Dodgers start 60-game MLB schedule on July 23 at home against the Giants

It’s 17 weeks later than originally planned, but we have a new start date for the Dodgers’ 2020 season. Opening day for the Dodgers will be Thursday, July 23, hosting the Giants at Dodger Stadium at 7 p.m. PT.

Dodgers-Giants is one of two games on July 23, along with Yankees-Nationals, both televised by ESPN. The rest of MLB opens on Friday, July 24. The Dodgers’ opener is part of a four-game weekend series, including nationally televised games on Saturday, July 25 (1 p.m.) on Fox, and Sunday, July 26 (7 p.m.) on ESPN.

“It’s nice to open up at home with a team you’re familiar with,” manager Dave Roberts said.

The 60-game schedule will involve teams playing the entire season in their own region. The Dodgers will only play National League West and American League West teams. Same goes for other divisions — central plays central, and east plays east.

The season keeps the same six divisions and the playoff format remains unchanged. Three division winners and the two next-best records as wild cards in each league will advance to the postseason. So in each league there will likely be teams fighting for wild card spots against teams they don’t even play.

The Dodgers play 40 total games against their four NL West opponents — 10 games against each team — and 20 games against the five teams in the American League West.

The interleague split for the Dodgers includes a pair of three-game series against their designated rival Angels, and 14 games against the other four AL West teams. They play a pair of two-game series against the Astros, including two games in Houston on their first road trip:

• Aug. 14-16 at Angels, Sept. 25-27 vs. Angels
• July 28-29 at Astros, Sept. 12-13 vs. Astros (the Sept. 12 game is nationally televised on Fox)
• Sept. 22-24 vs. A’s
• Aug. 17-18 vs. Mariners, Aug. 19-20 at Mariners
• Aug. 28-30 at Rangers

The Dodgers will also host three spring training exhibitions, two against the Diamondbacks on July 19-20, and one game against the Angels on July 21.

The Dodgers are scheduled to end their season with a six-game interleague homestand against the A’s and Angels, concluding on Sunday, September 27, meaning their schedule calls for them to play their 60 games in 67 days. While that may seem daunting, the original 2020 schedule had the Dodgers playing 59 games during that span.