Dodgers schedule 2015: Details, road trips, interleague notes

The 2015 MLB schedule was released on Monday, and given a chance to look it over here are some things that stood out as notable about the Dodgers schedule to me:

The season will open with one ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game on April 5 (teams to be determined), but all 30 teams will play on Monday, April 6 (there were only 26 teams playing in 2014 on the full Opening Day for instance, with the Dodgers and Padres off one day after playing on ESPN).

There are off days in April, as usual, but the Dodgers will need a fifth starter by April 14, their eighth game of the season. Should they so choose, they could get by with one start by a fifth starter in their first 16 games.

Unlike 2014, the Dodgers are back home for Jackie Robinson Day, hosting Seattle on April 15.

The longest road trip of the season is 10 games, done three times: June 22 to July 1 in Chicago, Miami and Arizona; July 17-26 in Washington, Atlanta and New York; and Sep. 3-13 in San Diego, Anaheim and Arizona (the final trip with an off day mixed in).

There are two 10-game homestands: July 3-12 against New York, Philadelphia and Milwaukee; and Sep. 14-24 against Colorado, Pittsburgh and Arizona.

The Dodgers are scheduled to play games on 20 straight days - the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement - once, from June 12 to July 1, with 15 of those 20 games on the road.

From July 2 to Aug. 30, the Dodgers play no games against the National League West.

The Dodgers play the American League West in interleague play in 2015, which means the team's first trip to Texas since 2009. Texas comes to Dodger Stadium for the first time since 2001, while Seattle and Oakland come to Los Angeles for the first time since 2009.

The Dodgers and Angels play two three-game series against one another, and their Sep. 7-9 meeting in Anaheim is the latest in the season they will have met.

After nine straight seasons of playing the Cardinals in St. Louis shortly after the All-Star break, the trip to St. Louis in 2015 is from May 29-31.

Assuming Major League Baseball continues with the same postseason schedule format, Game 7 of the World Series would be scheduled for Nov. 5.