Dodgers 2021 schedule game times, notes & quirks

Major League Baseball announced game times for the 2021 schedule on Thursday, so let’s dig through some of the details of the Dodgers’ slate of games.

Opening day is Thursday, April 1 against the Rockies at Coors Field, which we’ve known for some time. The game is a 1:10 p.m. PT start and part of a quartet of games on ESPN that day, but it’s not an exclusive broadcast. SportsNet LA will televise the game as well, with Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser on the call.

For the full Dodgers schedule, click here.

The Dodgers are going back to regular 7:10 p.m. PT starts, with 52 of their 81 home games scheduled to start at that time, with fans presumably allowed back in Dodger Stadium at some point during the season. Last year the bulk of Dodgers home night games started at either 6:40 p.m. or 6:10 p.m.

Under the sun

The home opener is on Friday, April 9 against the Nationals at Dodger Stadium, a 1:10 p.m. PT start time that’s one of only two weekday day games at home this season.

Here are all the Dodgers’ weekday day games, including nine road games (all times PT):

• Wednesday, April 7, at Oakland: 12:37 p.m.
• Tuesday, April 20, at Seattle: 1:10 p.m.
• Wednesday, April 28, vs. Cincinnati: 1:10 p.m.
• Thursday, June 10, at Pittsburgh: 9:35 a.m.
• Thursday, July 8, at Miami: 9:10 a.m.
• Thursday, July 29, at San Francisco: 12:45 p.m.
• Thursday, August 12, at Philadelphia: 10:05 a.m.
• Monday, September 6, at St. Louis: 11:15 a.m.
• Thursday, September 9, at St. Louis: 10:15 a.m.
• Thursday, September 23, at Colorado, 12:10 p.m.

All of those weekday day games are getaway days, except for September 6 in St. Louis, which is Labor Day.

Interleague play

The Dodgers play the American League West for the second straight season. Here’s a breakdown of their 20 interleague games, including ending the season-opening road trip in Oakland:

• at Athletics, April 5-7
• at Mariners, April 19-20; vs. Mariners, May 11-12
• at Angels, May 7-9; vs. Angels, August 6-8
• at Astros, May 25-26, vs. Astros, August 3-4
• vs. Rangers, June 11-13

Breakfast baseball

I think my favorite quirk of the 2021 schedule is July 4, which falls on a Sunday in 2021. The Dodgers will finish up a four-game weekend road series against the Nationals, and because of the pending Independence Day celebration in Washington D.C., that game will start at 11 a.m. locally, a tradition that dates back to 2012.

That means an 8:05 a.m. game time back in Los Angeles, which means actually needing to set an alarm to watch a Major League Baseball game. What a time to be alive.