Dodgers 2016 schedule highlights, Opening Day, interleague play & more

LOS ANGELES -- Major League Baseball released its tentative schedule for 2016 on Tuesday, and the Dodgers are slated to open next season in San Diego with three games against the Padres at Petco Park. This will be the fourth time the Dodgers open their season in San Diego, having done so in 1973, 2009 and 2012.

Opening Day is Monday, Apr. 4, with the Dodgers playing the Padres for three games, then traveling to San Francisco for four games against the Giants in the first week of the season.

Actually, there will be an ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game on April 3, but that matchup hasn't yet been decided. For now, 13 games are scheduled for Monday, Apr. 4.

The Dodgers home opener is Tuesday, Apr. 12, starting a three-game series against the Diamondbacks. The Dodgers' opening homestand is six games, concluding with a three-game weekend series against the Giants.

That opening homestand includes Jackie Robinson Day at home, starting the Giants series on Friday, April 15.

The season ends on Sunday, Oct. 2, with the Dodgers finishing up a three-game series against the Giants in San Francisco. The Dodgers end the season on a six-game road trip that takes them to San Diego and San Francisco.

The Dodgers battle the American League East in interleague play in 2016. They do have a pair of back-to-back two-game series against the rival Angels, with two games at Dodger Stadium on May 16-17 and two in Anaheim on May 18-19.

The Dodgers have a home-and-home with the Rays, with two games in Tampa Bay on May 3-4 and two at Dodger Stadium on July 26-27.

The rest of the interleague slate consists of three-game series, against the Blue Jays in Toronto from May 6-8, against the Orioles in Los Angeles from July 4-6, against the Red Sox at Dodger Stadium from Aug. 5-7, then against the Yankees in New York from Sept. 12-14, the latest interleague series the Dodgers will have ever played.

The 2016 All-Star Game will be played at Petco Park on Tuesday, July 12.