The Diamondbacks Release 2021 Schedule

The team just issued the following press release:

D-BACKS ANNOUNCE 2021 SCHEDULE

Opening Day to take place April 1 at San Diego and home opener to be held at Chase Field on April 9 vs. Reds

PHOENIX – Major League Baseball announced the 2021 regular season schedule which will see the D-backs (@Dbacks @LosDbacks) open in San Diego for the second consecutive season, following this year’s July 24 opener. Arizona will play host to the Cincinnati Reds on April 9 in the home opener and will close out the season with a three-game homestand against the Colorado Rockies.

During the 2021 season, Arizona will host three weekend series against the Los Angeles Dodgers (June 18-20, July 30–Aug. 1 and Sept. 24-26) in addition to a weekend series against the Chicago Cubs immediately following the All-Star Break (July 16-18). The D-backs will be at home on several holidays including Memorial Day (May 31 vs. Mets), Father’s Day (June 20 vs. Dodgers), July 4^th (vs. Giants) and Labor Day weekend (vs. Mariners).

The 15-game Interleague schedule will see the D-backs host the Oakland A’s (April 12-13), Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (June 11-13) and Seattle Mariners (Sept. 3-5) while the team will travel to Oakland (June 8-9), Texas (July 27-28) and Houston (Sept. 17-19). The June series against the Angels will feature two-time MVP Mike Trout and will mark the first time 2018 American League Rookie of the Year, Shohei Ohtani, comes to Chase Field, as the Angels do not come to Arizona during the 60-game 2020 season.

To view the full schedule, visit dbacks.com/schedule.

QUICK ANALYSIS:

Home and Away by month:

Toughest Road Trips:

• The team will play 10 games in 12 days between April 14-25, (Nationals 4, Reds 3, Braves 3)
• They also have a 10 game road trip from August 20-29. (Rockies 3, Pirates 4, Phillies 4) That road trip comes in the middle of a stretch of 16 consecutive games without a day off
• They have a 9 game road trip September 9-19, that includes 2 off days, but also back to back series vs. the Dodgers and Astros.
• By contrast their longest home stand is only 9 games, and there is only one of those, from May 25 to June 2nd, (Giants 2, Cardinals 4, Mets 3)

Big crowds on Weekends and Holidays:

The team seems to be making out well with the big weekend series against the Dodgers and Cubs, as well as the four big Summer Holidays of Memorial Day, Father’s Day, July 4th, and Labor Day.

Tough Draw vs. AL West:

With the Astros and A’s considered to be strong teams, and the Rangers and Angels probably on equal footing, only the Mariners look like a “soft” inter league opponent

Making up Ground in September ?

Just 13 of their last 28 games in September are against division rivals. It seems like in the past that tended to skew more heavily towards divisional games. 6 of those are against the Dodgers however, so if they are within striking distance in September, they’ll have a chance to control their own destiny perhaps

Summary:

From first review it seems like the schedule is a potential boon for the team’s finances with all the big weekend and holiday home games, but from a competitive standpoint, it looks to be a tough, challenging schedule.

Also always there is the elephant in the room called Covid-19. Hopefully there will have been progress made in the country by February of next year in both controlling the virus spread, and rolling out an effective vaccine that will allow our lives and our sports to return to normal.