Royals, MLB unveil historic 2023 schedule
For the first time in Major League Baseball history all 30 teams will play each other in a season.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - For the first time in Major League Baseball history all 30 teams will play each other in a season. The Kansas City Royals and MLB unveiled their 2023 schedules Wednesday afternoon.
A new scheduling formula by MLB negotiated during the latest collective bargaining agreement cut down on divisional games and increased Interleague matchups in an effort to showcase stars from around the league to fanbases and markets they would rarely otherwise visit.
The schedule changes will bring more National League stars to Kauffman Stadium more frequently. Fans hoping to see more visits from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and New York Mets in Kansas City will now get to see that happen once every two years rather than every six seasons.
Kansas City will open its season at Kauffman Stadium with a home series against the Minnesota Twins. The Royals will take on the Twins -- and all other American League Central opponents -- 13 times in 2023. In order to create more Interleague games, MLB decreased the number of divisional matchups from 19 per season to 13.
Major League Baseball recently shifted its playoff setup to six bids per league -- three division winners and three wild cards. Because of that change, the league made changes to balance the schedule in hopes of avoiding teams in stronger divisions from being penalized with extra divisional games.
In total, the new schedule format brings these changes:
- 52 divisional games (previously 76)
- 64 other intraleague games (previously 66)
- 46 interleague games (previously 20)
- Each team will play one four-game home-and-home series against their geographic interleague rival -- for example, Royals and St. Louis Cardinals -- plus one three-game series against the other 14 teams in the other league.
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