As the 2025 regular season winds down and playoff races are starting to heat up, Major League Baseball has released its full schedule for the 2026 regular season. Which means you can already start planning your 2026 road trips!
After two years of beginning the season internationally, MLB is bringing Opening Day back stateside with a standalone Opening Night game on Wednesday, March 25th, between the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. The rest of the teams will play the following day, March 26th, with a 14-game slate kicking off the earliest traditional Opening Day in MLB history. All 30 teams will be in action on Saturday, March 28th.
Opening Day Matchups
New York Yankees at San Francisco Giants (Wednesday, March 25)
Boston Red Sox at Cincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh Pirates at New York Mets
<We have no idea> Athletics at Toronto Blue Jays
Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles
Texas Rangers at Philadelphia Phillies
Kansas City Royals at Atlanta Braves
Colorado Rockies at Miami Marlins
Los Angeles Angels at Houston Astros
Washington Nationals at Chicago Cubs
Tampa Bay Rays at St. Louis Cardinals
Chicago White Sox at Milwaukee Brewers
Arizona Diamondbacks at Los Angeles Dodgers
Detroit Tigers at San Diego Padres
Cleveland Guardians at Seattle Mariners
Special Events
Mexico City series: the Diamondbacks and Padres will play a two-game set in Mexico City on April 25-26. (This has been widely reported in the press, but not officially announced by the teams or MLB, so make sure that any reservations you make can be canceled without penalty.)
Field of Dreams game: the Minnesota Twins will host the Philadelphia Phillies at the third-ever Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa. The specific date hasn’t been announced, but the Twins-Phillies series is scheduled to take place from August 14-16. The previous two games were both on Thursdays, so even though the schedule currently reflects Thursday, 8/13 as an off-day, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the game scheduled for that date, with the teams playing the rest of the series on Saturday and Sunday in Minneapolis. But it could also end up on Friday. So stay tuned.
Rivalry Weekend
Taking place from May 15-17, this weekend showcases 15 series between interleague or geographical rivals. Check out the full slate below.
New York Yankees at New York Mets (10 miles)
Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox (12 miles)
Los Angeles Dodgers at Los Angeles Angels (30 miles)
Baltimore Orioles at Washington Nationals (40 miles)
San Francisco Giants at <We have no idea> Athletics (85 miles)
Toronto Blue Jays at Detroit Tigers (230 miles)
Kansas City Royals at St. Louis Cardinals (240 miles)
Cincinnati Reds at Cleveland Guardians (250 miles)
Texas Rangers at Houston Astros (260 miles)
Miami Marlins at Tampa Bay Rays (265 miles, assuming it is played at Tropicana Field)
Philadelphia Phillies at Pittsburgh Pirates (309 miles)
Milwaukee Brewers at Minnesota Twins (335 miles)
Arizona Diamondbacks at Colorado Rockies (830 miles)
Boston Red Sox at Atlanta Braves (1100 miles)
San Diego Padres at Seattle Mariners (1300 miles)
Vegas Sneak Peek
Although the Athletics will continue to play their regular season games at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento until at least 2028, the A’s will face the Brewers and Rockies in back-to-back series at the Las Vegas Ballpark, the home of their Triple-A affiliate, the Las Vegas Aviators, from June 8-14 (average temperature … 105 degrees!). This will give the local fans a sneak peek at their future major league ballclub and is sure to be a *hot* ticket.
96th MLB All-Star Game
The 2026 MLB All-Star Game will be played in Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday, July 14th, with the Home Run Derby happening the day before. If you’re interested in going, you can already make hotel reservations. Check out our Lodging Guide to Citizens Bank Park.
World Cup schedule exceptions
With the World Cup coming to North America next summer, certain scheduling accommodations needed to be made in places where the soccer stadium shares a parking lot with an MLB ballpark. The good news is that we already know which weekends will provide an opportunity to see both baseball and the World Cup. The bad news is that hotels may already be booked (or really expensive), and if you just wanted to see baseball, this may make it a lot tougher.
Here’s how we know the World Cup will affect certain teams:
Texas Rangers
On Wednesday, June 17th, there will be a World Cup match at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. That means the Rangers’ three-game series against the Minnesota Twins will take place on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday (6/15, 6/16, 6/18).
On Friday, July 3rd, AT&T Stadium will host another game, so the Rangers’ three-game series against the Detroit Tigers will take place on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday (7/2, 7/4, and 7/5).
Kansas City Royals
On Saturday, June 20th, Arrowhead Stadium will host a World Cup match. So the Royals’ interleague/rivalry series against the Cardinals will take place on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday (6/18, 6/19, and 6/21).
On Friday, July 3rd, Arrowhead will host another match, but the Royals’ schedule won’t be directly affected in terms of series – they will complete a three-game run against the Rays on Thursday 7/2, be off on Friday 7/3 for the World Cup, and then resume their homestand with a three-day series against the Phillies.
Seattle Mariners
Lumen Field will host a World Cup match on Friday, 6/19. So they will play a doubleheader on Saturday, 6/20 against the Red Sox, and then play the third game of the series on Sunday, 6/21.
Lumen Field will host another match on Wednesday, July 1st, which will interrupt their three-game series against the Angels. That series will now take place on Monday 6/29, Tuesday 6/30, and Thursday 7/2, before the Mariners continue on with a three-game series against the Blue Jays.
Remembering September 11th
The MLB will observe the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks by having the Mets and Yankees play a three-game series from 9/11-9/13. This marks only the second time these two teams have played each other on this date since 2001.
Two games in one day
We know the fans in New York and Chicago are always looking for the crosstown or red line doubleheader opportunities. But … the times for these games haven’t been announced yet, so it’s too early to tell if these are true doubleheader opportunities, or just days when the two teams are both at home (but may be playing at the same time). But we’ll give you the early primer on this so you can keep an eye out (and, of course, we’ll update you as the schedules are finalized).
Yankee Stadium / Citi Field potential doubleheaders
From Apirl 7-9, the Yankees are at home against the A’s, and the Mets are at home against the D’Backs.
From August 25-30, the Yankees are at home against the Astros and Red Sox, and the Mets are at home against the Brewers and Astros. For Astros fans, this is a great opportunity to at least see their team play on consecutive days in each ballpark. And sports fans will also want to know that the US Open will be taking place in Flushing, with Fan Week running from August 24-30, with the main tournament starting on August 31.
No Wrigley Field / Rate Field Red Line doubleheaders this year
Known locally as the Red Line doubleheader (because both teams have stops on the Chicago subway system’s red line, meaning you can go from one ballpark to the other in less than 30 minutes without transferring), we sadly don’t see any days where the two teams will overlap at home in 2026.
Camden Yards / Nationals Park doubleheaders
The Nats and O’s will overlap from May 29-31, June 12-14, July 7-8, July 10-12, and July 24-26.
Dodger Stadium / Angel Stadium doubleheaders
The Dodgers and Angels are both at home from July 3-5, July 28-29, July 31-August 2, August 10-16, September 1-2, and September 18-20.
Other things to note
- Beginning in 2023, all teams were scheduled to play one series against every other team in the league, switching off between a home and away series each year. Teams will host the same interleague matchups that they did in the 2024 season.
- The Rays have not yet confirmed a return to Tropicana Field for 2026; however, their home/away split is much more balanced than 2025, when home games were front and backloaded to help avoid the summer heat. We can’t say anything for sure, but that suggests the league expects the team to return to their original home by the end of May at the latest. Roof repairs have already begun at the Trop.
There will be full 15-game slates on Jackie Robinson Day (4/15), Lou Gehrig Day (6/2), 4th of July, and Roberto Clemente Day (9/15).
Bottom Line
MLB always stipulates that this schedule release is tentative, and since there are no start times attached for any game, that’s certainly true. But for the most part, these early-release schedules tend to be 98% accurate in terms of where teams will be playing and when. Game times will certainly matter when it comes to planning travel, and there will be adjustments for things like the special event games and next year’s World Cup conflicts. But this is a great advance preview of where your team will be playing next year, and you can start making travel plans around these dates with a high degree of confidence. Just make sure any travel reservations you make are fully refundable, just in case the schedule changes in a way that conflicts with your plans.
