The full schedule for the 2023 Major League Baseball season has been released. We already had a decent idea of the general outline, but it's always nice to get the details.
Before even diving into the specifics on a team level, the biggest thing to discuss is the change in the shape of the schedule, so to speak. Instead of a schedule incredibly heavy on divisional matchups, it'll be much more balanced now. Check it out:
- Teams had been playing 76 in-division games. That total is now down to 52 (13 games and four series against each foe).
- Non-divisional intraleague games (for example, NL East vs. NL Central) is now a tidy 64 (32 home and 32 away) instead of 66. Each team will have seven games against four chosen opponents and six games against the other six teams fitting this criteria.
- Interleague play gets the massive increase. There used to be 20 of these games and now each team has 46. This includes a home-and-home series between "natural rivals" and then one series (seven home, seven road for each team) against the remaining 14 teams in the other league.
Got all that? Good! Now onto the team specifics.
Opening Day
Here is the opener for every team, all start times PM and ET.
Thursday, March 30
- Giants at Yankees, 1:05
- Braves at Nationals, 1:05
- Orioles at Red Sox, 2:10
- Brewers at Cubs, 2:20
- Tigers at Rays, 3:10
- Twins at Royals, 3:10
- Phillies at Rangers, 4:05
- Mets at Marlins, 4:10
- Pirates at Reds, 4:10
- Blue Jays at Cardinals, 4:10
- Rockies at Padres, 5:10
- White Sox at Astros, 7:08
- Angels at A's, 10:07
- Guardians at Mariners, 10:10
- Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 10:10
Thankfully, as opposed to many recent years, every single team plays on Opening Day. We'll know more when it gets closer, but expect a quadruple-header on some combination of ESPN and MLB Network, surely with Giants-Yankees starting things off and the defending Astros in primetime as the lone game in the 7 p.m. ET window.
MLB World Tour
The Giants and Padres face each other in Mexico City in a two-game series April 29-30. Later, the Cardinals and Cubs square off in London for a two-game set June 24-25.
All-Star Game
The Midsummer Classic takes place in Seattle's T-Mobile Park on Tuesday, July 11, meaning All-Star Monday (with the Home Run Derby) will fall on the 10th. All teams will be off July 10-13 as a result.
Game 162
The final day of the regular season is Sunday, October 1 and every team will be in action. Among the 15 games, there are 10 divisional matchups, including Dodgers-Giants, Phillies-Mets and Blue Jays-Rays. All games will start between 3:00-3:15 p.m. ET, in hopes of maximum drama.
