Some other thoughts on the 2014 Yankees schedule...
- The Yankees open on the road for the fourth time in six seasons.
- It's the third time in as many seasons that they'll begin the year in the same place and against the same team that they ended the previous season. They ended 2011 and started 2012 at Tampa Bay, ended the 2012 season at home against the Red Sox, then played Boston at the Stadium again to open this year.
- Believe it or not, after playing the Orioles in the home opener four times in six years from 1958-63, this will be the first time since then that they've played Baltimore in the home opener. I repeat, they haven't played the Orioles in the home opener since 1963! That's 52 seasons ago! And, just in case you were wondering, the Yankees' starter in that game was Whitey Ford, and their only run in the 4-1 loss came on a Mickey Mantle homer.
- The last home series is also against the Orioles, making them the first visiting team to bookend the Yankee Stadium schedule since the 2002 Devil Rays. (It's also the first time Baltimore's ending the Yankees' home schedule since they closed the Old Stadium in 2008.)
- They play the NL Central in Interleague Play, which got me excited that the Cardinals would finally come to Yankee Stadium for the first time since 2003. Instead, they'll go to St. Louis. The Cubs, Reds and Pirates (and, of course, the Mets) are the Interleague home series.
- The home-and-home opponent is the Cubs, which means the Yankees will play in Wrigley Field, too. I'm completely on board with that plan. In fact, they're going to spend an entire week in Chicago, playing four with the White Sox after the two games at Wrigley. And they'll make that visit to St. Louis, which is like going from New York to Philadelphia, at the end of that trip. I'd say they caught a scheduling break there.
- For the last couple years, I've been able to go to a game for/on my birthday (and since my birthday's in April, it's usually my first game of the year). Since my birthday's on a Monday in 2014, there was the chance it would be an off day. Sure enough it is, but the games on either side of it are home games against the Red Sox (day before) and Cubs (day after). I think it's safe to say the tradition's going to continue.
- Just like this year, Interleague Play is spread throughout the season. Except the Yankees won't play an Interleague game after July 20. And, outside of the April 15-16 series with the Cubs and that series with the Reds from July 18-20, they play them all (including all 10 road games) within a three-week span in May. They'll play 12 straight from May 19-21, play for against the White Sox in Chicago, then go to St. Louis. In other words, a Yankee pitcher won't have to hit after May 28.
- They only have 10 home games in the entire month of May and play 17 of 22 on the road (although, in fairness, two of those are in Citi Field) from May 5-28, with 10 of those 17 coming against National League teams.
- They play 17 of their 26 September games at Yankee Stadium, including an eight-game homestand against Toronto and Baltimore before ending the season at Fenway, which I think might be some sort of rule (they either have to begin or end against the Red Sox every year).
- That September schedule also includes a span of 20 consecutive games to end the season after their last off day on September 8.
- Instead of one long West Coast trip like they had this year (they actually had two, since they played the Dodgers and Padres on the road in Interleague), they go to Anaheim separately from May 5-7 before playing Seattle and Oakland back-to-back from June 10-15.
- They don't play the Blue Jays at home until the middle of June and don't go to Baltimore until the final series before the All-Star Break.
- Longest homestand=10 games (vs. Cincinnati/Texas/Toronto, July 18-27); longest road trip=11 games (at Minnesota/Cleveland/Baltimore, July 3-13).
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