Major League Baseball released the full schedule for their 2020 season with 60 games on Monday night. The shortened season begins on July 23 with two night games: Yankees at Nationals and Giants at Dodgers. A traditional opening day takes place on July 24, Friday, with a schedule of 14 games (the Yankees and Nationals are off).
Here is the full schedule for the opening day (all times east):
Thursday 23 July (opening evening)
New York Yankees at Washington Nationals, 7 p.m.
San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10 p.m.
Friday, July 24 (opening day)
Atlanta Braves in New York Mets, 4:10 p.m.
Detroit Tigers at Cincinnati Reds, 6:10 p.m.
Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays, 6.40pm
Miami Marlins at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 p.m.
Milwaukee Brewers in Chicago Cubs, 7:10 p.m.
Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Indians, 7:10 p.m.
Baltimore Orioles in Boston Red Sox, 7:30 p.m.
Colorado Rockies at Texas Rangers, 8:05 p.m.
Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox, 8:10 PM
Pittsburgh Pirates at the St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 p.m.
Seattle Mariners at Houston Astros, 9:10 p.m.
Arizona Diamondbacks at San Diego Padres, 9:10 p.m.
San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers, 9.40pm
Los Angeles Angels at Oakland Athletics, 10:10 p.m.
The teams will play “regional” schedules in 2020. They will compete ten times against the other four teams in their division and play 20 games against the Interleague teams in their region (e.g. teams in NL East will compete against teams from AL East). The regular season 60 game sprint ends on September 27th. The full MLB schedule for 2020 can be found here.
The players started signing up for a second spring training session (also known as a “summer camp”) last week. However, there have been issues with the league’s corona virus testing process and the 2020 season is uncertain.
But the schedule is set. Here are five MLB takeaways that publish each team’s 60 game list.
Highlights of the opening day
While Yankees-Nationals and Dodgers-Giants attract a lot of attention on July 23, the opening day on July 24 offers many appealing matchups. On the second day of the 2020 season, there will be an almost complete list of games, with the earliest game (Braves at Mets) starting at 4:10 p.m. ET and the newest game (Angels at Athletics) beginning at 10:10 a.m. p.m. ET.
Highlights of the opening day include: The Texas Rangers will play their first game on the new Globe Life Field on Friday as they host the Colorado Rockies. and Madison Bumgarner are likely to make their Diamondback debut after signing a $ 85 million five-year deal in his opening game against the Padres this winter. Our RJ Anderson rated every matchup on opening day 2020.
Card White Sox confirmed for Field of Dreams
MLB still hopes to play at the Field of Dreams stadium this season, and on Monday the St. Louis Cardinals were officially announced to replace the Yankees in a matchup against the Chicago White Sox. As part of the league’s new schedule, teams can only compete against their rivals and geographical colleagues. So the Cardinals will face the White Sox in-game on August 13 in Dyersville, Iowa.
The baseball field is being built on the film set “Field of Dreams” and should accommodate up to 8,000 fans. MLB continues to build and it is likely that the game will have to be played without fans present. The game will be the first MLB game ever played in Iowa.
Strength of schedules
Not all MLB schedules are the same, especially in 2020. Here are the toughest and easiest 2020 plans based on your opponent’s win percentage for 2019:
Simplest strength of the schedule
- Twins: .449
- Indian: .451
- Cardinals: .475
- White Sox: 477
- Dodgers: .482
- Rays: .482
Most difficult strength of the schedule
- Marlins: .534
- Angel: .534
- Orioles: .532
- Seafarer: .531
- Rockies: .523
- Rangers: .518
Yankees should have a light finish
For the reigning division master Yankees, there will be a relatively simple final phase until the 2020 season. The team will play all but one of their last seven series against teams that lost 95 or more games in 2019. The split will be 10 games against Toronto, seven against Baltimore and three against Miami. The Yankees are preferred to regain AL East in 2020, and they could probably step on the gas late if they have to.
Unbalanced rivalry series
Division rivalries will exist in 2020, but in a handful of remarkable series, a team will have the upper hand in travel. The Yankees and Red Sox compete against each other ten times, with seven of these games scheduled to take place at Yankee Stadium. The San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers will also face ten games in 2020, and seven of the games will be played in Los Angeles. Finally, the Chicago Cubs will host the St. Louis Cardinals in seven of their ten scheduled games for the 2020 season.
A few other notable highlights for the league’s 60-game table:
- MLB will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Negro Leagues on August 16.
- Jackie Robinson Day, which usually takes place every April 15th, is celebrated across the league on August 28th. This date is the anniversary of the March in Washington in 1963 and the date in 1945 when Branch Rickey met with Jackie Robinson to discuss his future in the major leagues.
- Roberto Clemente Day is celebrated across the league on September 9th.
- The last day of the regular 2020 season is scheduled for Sunday, September 27th. All games start at 3 p.m. ET to end the season.
