Mariners release 2013 tentative schedule
Sep 12, 2012, 9:59 AM | Updated: 10:29 am
By Shannon Drayer
The Mariners’ 2013 tentative schedule has been released. Once again their season opens in Oakland on April 1. The home opener will take place April 8 against Houston.
Big changes to the schedule include the addition of the Astros to the division and interleague play taking place throughout the year with games being played every day of the season. The Mariners will begin interleague play May 7-8 with two games in Pittsburgh. They will play a total of 20 interleague games from May to September. Home series will include two games against the Padres May 27 and May 28, two games against the Pirates June 25 and June 26, three games against the Cubs June 28-30 and three against the Brewers Aug. 9-11.
In addition to Pittsburgh, the Mariners will travel to San Diego, Cincinnati and St. Louis for interleague games.
Another big change is with the new alignment the Mariners will play one home and one road series against each of the AL East and AL Central teams. In years past, teams had two home or two away series against some non-division teams. Only traveling to non-division cities once per season will make things tougher if games are rained out. The option of making them up upon return will no longer exist. The Mariners ran into this problem in 2007 when four games were snowed out in Cleveland. Seattle ended up making three trips back to Cleveland on off days that year.
Challenges that I see in the schedule begin with the month of May where the team is home for a total of just nine days. The month starts with back-to-back trips beginning east in Toronto and New York and curiously enough the team will have four off days in a span of just 13 days.
The team will get a chance to settle in early with 16 games at home in April and 18 home games in June.
Once again the All-Star break will be four days (July 15-18) but it appears the fourth day will be a travel day for the Mariners, who will fly to Houston for a three-game set then return home to take on Cleveland and Minnesota.
The Mariners’ season will end at home with a game against Oakland Sept. 29.
The full schedule can be found on the Mariners’ website.
