MLB announces 2022 regular season schedule
Major League Baseball today announced its master 2022 Major League regular season schedule, which will begin with all 30 Major League Clubs playing on Opening Day presented by Chevrolet on Thursday, March 31st. The 2022 season will mark the fifth consecutive season in which all 30 Clubs are scheduled to play on traditional Opening Day (including 2020’s original regular season schedule), and Opening Day of the 2022 campaign could also become the first season since 1968 in which every team across the Majors plays their first game of the season on the same day.
Opening Day will feature 11 divisional match-ups among the 15 games in addition to one Interleague matchup between the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Six games are scheduled for Friday, April 1st, and a full slate of 15 games will be played on both Saturday, April 2nd and Sunday, April 3rd.
Interleague Play throughout the season will feature the AL East vs. NL Central, AL Central vs. NL West and AL West vs. NL East. The Chicago Cubs will visit Yankee Stadium for a three-game set from June 10th-12th, and host the Red Sox for a three-game series from July 1st-3rd. The trip to New York will be Chicago’s third-ever regular season road series against the Yankees, and the first since April 2014. For Boston, it marks their third-ever regular season series at Wrigley Field, and the first since June 2012.
The 92nd All-Star Game presented by Mastercard will take place on Tuesday, July 19th at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, marking its first Midsummer Classic since 1980. The game marks the latest on the calendar for an All-Star Game since 1981 (August 9th), and the latest during the month of July since 1977 (also July 19th).
In addition, other highlights of the 2022 schedule include:
· The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres will meet for the first time on April 22nd-24th at Petco Park in San Diego, and the teams will play five of their six season series on weekends. Additionally, the NL West rivals will square off nine times during September.
· A full slate of 15 games are scheduled for Jackie Robinson Day on Friday, April 15th, including the Cincinnati Reds visiting the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
· Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels will visit Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park for a three-game series immediately from June 3rd-5th. The series will mark Trout’s second trip to Philadelphia near his hometown of Millville, NJ, following a two-game set in May 2014. In addition, it will be just the fourth time the two All-Stars, who are linked by their respective Rookie of the Year-winning seasons in 2012, square off in their careers, following a three-game set in Washington in April 2014 and a pair of two-game sets in Anaheim and Washington in July and August 2017.
· The Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins are scheduled to play a split doubleheader at Comerica Park in Detroit on Saturday, July 23rd, following an off day on Friday, July 22nd.
· The Dodgers will host the San Francisco Giants on Thursday, July 21st in the only game played across the Majors coming out of the All-Star break.
· The final day of the 2022 regular season on Sunday, October 2nd, featuring 12 divisional games.