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LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers have gone through the first 41 games of the season playing only National League teams, the only major league team that hasn’t played an interleague game in 2023. They will make up for lost time over the next month and a half.
First up is the Twins, coming to Dodger Stadium for three games beginning Monday night. The Dodgers will play the Rays in St. Petersburg during Memorial Day weekend (including a literal morning game), then host the Yankees in the first weekend in June (with two nationally televised games).
Before the All-Star break, the Dodgers will also host the White Sox, Astros, and Angels, and make trips to play the Angels and Royals. After no interleague games in the first 41 games, the Dodgers play American League teams 22 times in their next 48 games.
Dodgers interleague games before All-Star break
| Dates | Opponent |
|---|---|
| Dates | Opponent |
| May 15-17 | Twins |
| May 26-28 | at Rays |
| June 2-4 | Yankees |
| June 13-15 | White Sox |
| June 20-21 | at Angels* |
| June 23-25 | Astros |
| Jun 30-Jul 2 | at Royals |
| July 7-8 | Angels* |
That’s all part of the new MLB schedule, with every team playing all 29 other teams each season.
“On the coaching side, there’s more travel, there’s more preparation, but that’s our jobs,” manager Dave Roberts said. “From the fan perspective, I think it’s fantastic. I think it’s good. Playing a division opponent 18-19 times gets a little redundant.”
Playing all 15 teams in the other league means many more interleague games, up from 20 games to 46. Almost all of that trade off is from games within the same division, down from 76 games to 52.
“A lot of times, baseball has been skewed, whether it’s a strong division or weaker division, and you get a lot of games,” Roberts added. “It kind of gives a false sense of what a particular ball club is. But now, there’s more consistency, which I think is good.”
Teams play their divisional foes 13 times each instead of 19, which means four series instead of six. The Dodgers are already roughly half-done with both the Padres and Diamondbacks, and only play two more series against the National League West through the end of August.
I’m not sure how the schedule is MLB-wide, but for the Dodgers, nearly all of their divisional games are concentrated in the first two months and the last two months.
But for the next 10 weeks, the Dodgers will play American League teams nearly as often (22 games) as they play National League foes (26).
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