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Royals announce 2023 regular season schedule

Local Sports MLB

In conjunction with Major League Baseball, the Kansas City Royals today announced their 2023 regular season schedule. All games times will be announced at a later date.

Opening Day is scheduled for Thursday, March 30 at Kauffman Stadium vs. the Minnesota Twins. This will mark the seventh time in nine years dating back to 2015 that the Royals will open the season at home. The 2023 season will mark the fifth time in 55 years that the Royals will begin a season vs. the Twins, and the first time since 2017, when they opened the season at Minnesota.

The Royals will also end the regular season at home with a three-game series vs. the New York Yankees from Sept. 29-Oct. 1, marking the seventh time in eight seasons since 2016 that the Royals will end the year at Kauffman Stadium. 

For the first time since Interleague play was introduced in 1997, Major League Baseball has adopted a balanced schedule starting in 2023, in which the Royals will play all other 29 teams. Kansas City’s 162-game schedule will include:

52 games vs. American League Central teams (13 games across 4 series vs. all 4 opponents)

64 league games vs. American League East and West teams (6-7 games vs. each opponent)

46 Interleague games (4 games vs. St. Louis and 3 games vs. all other NL teams)

The breakdown of divisional games will include seven home games and six road games vs. Chicago and Detroit, and six home games and seven road games vs. Cleveland and Minnesota.

Of the 10 teams who play in the American League East and American League West, the Royals will play four of those opponents seven times and will play six of those teams six times.

The Royals will play their intra-state rival St. Louis Cardinals in two games at Busch Stadium from May 29-30 and will host the Cardinals at Kauffman Stadium for two games from Aug. 11-12. The Royals will play exactly three games vs. each of the other 14 National League teams, including seven three-game home series and seven three-game road series.

The seven Interleague matchups (excluding St. Louis) to be hosted at Kauffman Stadium will include three games vs. Atlanta (April 14-16), Washington (May 26-28), Colorado (June 2-4), Cincinnati (June 12-14), Los Angeles (June 30-July 2), New York (Aug. 1-3) and Pittsburgh (Aug. 28-30).

In addition to St. Louis, the Royals will travel to seven National League ballparks, including at San Francisco (April 7-9), Arizona (April 24-26), Milwaukee (May 12-14), San Diego (May 15-17), Miami (June 5-7), Philadelphia (Aug. 4-6) and Chicago (Aug. 18-20).

Following their two-game set at Busch Stadium from May 29-30, the Royals are scheduled for back-to-back off days on May 31-June 1, before beginning a three-game homestand vs. Colorado. This will mark the first time that the Royals will have scheduled back-to-back off days since April 6-7, 2016.

After a two-game series at Kauffman Stadium vs. the Cardinals from Aug. 11-12, the Royals will enjoy a scheduled off day on Sunday, Aug. 13. This will mark the first known originally scheduled off day on a Sunday in Royals history.

Kansas City’s holiday schedule will see the Royals host the Angels on Father’s Day (June 18). The Royals will travel to San Francisco for Easter Sunday (April 9), to Milwaukee for Mother’s Day (May 14), to St. Louis for Memorial Day (May 29) and to Minnesota for Independence Day (July 4). The Royals are scheduled off on Labor Day (Sept. 4).

The Royals will be in Kansas City on Jackie Robinson Day, which is Saturday, April 15, to host the Braves. The Royals will host Colorado on Friday, June 2 as the league celebrates its third annual Lou Gehrig Day, and they will play host to Houston on Friday, Sept. 15, which is Roberto Clemente Day.

The All-Star break will run from July 10-13 and will include the 93rd Major League Baseball All-Star Game to be played on Tuesday, July 11 at T-Mobile Park, home of the Seattle Mariners.

Kansas City will host a season-high 10-game homestand from May 2-11 vs. Baltimore (3 games), Oakland (3) and the White Sox (4).

The Royals are scheduled for a trio of three-city road trips, including 10 games in 10 days from April 21-30 at the Angels (3 games), Arizona (3) and Minnesota (4). The Royals will play nine games in 10 days from May 12-21 at Milwaukee (3 games), San Diego (3) and at the White Sox (3), with an off day in Chicago. The Royals final three-city trip will take place from Aug. 18-27 and will include nine games in 10 days at Wrigley Field (3 games), Oakland (3) and Seattle (3) with an off day before the beginning of their series with the Mariners.

The Royals longest run of consecutive days played will stretch 16 days from May 2-17, which includes a 10-game homestand and the first six games of a nine-game trip.