MLB Opening Day 2019: Why Is the Baseball Season Starting Early?

mlb season start

Getty MLB Opening Day is a bit earlier in 2019.

MLB Opening Day is Thursday, March 28, which is a bit earlier than its normal start date. Why is the MLB season starting earlier? Opening Day was moved up as part of a 2017 agreement in hopes of providing players with more rest during the season. ESPN detailed the reasoning behind Opening Day being moved up.

The previous earliest Opening Day was March 29 of this year. MLB released the 2019 schedule Wednesday. It will begin with the opening series in Japan between the Seattle Mariners and host Oakland Athletics at the Tokyo Dome on March 20-21.

There is some concern that the early start date could force teams to deal with more inclement weather than they typically do at the beginning of the season. The Chicago Sun-Times noted that MLB will likely be dealing with postponed games to start the season.

Certainly, no one is blaming anyone for the cruel spring. Then again, after the players’ union secured four extra days of rest during the season in the last collective-bargaining agreement, MLB has been left with little choice but to schedule games in late March and early April to try to avoid playing games in November…

If nothing else, it’s time for the union and MLB to negotiate weather conditions in which games can be played in the next CBA. How about not starting games when the temperature is colder than 40 degrees? How about automatically stopping games when it starts to rain? How about looking out for the fans who have to sit through the horrendous weather?

Here is a look at the MLB Opening Day schedule of games to start the season.


MLB Opening Day Schedule 2019

TEAMS TIME (ET)
Baltimore Orioles vs. NY Yankees 1:05 p.m.
NY Mets vs. Washington Nationals 1:05 p.m.
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Milwaukee Brewers 2:10 p.m.
Atlanta Braves vs. Philadelphia Phillies 3:05 p.m.
Detroit Tigers vs. Toronto Blue Jays 3:37 p.m.
Houston Astros vs. Tampa Bay Rays 4 p.m.
Chicago Cubs vs. Texas Rangers 4:05 p.m.
LA Angels vs. Oakland A’s 4:07 p.m.
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Cincinnati Reds 4:10 p.m.
Colorado Rockies vs. Miami Marlins 4:10 p.m.
Arizona Diamondbacks vs. LA Dodgers 4:10 p.m.
San Francisco Giants vs. San Diego Padres 4:10 p.m.
Cleveland Indians vs. Minnesota Twins 4:10 p.m.
Chicago White Sox vs. KC Royals 4:15 p.m.
Boston Red Sox vs. Seattle Mariners 7:08 p.m.

 

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