Wednesday, Major League Baseball released the entire 2013 schedule for all 30 teams. This gives fans and teams several months to make plans to attend games.
With the switch of the Houston Astros to the American League, there will be 15 teams in each league, and thus at least one interleague series at all times. This means some teams will play interleague games on Opening Day, and some will close the season against the other league.
The season is scheduled to begin Monday, April 1 (although there’s already talk that a game might be switched to Sunday, March 31 for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball) and end on Sunday, September 30 — the first time since 2010 that it will end on a Sunday.
Some highlights:
- Every team will play 20 interleague games -- your team will have a lot of two-game series, with multiple off-days in some weeks -- 76 games within their own division, and 66 against all other teams in their own league.
- More on the two-game sets: teams denoted as “traditional rivals” will play back-to-back home-and-home two game sets (Dodgers/Angels, Mets/Yankees, Cubs/White Sox and Rays/Marlins are among teams doing this).
- Interleague opening series: Angels at Reds.
- Interleague closing series: Tigers at Marlins.
- There will be a scheduled doubleheader at Arizona on Memorial Day, May 27, with the Diamondbacks hosting the Rangers, the first scheduled twin bill in Phoenix.
- Among teams making first-ever regular-season interleague visits: Dodgers are heading to Yankee Stadium; Yankees go to Petco Park; Cubs to Oakland Coliseum
And, you will probably not be surprised to learn that the Yankees and Red Sox will be playing a season-opening series (in New York). Given the fortunes of the two clubs this year, that might not be as marquee a match-up as it once was.