Defending champions Washington Freedom are ready to face the latest runners-up San Francisco Unicorns in the opening game of the third season of the United States’ Major League Cricket (MLC), MLC 2025. Oakland Coliseum in Oakland will host the tournament opener on Thursday evening, June 12 (starting time at 6:30 AM Indian time on June 13). 

Both teams are ready to play their first match of the season. In their previous four meetings, San Francisco won once and Washington won three times. In the last season, they met thrice, where San Francisco won the league stage meeting, and Washington won the Qualifier and Final.

In the MLC 2024 Final, after Washington scored 207/5 in 20 overs, San Francisco were all out for 111 runs, and Washington won the match by 96 runs. 

See Also: WAS VS SF Major League Cricket 2025: live streaming and where to watch

MLC 2025, Match 1: SF vs WAS

In both the first two seasons, Washington Freedom reached the Playoffs, where they were eliminated from the Eliminators in the inaugural season (MLC 2023) by MI New York, and they won the title in the second season (2024). 

On the other hand, after finishing in the fifth position out of six teams in the inaugural season (MLC 2023), San Francisco Unicorns finished as the runners-up in the last season. 

While San Francisco Unicorns are ready to go with their same captain Corey Anderson, the defending champions Washington Freedom will start with their new captain Glenn Maxwell, in the absence of their title-winning skipper Steven Smith. 

MLC 2025, Match 1: SF vs WAS Probable Playing XI

San Francisco Unicorns Predicted Playing XI: Finn Allen, Jake Fraser McGurk, Tim Seifert (wk), Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Hassan Khan, Cooper Connolly, Corey Anderson (Captain), Haris Rauf, Xavier Bartlett, Brody Couch, Liam Plunkett.

Washington Freedom Predicted Playing XI: Andries Gous, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Owen, Glenn Maxwell (Captain), Jack Edwards, Glenn Phillips, Ian Holland, Mukhtar Ahmed, Obus Pienaar, Saurabh Netravalkar, Lockie Ferguson.