2016 MLB Schedule released: Things to know

On Tuesday afternoon, Major League Baseball officially released the 2016 regular season schedule. You can see the entire schedule right here, or you can go to each team’s official site to see their specific schedules. The 2016 season is set to begin on Monday, April 4, which means the World Series may potentially carry over into November again.

Here are some of the most notable schedule quirks, features and whatnot.

20th anniversary of interleague play

The 2016 season will mark the 20th anniversary of interleague play. Hard to believe it has been that long already. The interleague play division pairings are as follows:

AL East vs. NL West
AL Central vs. NL East
AL West vs. NL Central

Among the World Series rematches on next year’s schedule are Cardinals vs. Rangers (2011), Red Sox vs. Rockies (2007) and Yankees vs. Diamondbacks (2001).

Also, the Padres will visit the Blue Jays for the first time ever in 2016. That is only location-specific interleague matchup that has not yet occured. The Padres will visit Rogers Centre in Toronto for a three-game series from July 25-27.

Opening Night game still TBA

The schedule shows the season will begin April 4, but that is not really the case. Just like the last several seasons, ESPN will carry a game the first game of the season on Sunday, April 3, which has unofficially been dubbed Opening Night. The format may change this year, however:

The Dodgers at Padres could be moved to Sunday as the safe “we know the weather is going to be okay” game. The Astros at Yankees could work on Sunday as well depending on how the postseason shakes out. Perhaps the Mets at the Rays too. Hey, that could be a World Series rematch.

ESPN’s early season Sunday night broadcast schedule usually is not released until January each year. We’re still a few months away from finding out who will play in the Opening Night game(s).

Notable final series

The final series of the regular season is always potentially huge. The division title could be on the line, or a wildcard spot, or teams could be jockeying for home field advantage through the LCS round of the postseason.

Here are some of the 2016 final series that could potentially have a huge impact on the various playoff races (all three-game series):

Orioles at Yankees
Astros at Angels
Dodgers at Giants
Pirates at Cardinals
Blue Jays at Red Sox

That is some fun end-of-season intraleague goodness. Of course, we’re just making an educated guess about which teams will be in the race 12 months and three weeks from now. Heck, for all we know the Brewers at Rockies series to close out 2016 could be huge.

Athletics will travel third most miles

Late last month we heard the Athletics tried and failed to get the 2016 schedule changed because of what they consider heavy travel. Specifically, the A’s will not play back-to-back series on the road against the Rangers and Astros, so they have to make twice as many trips to Texas, and they will also endure separate stretches with 22 of 28 and 14 of 17 days on the road.

According to the great Baseball Savant, the A’s are scheduled to travel 42,119 miles next season, the third most in baseball. Only the Mariners (47,704) and Angels (44,945) will travel more miles in 2016. The Mariners routinely log the most miles each year because they’re so isolated — the nearest team is the Athletics, who are 800 or so miles south.

The Cubs, meanwhile, will travel only 24,271 miles in 2016, the fewest in baseball. It’s good to be centrally located.

Notable anniversaries

The 2016 season will bring many notable MLB anniversaries. It’ll be the 30th anniversary of the Mets 1986 World Series winning team — and thus the Bill Buckner play — which will surely generate a lot of buzz in Flushing. It’ll also be the 20th anniversary of the start of the most recent Yankees dynasty. So next year will be a big anniversary summer in New York.

Other notable anniversaries include the 10th anniversary of the new Busch Stadium and the 50th aniversary of Angel Stadium; the 40th anniversary of the 1975-76 Reds, the last NL team to win back-to-back World Series titles; the 50th anniversary of Sandy Koufax’s final season; and the 60th anniversary of Don Larsen’s World Series perfect game.

The end of Turner Field

The Braves will play their final regular season game at Turner Field on Sunday, October 2 next season. The Tigers will be in town for an interleague series. The 20-year-old Turner Field will be demolished soon after the 2016 season, once the team moves north to SunTrust Park in nearby Cobb County. SunTrust Park is currently under construction and the Braves are scheduled to move in for the start of the 2017 season.

2016 will be the last season for the Braves at Turner Field. (USATSI)

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