DETROIT (WXYZ) — The Detroit Tigers have unveiled the shortened 2020 schedule with their first game to be against the Cincinnati Reds on Friday, July 24 at 6:10 p.m.
Related: Fulmer back on mound during Tigers workouts at Comerica
The Tigers will play 10 games each against the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox.
There will also be 6 games against the Reds, 4 games each against the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals and 3 games each against the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates.
The entire schedule is below.
July 24-26 - at Cincinnati Reds
July 27-30 - Kansas City Royals
July 31 & Aug. 2 - Cincinnati Reds
Aug. 3-4 - St. Louis Cardinals
Aug. 5-6 - at St. Louis Cardinals
Aug. 7-9 - at Pittsburgh Pirates
Aug. 10-12 - Chicago White Sox
Aug. 14-16 - Cleveland Indians
Aug. 17-20 - at Chicago White Sox
Aug. 21-23 - at Cleveland Indians
Aug. 24-26 - Chicago Cubs
Aug. 27-30 - Minnesota Twins
Sept. 1-2 - at Milwaukee Brewers
Sept. 4-7 - at Minnesota Twins
Sept. 8-9 - Milwaukee Brewers
Sept. 11-13 - at Chicago White Sox
Sept. 15-16 - Kansas City Royals
Sept. 17-20 - Cleveland Indians
Sept. 22-23 - at Minnesota Twins
Sept. 24-27 - at Kansas City Royals
Who's ready for July 24? pic.twitter.com/ka5lKRTHc4
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) July 6, 2020
The season will officially kick off on July 23 with New York Yankees vs. Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers. The rest of the teams beginning July 24.
The announcement comes less than a week after the team began training camp at Comerica Park and after the league and the players union announced an agreement on a 60-game season last month.
The season will officially kick off on July 23 with the rest of the teams beginning July 24.
Each team will play 40 divisional games. 10 games over three series against each opponent with home and road games split into 7/3 or 6/4. There will also be 20 interleague games, 6 games against the natural interleague rival. Each team will have six days off after opening weekend through the end of the season on Sept. 27.
The Tigers and other MLB teams have strict protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s really different,” outfielder JaCoby Jones said. “It’s kind of weird actually, not being able to shake hands and just get close and talk to people and goof around. It was fun being back on the field and trying to get back in the groove, and just taking BP in Comerica again. I’m actually looking forward to taking some flyballs out there.”
Manager Ron Gardenhire didn’t want to talk much about the testing protocol, but he indicated some players were still going through the process of being cleared to participate.
“They’re still approving people that are eligible to play,” Gardenhire said. “Guys from Dominican, not being able to get in the country and flying down a little later than the other guys, so you’ve got to deal with a little bit of that, but that’s all part of it.”
Gardenhire credited quality control coach Josh Paul with helping plan the logistics. Teams have player pools of up to 60 members, which is a lot at a time when only one field is in use and staying spread out is important.
“That’s probably the toughest thing, 60 guys and trying to figure out all the logistics,” Gardenhire said. “The greatest thing about baseball is you can make adjustments on the fly. We got out there today, and it looked like it was running a little bit slow. We just don’t have the same number of people right now because of these tests. Next thing you know, guys instead of running into the cage, they hit on the field, and it got us off the field a little quicker.
