MLB today announced its tentative schedule for the '14 season, with the full Opening Day slated for Monday, March 31 with 14 games, preceded by an ESPN "Sunday Night Baseball" game on March 30. The U.S.-based openers will be preceded by two previously announced games on March 22-23 in Australia between the Dodgers and D-Backs, marking MLB's first-ever games in that country. The '14 schedule will again employ everyday interleague play, a necessary byproduct of this year's realignment that shifted the Astros to the AL. The final day of the '14 regular season will be Sun., Sept. 28.
The ESPN Sunday night game to start the U.S.-based portion of the season will be selected at a later date. MLB, however, is not bringing back Prime Rivals week, its dedicated clustering of natural interleague rivalries played this past May. Instead, prominent interleague matchups such as Yankees-Mets, Dodgers-Angels and Nationals-Orioles have been slated for various points. The '14 season is set to be the last in the tenure of Commissioner Bud Selig. The schedule will be finalized with game times in January.
