Checking in on the 2017 Atlanta Braves Schedule

Yesterday, Major League Baseball rolled out the 2017 schedule for all 30 teams.  There are some interesting things that could be of some benefit to the Braves – certainly more so than what the 2016 schedule provided.

Believe it or not, 2017 marks the 20th season of regular-season inter-league play.  And like it or not (I do not, for the record), it’s here to stay.  In fact, with 15-team leagues, it is basically a requirement unless you want at least two teams sitting around to do nothing each and every day of the year.

Otherwise, 2017 will mark the opening of SunTrust Park, and it seems that MLB gave the Atlanta Braves a little more time to get the facility ready – just in case.  The season technically opens on Sunday, April 2nd, but the Braves home opener doesn’t happen until Friday, April 14.

There is a preview event scheduled for March 31st when the Yankees come to town and Brian McCann can show off his restored facial hair to his old teammates – KIDDING!.

But with all that said, let’s look at some of the highlights of the schedule from Atlanta’s perspective.

Openers

There will be a lot of standing around on foul lines as Atlanta helps the Mets, Pirates, and Marlins all start their home campaigns – before they finally get their own home opener on April 14th.

Atlanta opens at CitiField on Monday, April 3rd against the Mets – probably with an early afternoon game, but the time has not been announced yet.

After a day off (to allow for rain or snow on the 3rd), the Braves get the Mets twice more before going to Pittsburgh.  From there, it’s another off-day before going to Miami for a pair… and then another off-day.

Honestly, I think this start should benefit the Braves quite a bit:  3 off-days in the first week-and-a-half of the year, and all of that on the road when the rigors of travel should be less of a hassle than in the middle of Summer, for instance.  So that gets 8 road games out of the way early… and more early trips are coming.

West Coast Swings

I always watch for these, especially since the Braves tend to do very badly in the Pacific Time Zone.  It’s a bit magnified this year, though, since the inter-league matchup requires the NL East to face the members of the AL West.  So there’s an extra long trip out West for the upcoming season.

It is hard to handicap how good teams might be next year.  Anything can happen.  But when looking at the AL West, you’d have to think that Oakland and the Angels are going to struggle, so facing them in their home parks might not be awful.  It might not be a bad schedule, then, with 2-city trips for the most part.  We’ll look at that July excursion a bit more as we go along here.

April

In total, Atlanta only has 7 games at home in April.   While this might be a little annoying, I’ll suggest again that it’s a great thing to get road games done early.  If there’s any chance of this team actually competing for a playoff spot in 2017, this arrangement might seriously help that cause.

Opponents:

• ROAD – Mets, Pirates, Marlins
• HOME – Padres, Nationals
• ROAD – Phillies, Mets, Brewers
• Off-days – 3 during first road trip; one thereafter (24th; during 2nd road trip)
• Streaks:  10 games in a row; end of month has 6 straight followed by 7 more in May.

May

Finally, the Braves get to really break-in the new digs. And they start with the Mets… again.  This will be the third series against them… before the first month of the year is done.

16 home games in the month of May.  Of note is that the Toronto Blue Jays are on the schedule.  For every year I can recall (too lazy to do the homework), the Boston Red Sox have been added as the “natural inter-league rivalry” series for Atlanta.  This year it will be Toronto… which makes zero sense, but … whatever.

I do see that the stupid 2-and-2 home-and-home series is still a “thing” with that natural rival:  2 games in Toronto backed up by two games vs. the Jays in Atlanta… er, Cobb County.  Okay.

Opponents:

• HOME:  Mets, Cards
• ROAD:   Astros (2 games), Marlins, Blue Jays (2 games)
• HOME:  Blue Jays (2 games), Nationals, Pirates
• ROAD:  Giants, Angels
• Off-days:  2 on either side of that exhausting 2-game set against the Astros.  None otherwise.
• Streaks:  Finish a 13-games string on May 7; 20 in a row to complete the month.

June

Finally – an off-day on June 1st.  But that’s still in the midst of a road trip coming in from the West Coast, so it’s actually almost mandatory to do so… never mind the 20-game string.  If there’s a run in this schedule that might wear the team out, it’s this one right here.

After that, there’s a lot of home-cookin’ going on for the rest of the month – 17 games at SunTrust with 10 on the road (all 17 being in a 20-game stretch).  This includes… the Mets, for a change:  the fourth meeting of the season.

Opponents:

• ROAD:  Reds
• HOME: Phillies, Mets
• ROAD:  Nationals (yes, a 3 game road trip)
• HOME:  Marlins, Giants, Brewers
• ROAD:   Padres, Athletics
• Off-days:  June 1, 15, 26.  The last allows for leisurely travel to San Diego.
• Streaks:  13 games, then 10

Next: The Half-Way Point