Cards get Field of Dreams tilt on new schedule
Anne Rogers
@anne__rogersST. LOUIS -- Highlighted by an Opening Day at home and a trip to Dyersville, Iowa, to play at the Field of Dreams, the Cardinals unveiled their 60-game regular-season schedule on Monday.
In a rare Opening Day at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals are scheduled to host the Pirates on July 24 at 7:15 p.m. CT to begin the season and a three-game homestand. From there, the Cardinals go to Minneapolis for two games against the Twins and then Milwaukee for a three-game series against the Brewers. St. Louis is scheduled to host the Brewers to end the regular season.
The schedule consists of 40 games against National League Central teams (10 games against each) and 20 games against opponents from the American League Central. That realignment is intended to minimize travel and was one of the changes instituted to protect players and staff as much as possible from COVID-19.
¡°Nothing¡¯s normal about this year,¡± president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. ¡°But in terms of a 60-game schedule and how you¡¯re thinking about game strategy, at least we know who to focus on and where to allocate resources.¡±
The Cardinals do not plan on opening the season with fans in the stands, but they want to remain in discussion with the city of St. Louis about having some fans later in the season in accordance with city policies on social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic.
In their division, the Cardinals are scheduled to play the Cubs seven times at Wrigley Field and just three times in St. Louis, Aug. 7-9. The Cardinals also go to Milwaukee twice, while the Brewers visit Busch Stadium once. The Cardinals host the Reds seven times, while playing only three games at Great American Ball Park.
On Aug. 13, the Cardinals play the White Sox at the ¡°Field of Dreams¡± movie site, replacing the Yankees, who were scheduled for the matchup on the original 162-game slate. Construction on a new ballpark -- including a cornfield path to get to the park and windows on the right-field wall to show the cornfields -- has been ongoing this summer. The stadium is large enough to seat 8,000, but it¡¯s to be determined whether fans will be able to attend.
The Cardinals have become more active recently in wanting to play in games that are at nontraditional sites. They played the Reds in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2019 and were scheduled to play the Cubs in the 2020 London Series before the event was canceled.
In more Interleague Play, former Cardinals manager Mike Matheny will return to Busch Stadium with the Royals from Aug. 25-27.
The Cardinals have two off-days in the first full week of the season and three in August and September. Another change this season is that active rosters are set at 30 for the first two weeks of the season, 28 for the following two weeks and at 26 two weeks after that for the remainder of the season.