<
>

MLB releases '20 schedule with March 26 openers

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball will open its 2020 season March 26, its earliest start other than international games. The schedule also features a late April series in Puerto Rico between the New York Mets and Miami Marlins.

Globe Life Field, the new home of the Texas Rangers, opens March 31. This is the first new ballpark since the Atlanta Braves' SunTrust Park opened in 2017. Globe Life will be the seventh big league stadium with a retractable roof, after those in Toronto, Arizona, Seattle, Houston, Milwaukee and Miami. Tampa Bay has a fixed roof.

The commissioner's office also said Monday all 30 teams could play on Opening Day for the first time since 1968. A full slate was scheduled in 2018 but two games were postponed. The 2020 regular season is to end Sept. 27, putting the World Series on track for Oct. 20-28.

The Angels host the Dodgers on July 10-11 heading into the All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on July 14 -- giving both teams a rare Sunday off on July 12.

Previously announced, the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals will play two games in London in June. The New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox will play Aug. 13 at a ballpark next to the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa. A Little League Classic between the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles is set for Aug. 23 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The American League Opening Day games are Yankees at Baltimore; Kansas City at the White Sox; Detroit at Cleveland; the Angels at Houston; Minnesota at Oakland; Texas at Seattle; and Boston at Toronto.

In the National League, it's Atlanta at Arizona; St. Louis at Cincinnati; San Francisco at the Dodgers; Philadelphia at Miami; the Cubs at Milwaukee; Washington at the Mets; and Colorado at San Diego. The one interleague matchup has Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay.