MLB announces 2020 schedule; Mets open at home against the Braves

While baseball in 2020 is still far from a certainty given the coronavirus pandemic in America, Major League Baseball unveiled the 2020 schedule tonight in an hour-long special hosted by MLB Network.

The Mets will open their season on Friday, July 24, at Citi Field against the Braves in a game that will air on ESPN at 4:10pm EDT. Assuming all goes well health-wise, Jacob deGrom is on schedule to start Opening Day for New York. The Mets will also be featured on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball against Atlanta on July 26 at 7:08pm EDT.

The Mets, who fell three games shy of a postseason berth in 2019 after finishing with an 86-76 record, will have the toughest strength of schedule through August 6 based on teams’ records from last year. New York will open up playing three against Atlanta, followed by two and two against the Red Sox, before playing six on the road against the Braves (four) and the Nationals (two) prior to their first scheduled off-day.

The Mets also have a brutal end to their schedule, finishing the year with a 13-game stretch that features three in Philadelphia against the Phillies, three at home against the Braves and three at home against the Rays, before concluding with four in D.C. against the Nationals. As part of the schedule, each team will play 40 games against their division opponents, and then 20 interleague games against the teams in the corresponding American League division based on geography. In addition to their 40 divisional games, the Mets will play six against the Yankees (three home, three away), four against the Red Sox (two home, two away), four against the Orioles (two home, two away), three against the Rays at home, and three on the road against the Blue Jays.

The season was originally supposed to begin on March 26 with a home opener at Citi Field against the Nationals, but the league suspended its season indefinitely on March 12 due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States. The season was off for months before the owners and players tried fruitlessly to reach an agreement to return to play related to the league’s refusal to pay players their agreed-upon prorated salaries, which led to Commissioner Rob Manfred implementing a 60-game season to begin in late July.

The Mets shared an image with dates and times for all 60 games.