Detroit Tigers 2016 Schedule Released: Highlights and Oddities
By Matt Snyder
Major League Baseball released the 2016 regular season schedule on Tuesday afternoon. Here are some of the highlights and oddities of the Detroit Tigers schedule:
- The Tigers will open the season on the road with a two-game series against the Miami Marlins. 26 teams will begin play on Monday, April 4, but the Tigers will have to wait until Tuesday, April 5 for their first game.
- The New York Yankees will be the Tigers’ opponents for the home opener on Friday, April 8. This will be New York’s only trip to Detroit in the regular season.
- The second week of the season will begin with a four-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates (split two home and two away), so six of the first nine games will come against National League opponents.
- Other home interleague opponents include the Philadelphia Philles (May 23-25), Miami Marlins (June 28-29), and New York Mets (August 5-7).
- The longest stretch of consecutive games without an off day is 17 which comes June 10-26 (ten road games then seven home games).
- The Tigers will play 17 road games and nine home games in the month of July. Those numbers are reversed to 19 home games and nine road games in the month of August.
- The Boston Red Sox make their only trip to Comerica Park in mid-August for a four-game series.
- 23 of September’s (and October’s) 29 games will come against division opponents. The Tigers will play the Indians seven times, the Royals six times, the Twins seven times, and the White Sox three times in the final month of the season.
- The Tigers will conclude their season with a three game road series against the Atlanta Braves (September 30 through October 2). The Braves are scheduled to begin play at SunTrust Park in 2017, so these will be the final regular season games played at Turner Field (originally built as Olympic Stadium for the 1996 Atlanta summer games).
The 2015 season hasn’t worked out as anyone had hoped, but 2016 will bring a brand-new season for the Detroit Tigers. There’s already a new general manager in charge of roster construction, and we could see a managerial change this offseason as well. With a few roster tweaks (namely in the pitching department), the Tigers could be back looking to compete for another division crown in 2016.
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