Five things you should know about the newly released 2016 MLB schedule

We know what you’re thinking, yes, there’s still a lot to decide still in 2015, but Major League Baseball released its preliminary 2016 schedule on Tuesday. It gives us something to talk about temporarily while we wait for the next headline in the Matt Harvey saga. Or, if you’re a fan of a team like the Cincinnati Reds or Detroit Tigers, you can think of hopeful better days ahead.

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Baseball’s schedule announcement isn’t as grand an ordeal as, say, the NFL’s. But there are still important things to know as we look ahead to next year. Here are five of them:

1. WHEN DO WE GET STARTED?
April 3 is the first game of the 2016 season. That’s the “opening night” game on ESPN for Sunday Night Baseball. April 4 is the traditional Opening Day with 13 games schedule. Details of the opening night game haven’t been announced yet.

2. WHO’S LEFT OUT OF OPENING DAY?
The four teams not playing on Opening Day: Los Angeles Angels, Chicago Cubs, Miami Marlins and Detroit Tigers. Those two interleague matchups — Cubs at Angels, Tigers at Marlins — will happen April 5. The first full slate of games is April 6.

3. WHEN DO WE WRAP UP?
The final day of the regular season is Oct. 2, a couple days earlier than this year, when the final games are played Oct. 4. According to Eric Fisher of Sports Business Journal, who mirrored this year’s postseason schedule, that means we might be playing into November again. The World Series would start Oct. 25 and end as late as Nov. 2.

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4. A FEW OTHER IMPORTANT DATES
The 2016 MLB All-Star game will be played in San Diego on July 12. The MLB Draft starts on June 9. Jackie Robinson Day is April 15.

5. FINALLY, A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY
Here’s a fun footnote to end with: When the San Diego Padres visit the Toronto Blue Jays on July 25-27, it’ll be the first time the Padres play at Rogers Centre, and thus, every MLB team will have played in every MLB city. It took 19 years since interleague play started in 1997.

If you’re looking for team-specific schedules or daily matchups, head over to MLB.com

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