeds of geese on the wreckage. Some of those birds average about three pounds. The remains also include female Canada Geese, which can average nearly eight pounds.
The NTSB has investigated 24 helicopter bird strike crashes in the past 25 years, including three fatal ones. Helicopter pilots are encouraged to try to avoid areas where birds are known to be present and fly slower to minimize the potential damage from an impact.
“Bird strikes continue to be a hazard in aviation and one that can be difficult to mitigate,” said aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti, who used to investigate crashes for both the NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration.
The “ miracle on the Hudson” highlighted the danger of bird strikes when a US Airways jet hit a flock of birds and lost power in both engines shortly after takeoff in 2009. Pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger was hailed as a hero after he landed the powerless plane in the Hudson River and all 155 people on board were rescued.
In last year’s crash, witnesses described seeing the helicopter’s tail and main rotor breaking away and smoke pouring from the spinning chopper before it slammed into the water.
The helicopter took off from a downtown heliport that afternoon and flew north along the Manhattan skyline before heading south toward the Statue of Liberty. Less than 18 minutes into the flight, parts of the aircraft were seen tumbling into the water.
Rescue boats circled the submerged aircraft within minutes of impact and recovered the bodies from the water. Later recovery crews hoisted the mangled Bell 206L-4 helicopter out of the river for investigators to examine.
New York Helicopter Tours shut down after the crash, and the FAA issued an emergency order to ground all the company’s flights after learning it had fired its operations director minutes after he had agreed to suspend flights during the investigation.
The FAA said at the time that it suspected the firing was retaliation for a safety decision.
The company’s director of operations, Jason Costello, agreed to voluntarily halt flights while the crash was being investigated. But 16 minutes after Costello sent an email to the FAA, the company’s chief executive officer sent a separate email to the agency saying he did not authorize the halt and that Costello was no longer an employee.
FILE - In this image released by the National Transportation Safety Board, an NTSB team surveys the wreckage Recovered from the helicopter that crashed into Hudson River, April 11, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (NTSB via AP, File)
FILE - Emergency personnel respond to a helicopter crash on the Hudson River, April 10, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
