Don’t let Jordan Walker overshadow Tyler O’Neill’s ridiculous Opening Day streak

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Tyler O’Neill loves Opening Day, as evidenced by his historic accomplishment on Thursday against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The St. Louis Cardinals enter their 2023 season after getting swept in the Wild Card Round by the eventual National League champion Philadelphia Phillies. As if the season could not get more exciting for the Cardinals, the team announced that top prospect Jordan Walker would make the Opening Day roster. It’s always a thrilling moment for fans to see one of their highly-touted prospects make their MLB debuts.

With the Cardinals taking on the Toronto Blue Jays on Opening Day on Thursday, there was some history made, courtesy of outfielder Tyler O’Neill.

Trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the third inning, O’Neill crushed a solo home run to right center field to cut their deficit to 4-3. This is now O’Neill’s fourth consecutive Opening Day game with a home run, which is tied for an MLB record.

Tyler O’Neill hits home run in fourth consecutive Opening Day game

The only other players to do this, per Elias Sports (h/t MLB.com’s Sarah Langs), are Yogi Berra (1955-58) with the New York Yankees, Gary Carter (1977-80) with the Montreal Expos, and Todd Hundley (1994-97) with the Mets.

That was O’Neill’s lone hit of the game. However, he did draw one walk and scored two runs.

As for Walker, he notched his first career hit in his first at-bat, hitting a single to center field. He did knock in one run in the bottom of the seventh inning, where he grounded into a forceout, which allowed the Cardinals to take a 7-6 lead.

The Cardinals lost the game 10-9.

Now that O’Neill has tied the major league record, all eyes will be on the Cardinals’ Opening Day game in 2024, to see if he can break it.