Defending World Series champion Washington Nationals will host the New York Yankees in the first game of the MLB 2020 season on July 23, followed by the San Francisco Giants who will travel to play against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Angeles, while MLB revealed its full schedule for the coronavirus. -short season 2020 on Monday.
ESPN will air both games, with action at Nationals Park set to begin at 7 p.m. ET, with the Giants and Dodgers following at 10 p.m. ET.
After opening night, 14 games will be played on July 24, including the first game at the new Texas Rangers Globe Life Field, which will host the Colorado Rockies.
During the 60-game regular season, teams will play their four divisional opponents 10 times each, and the other 20 games will be against interleague opponents in the same geographic area. For example, teams in the National West League will face teams in the American West League.
The opening day showdown between the Yankees and the Nationals could also serve as Gerrit Cole’s striped debut. Cole and the Yankees agreed to a record nine-year, $ 324 million contract last winter.
The highlights of the season include Madison Bumgarner’s return to San Francisco when the Arizona Diamondbacks face the Giants on August 21-23.
The Boston Red Sox will face a challenge earlier in the season as 13 of their first 23 games are against a pair of Eastern League contenders: the Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Yankees have more margin for error at the beginning of the season, as all but three of their last 23 games are against teams that lost 95 games or more last season: 10 against the Toronto Blue Jays and seven against the Baltimore Orioles before finish with three against the Miami Marlins.
The other three games in that stretch are the Yankees’ only games at Fenway Park against the Red Sox Sept. 18-20. Boston will play at Yankee Stadium seven times in the first half of its schedule.
The Dodgers, among the favorites to win the World Series, will not play against the Giants in September, and will finish with six interleague games at home against the Oakland Athletics and the Los Angeles Angels.
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