Phillies opening day: Bryce Harper's perfect timing; who's new on the 2026 roster; weather and live updates

Harry Kalas still has a statue at the ballpark and a plaque on the Wall of Fame. The broadcast booth is named for the Hall of Fame broadcaster and the Phils play his rendition of “High Hopes” after each win.

But Harry The K’s — a concession stand below the left field scoreboard — will become the Ghost Energy Deck starting with Thursday’s season opener.

The team paid Kalas’ widow, Eileen, a nominal fee each season to use his likeness. Ryan Hughes, the founder of Ghost Energy, said he is making a donation on behalf of Ghost to the Ashburn-Kalas Foundation.

Say this for the 2026 Phillies: You won’t need a program to know who’s who.

Team officials push back on the popular narrative that they are “running it back” after 95- and 96-win seasons but also divisional-round knockouts in each of the last two years. Rob Thomson points out that he will be managing a rookie center fielder, a new right fielder, a rookie starter, and a remodeled group of relievers.

Here are the new faces on the Phillies' roster for opening day this season:

The Phillies are poised to make history Thursday with their earliest opening day ever — home or away — and, if the forecasts are correct, win a gamble with nature.

When Cristopher Sánchez throws the first pitch when the Phils host the Texas Rangers at 4:15 p.m., temperatures are forecast to be around 70 degrees with wind blowing out to right field about 10 mph. Chances are the shadows won’t bedevil the hitters or outfielders, as skies are expected to be mostly cloud-covered.

It should be dry through the game, said Bobby Martrich, a meteorologist with EPAWA Weather Consulting, which provides forecast services to the Phillies. It appears any rain will hold off until the game is well over, likely after midnight.

Can it really be 15 years? Is that possible? How is it even seven years since that first Saturday of March in 2019 when Bryce Harper high-fived The Phanatic atop the first-base dugout for his introductory Phillies news conference?

Time flies when you’re the Face of the Franchise.

But this is an interesting time for Harper. He will play this season at age 33. And when a 33-year-old future Hall of Famer is coming off a season in which he put up across-the-board numbers that weren’t up to his skyscraping standards, people (read: scouts) start to whisper.

Cristopher Sánchez will achieves one of his career goals Thursday when he takes the mound as the Phillies’ opening day starter. He will start opposite Texas Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.

The Phillies’ rotation order to start the season following Sánchez will be Aaron Nola, Jesús Luzardo, Taijuan Walker, and Andrew Painter, the 22-year-old rookie who made the team with Zach Wheeler still working his way back from thoracic outlet decompression surgery.

When Wheeler’s season ended last August after a blood clot was identified in his arm, Sánchez stepped into the role of ace of the staff.

Opening day is finally here, with the Phillies taking the field against the Texas Rangers Thursday afternoon hoping to erase the memory of three straight disappointing playoff exits.

The Phillies’ season debut is scheduled to get underway at 4:15 p.m., and will air live on NBC10.

Calling the game will be Tom McCarthy, the TV voice of the Phillies, who is entering his 20th season on TV with the team. Joining him in the booth will be former first baseman John Kruk, in his tenth season calling Phillies games after 12 years at ESPN.