ST. LOUIS -- While the Cardinals’ 2019 season is still moving along, it’s never too early to look ahead. MLB announced the 2020 schedule on Monday, and there are many dates to circle and anticipate.

It starts with Opening Day on March 26, when all 30 teams play, and the earliest to start the season in Cardinals franchise history. The Cardinals open the season on the road against Cincinnati for three games, then go to Milwaukee for three.

• Cardinals' 2020 schedule
• Ticket information
• Club-by-club schedules
• Cardinals' spring schedule released

The Cardinals will open their 2020 home schedule with an Interleague series for the first time in franchise history. The Orioles -- who used to be the St. Louis Browns -- will visit St. Louis for the first time in 17 years on April 2 and play a three-game series.

Here’s a look at the 2020 schedule highlights:

Key series

After the first home series against the Orioles, the Dodgers come to town for a four-game set. Then the Cardinals head to Los Angeles a week later -- April 14-16 -- and don’t play the Dodgers for the rest of the season. In between the two Dodgers series, the Cardinals visit Wrigley Field for the first time to play the Cubs (April 10-12).

After the All-Star break, the Cardinals end a 10-game homestand with four games against the Cubs -- the first time the Cubs visit Busch Stadium in 2020 -- on July 23-26. There are two other big series against the Cubs after that: the first at Wrigley Field (Aug. 21-24), and the second in the middle of the season’s stretch run (Sept. 10-13) at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals play the Brewers on six occasions next season, including in St. Louis over the July 4 weekend and to end the home schedule (Sept. 21-23). Playing their National League Central rivals back to back, the Cardinals end the 2020 regular season in Chicago (Sept. 25-27).

Across the pond

The Cardinals don’t host the rival Cubs until June 13-14 -- at London Stadium in the U.K. for the 2020 series. It’s their first ever regular-season “home” game outside of St. Louis. Because of the two-game London Series, the Cardinals will play 79 games in St. Louis in 2020 and have two scheduled off-days before the London Series to travel.

Interleague Play

Some of the most intriguing series in 2020 are against American League opponents. Along with the home-opener Orioles series, the Cardinals play seven more Interleague series, including home-and-home series against the Blue Jays (June 1-2 in St. Louis and Aug. 18-19 in Toronto) and Kansas City (Aug. 4-5 in Kansas City and Sept. 15-16 in St. Louis).

The Cardinals make a rare visit to Fenway Park from June 26-28. It’ll be only the second trip to Boston for the Cardinals during the regular season since 2008. The two teams also met in the 2013 World Series. The Cardinals go to Tampa Bay for an Interleague series July 10-12.

St. Louis will welcome the Yankees -- and perhaps St. Louis native and former Cardinal Luke Voit -- to Busch Stadium to open the second half the season July 17-19.