Major League Baseball 2013 season is scheduled to begin on March 31 and end on September
29.The opening match will be played on Sunday night between the Texas Rangers
and the Houston Astros. However most of the clubs open only onApril 1, a day
later.
The Houston
Astros', placed in the West Division, will play as a member of the American
League first time, in 2013 season.As the Astros' switched league, all six divisions
will have five teams each. This would entail inter-league games to be played
throughout the Major League season for the first time in MLB history.
Rules have under
gone some minor changes are to be implemented in this season. These changes
have been approved by MLB owners as on January 14, 2013. In the normal course
these amendments need the approval of the Unions of the Players, if they have
not been given due cognizance already.
Managers and Coaches
will be permitted to take interpreters along,when visiting the pitcher's mound,
forassisting the pitchers who are not well conversant in English.
This season
onwards the Teams will be allowed to have seven uniformed coaches in the
dugout, (6 -last season).
If a
right-handed pitcher, in pick off move, fakes to third base and throws to first
would be considered a balk (illegal pitching move). This change is likely to be
implemented for 2013 season pending union's approval. However, it was reported
that the owners opined that the players would approvesame.
Shifting the
Houston Astros' to the American League West resulted in creation of two 15-team
leagues each divided into three five-team divisions. Interleague games will be
played nearly every day during the season, as there is odd number of teams in
each league (except when not every team has a match). 2013 season, each team
will play 20 interleague games (gone up from 15-18 games) in eight series. Each
team will play one three-game series against four teams from one division in
the other league, and two two-game series (one home, one away) against the
remaining team in that division. The
remaining four games will be played against a team's "natural rival"
in two back-to-back two-game series. It will be the first season that every team
has an interleague rivalry.
The remaining
142 games will be played within the league. Each team will play its four
division rivals 19 games (15-18 in 2012) for a total of 76 games and either 6
or 7 games against the ten teams in the two other divisions in its league, for
a total of 66 games.
Apart from the natural
rivalries, teams of a particular division will play the same opponents for the
same number of games, approximately. The only variation occurs in interleague
match-ups (either 3 or 4 games) and same-league interdivision match-ups (either
6 or 7 games).