A new look at the Atlanta Braves 2020 schedule
Sometimes the early looks we have at a schedule don’t play out after a Winter of changes. The Atlanta Braves may have a couple of interesting months as a result.
The 2020 regular season schedule was released while teams were still in the heat of battling through their 2019 campaign. Even then, we knew that the Atlanta Braves might have things a bit tougher since the AL Central clubs would not be among the opponents.
Still, the AL West hasn’t been much to write home about lately, with only two teams above the .500 level… though both making the playoffs.
The Angels will clearly be better this season, as they look toward the return of Shohei Ohtani and the addition of old nemesis Anthony Rendon.
Perhaps Atlanta could load up a bit on left-handed starters for that series and then – maybe – only have to worry about… Mike Trout and Albert Pujols?
But let’s take a quick overview of the ebb and flow of this schedule to see where the rough spots might fall.
West Coast Trips
ONE: These are always a trick, but for the first time in recent memory Atlanta will begin its season out West with 6 games in Phoenix and San Diego starting on March 26.
Both of these clubs have tried to make improvements this season, though it’s hard to say how successful they’ve been.
TWO: A quick trip the San Francisco happens on May 15: 3 games there followed by a 4-spot in St. Louis.
THREE: The third excursion brings us to Seattle and Los Angeles for 5 games while straddling the May/June border. This comes sandwiched between two homestands of 6 and 9 games with plenty of off-days worked in between the travel. Not the worst we’ve seen.
FOUR: Because the AL West is the inter-league division of the the year, there is a 4th western adventure and that comes immediately after the All-Star break: Denver and Oakland with a day off in between.
After the Oakland 2-game tangle, the Braves have another off day as they glide all the way across the country to Washington for a weekend trio.
Given that it’s four trips, this truly isn’t bad: Atlanta gets to start the year out west, start up after the All-Star break out West, and then get both other trips out of the way in the first half of the season with adequate off-days.
On balance… that’s actually pretty good.
Let’s break it down month by month now…