MLB to start ’22 on March 31 if no work stoppage
Major League Baseball will open the 2022 season on March 31 and will try for the fourth time to have every…
NEW YORK — Major League Baseball will open the 2022 season March 31 — as long as there isn’t a work stoppage — and will try for the fourth time to have every team play its first game on the same day for the first time since 1968.
The league released the full schedule Wednesday. NL openers have the Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies at the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves at Miami Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks at Milwaukee Brewers, Washington Nationals at the New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres.
AL openers will have the Toronto Blue Jays at Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins at the Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Guardians, the Los Angeles Angels at Oakland Athletics, Detroit Tigers at Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees at Texas Rangers.
In the one interleague opener, the Philadelphia Phillies are at the Houston Astros.
The collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the players’ association expires Dec. 1. Given the acrimonious relationship between the sides, a lockout or strike appears possible. Baseball has not had a work stoppage since a 7½-month strike in 1994-95 that caused the first cancellation of the World Series in 90 years.
MLB tried for three of the past four seasons to have all 30 clubs play on the same Opening Day for three of the past four seasons. Pittsburgh at Detroit and Washington at Cincinnati were rained out in 2018.
For 2019, Seattle and Oakland started ahead of other teams with a two-game series in Tokyo. The start of the 2020 season was delayed to July 23 due to the pandemic, and the only game on opening night had the Yankees at Washington.
When MLB tried again this year, the Mets’ game in Washington — a prime pitching matchup between Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer — was postponed because of a COVID-19 outbreak. Baltimore’s game at Boston was postponed because rain was in the forecast.
Home openers for teams starting on the road are set for April 4, when the Royals host the White Sox, the Blue Jays host the Rays, the Cubs host the Cardinals and the Nationals host the Phillies.
April 7 home openers have the Yankees host the Red Sox, the Angels host the Astros, the Twins host the Mariners, the Diamondbacks host the Padres, the Cardinals host the Pirates and the Braves host the Reds.
Remaining home openers are April 8, with the Tigers home against the White Sox, the Rays home against the Orioles, the Phillies home against the Athletics, the Rockies home against the Dodgers and the Giants home against the Marlins.
Interleague play has the AL East vs. NL Central, AL Central vs. NL West and AL West vs. NL East. The Cubs play June 10-12 at Yankee Stadium and the Red Sox are at Wrigley Field from July 1 to 3.
The Mets host the Yankees, observing the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Every team is scheduled to play on Jackie Robinson Day, April 15, which falls on a Friday.
A day-night doubleheader is in the original schedule, with the Tigers at the Twins on July 23.
The All-Star Game will be at Dodger Stadium on July 19, its latest date since 1981, when it was played on Aug. 9 after a players’ strike. The 2020 All-Star Game was supposed to be at Dodger Stadium but was canceled due to the pandemic.
The only game on July 21, the start of the second half, has the Dodgers hosting the Giants.
The regular season is scheduled to end Oct. 2.
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