Four Observations About Cleveland Guardians 2023 Schedule
Major League Baseball (and the Cleveland Guardians) announced their 2023 schedule on Wednesday afternoon, which I think brings about a welcome change for fans.
For the first time in league history, every team in across the league will play at least one series against every other franchise.
The Guardians will take National League road trips to play the Washington Nationals (April 14-16), New York Mets (May 19-21), San Diego Padres (June 13-15), Arizona Diamondbacks (June 16-18), Chicago Cubs (June 30 - July 2), Pittsburgh Pirates (July 17-19, Cincinnati Reds (August 15-16) and San Francisco Giants (September 11-13).
That means the Miami Marlins (April 21-23), Colorado Rockies (April 24-26), St. Louis Cardinals (May 26-28), Milwaukee Brewers (June 23-25), Atlanta Braves (July 3-5), Philadelphia Phillies (July 21-23), Los Angeles Dodgers (August 22 - 24) and Cincinnati Reds (September 26-27) all come to Cleveland.
The Reds and Guardians will continue to play a home-and-home series every year because of their regional rivalry. Major League Baseball is trying to keep those rivalries intact, while also growing the game.
Personally, I love this change. Want to see Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, Clayton Kershaw, Juan Soto or any of the other biggest stars in the game? You are now guaranteed a chance to see them play in your home stadium at least every other year. Baseball is trying to broaden its reach and market its star players better, and I think this step helps accomplish that.
A couple other things I notice about Cleveland's 2023 schedule:
- They open the season against Seattle on the road on March 30, then turn around and host the Mariners in the Home Opener a week later.
- It feels like the Guardians have played the Yankees in the heart of the summer far more often than not. Next year, New York comes to Cleveland April 10-12 in the Guardians first homestand of the year.
- Since the schedule across the game is now balanced, the number of games inside the division is cut down drastically. The Guardians play 13 games each against AL Central foes Kansas City, Chicago, Detroit and Minnesota - and only three of Cleveland's first 31 games is in the division. The schedule is now set up to play two home series and two road series against every team in your division.
- Purely from a competitive standpoint, I don't think there is a month that stands out as a particularly challenging month. It feels like Cleveland got a good draw in terms of spreading out the best teams around the league.
Who knows: with any good fortune, maybe the Guardians will be the defending World Series champions and every team in baseball will have them circled on their respective schedules!
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