Guardians Baseball Insider

One of the positives t a 60-game season? It makes playing the schedule game much more realistic. 

Major League Baseball announced the 2020 schedule Monday night, and the Indians will open up the campaign with the Kansas City Royals on Friday, July 24 at Progressive Field at 7:10 p.m. ET. 

The Tribe will not ease its way into the season, with 17 straight games before they play an off day, President Chris Antonetti announced Friday. 

Here are five instant takeaways: 

1. With the AL and NL divisions intersecting for play, that means the Indians will see a mix of Central opponents. The unique highlight to that? A rematch of the 2016 World Series as the Indians and Cubs will meet four teams. The Indians will play games 18 and 19 against the Cubs at home before visiting Chicago in the home stretch. 

2. The Indians have to go to Minnesota twice, and only host the Twins once. Plus, the total of games at Target Field is seven, compared to just three at Progressive Field. Cleveland visits the reigning AL Central champions for four games as their third series of the season. The two teams do not meet again until the second half of the season. 

3. Is it the year for the White Sox to contend in the AL Central? The Indians will find that out quickly, hosting Chicago for three games in their second series of the year, then visiting the White Sox for three after the series in Minnesota and a home-and-home with the Reds. The Tribe’s second-to-last series of the season will be a four-gamer against the White Sox. That could prove to be crucial. 

4. Cleveland closes the first half of the season with a very manageable stretch – at the Tigers for three, at the Pirates for three and home to the Tigers for another trio of games. For what it’s worth, the Indians will play the Pirates six times, with Pittsburgh coming to Progressive Field for the final series of the season. 
   
5. The Indians will play the Reds four times, with the games split up between cities. Besides the Pirates for six games, the Tribe has the Cubs for the four-game home-and-home set, and the Indians will visit the Cardinals but host the Brewers.