The Major Leagues will open their 2022 season on March 31 – as long as there is no stoppage – and for the fourth time they will try to get all clubs to play their first game on the same day, something that has not happened since 1968.
The major league office released its full schedule on Wednesday. The first meetings in the National League will be Cubs-Cincinnati, Colorado-Dodgers, Atlanta-Miami, Arizona-Milwaukee, Washington-Mets, St. Louis-Pittsburgh and San Francisco-San Diego.
In the American, the Toronto-Baltimore, Tampa Bay-Boston, Minnesota-White Sox, Kansas City-Cleveland, Angels-Oakland, Detroit-Seattle and Yankees-Texas games will be played.
The opening day would be completed with an interleague, Philadelphia’s visit to Houston.
The contract between Major League Baseball and the players union expires on December 1. In view of the deteriorating relationship between the two parties, a strike seems possible.
Major League Baseball hasn’t been through such a move since 1994-95, when a seven-and-a-half-month strike resulted in the World Series being canceled for the first time in 90 years.
In three of the last four seasons, the majors have tried to get all 30 clubs active on opening day. But the Pittsburgh-Detroit and Washington-Cincinnati games were postponed due to rain in 2018.
A year later, Seattle and Oakland started before the other teams, with a two-game series in Tokyo. The start of the 2020 season was delayed to July 23 by the pandemic, and the only game played on opening night was the Yankees’ in Washington.
Last year, the Major Leagues made another attempt. The meeting between the Mets and Washington, a pitching duel between Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer, was postponed due to an outbreak of COVID-19.
Also, Baltimore’s game in Boston was postponed due to a rain threat.
In the interleague, the East of the Americana collides with the Central of the Nacional; the Central of the Americana against the West of the Nacional, and the West of the Americana against the East of the Nacional.
The Cubs will play at Yankee Stadium from October 10-12 and the Red Sox visit Wrigley Field from July 1-3.
The Mets will host the Yankees on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
All teams would play on April 15, Jackie Robinson Day, which falls on a Friday.
The schedule already includes a doubleheader, on July 23, between Tigres and Twins.
The All-Star Game will be held at Dodger Stadium on July 19. It will be the latest date since 1981, when it was played on August 9 after the players’ strike.
The 2020 All-Star Game was supposed to take place at Dodger Stadium, but was canceled due to the pandemic.
The only meeting on July 21, when the second half of the season begins, will be Dodgers-San Francisco.
The regular season would conclude on October 2. (AFP)