Sport Baseball Number of games 162 | Dates 2 Apr 2017 – 1 Oct 2017 Number of teams 30 | |
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Duration April 2, 2017 – October 1, 2017 Similar 2016 Major League Baseball, 2015 Major League Baseball, 2014 Major League Baseball, 2013 Major League Baseball, 2011 Major League Baseball | ||
The 2017 Major League Baseball season will be the 117th season of Major League Baseball in the modern era. The schedule was released on September 14, 2016. The 2017 season's April 2 Opening Day will feature three games, including the 2016 World Series champions Chicago Cubs facing off against the St. Louis Cardinals, which will be ESPN's first Sunday Night Baseball game of the year. The regular season will end on October 1. The postseason will begin on October 3.
Contents
- Schedule
- Wholesale changes
- Alternate changes
- Spring Training changes
- Anniversaries and special events
- Venues
- United States
- Local
- National
- Retired numbers
- References
The 88th Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be held on July 11 at Marlins Park, the home of the Miami Marlins. Additionally, for the first time since 2002, the All Star Game will not determine home field advantage for the World Series. Instead, home field advantage will be awarded to the team with the better regular season record. The 2017 World Series is set to begin October 24 and a potential Game 7 is scheduled for November 1.
The 2017 Major League Baseball draft will begin on June 12.
Schedule
As has been the case since 2013, all teams will play their four division opponents 19 times each for a total of 76 games. They will play six or seven games against each of the other 10 same-league opponents for a total of 66 games, and 20 inter-league games. The primary inter-league match-ups are AL East vs. NL Central, AL Central vs. NL West, and AL West vs. NL East. Teams will also play four games against a designated interleague rival.
Wholesale changes
The Arizona Diamondbacks tweaked their uniform set that was unveiled last season. The pant stripes now reach to the hip, while the gradient below was removed. The road uniform lettering is also changed to improve visibility.
The San Diego Padres unveiled new home and road uniforms, with noticeable changes such as the team name and the removal of yellow on the home uniforms, the bowtie-shaped lettering in the city name on the road uniforms, and the interlocking "SD" on both uniforms.
Alternate changes
The Kansas City Royals unveiled an updated version of their gold-trimmed white uniform, featuring gold numbers and blue lettering. It will be paired with a blue cap featuring the gold 'KC' lettering, and will be worn on Friday home games.
The Washington Nationals unveiled a white alternate uniform featuring the 'curly W' logo in a Stars and Stripes design. It will be paired with two caps featuring the 'curly W' Stars and Stripes design: a navy cap with red brim, and a red cap with navy brim. The uniforms will be worn during patriotic-themed day games.
Coinciding with Canada's 150th anniversary, the Toronto Blue Jays unveiled a red alternate uniform featuring a monochrome red rendition of the team's logo, complete with red belts, socks and cleats, and a red cap featuring the maple leaf logo. It will be worn on Sunday home games and select other games in the month of July.
The Cleveland Indians retired their cream alternate uniforms. The red caps that were formerly paired with the cream uniforms will now be worn with the navy alternates at select home games.
Spring Training changes
All Spring Training uniforms in 2017 will feature a pattern on the names and numbers. The pattern is the same for all 30 teams. In addition, seven teams unveiled new caps to be worn for Spring Training. The New York Yankees introduced a home cap with a pinstripe visor and a road cap with a grey crown and a navy visor. The Seattle Mariners replaced their compass logo with an 'M'-shaped trident. The Chicago Cubs added an alternate cap featuring an "angry cub" logo. The Atlanta Braves added a solid navy cap with a tomahawk. Tampa Bay Rays added a powder blue cap with a white front panel, featuring their starburst logo. Cleveland Indians changed the front panel of their cap from white to red. The New York Mets replaced the "Mr. Met" logo with their "NY" logo.
Anniversaries and special events
The following teams will wear commemorative patches for special occasions
Venues
This will be the Atlanta Braves first season at SunTrust Park in Cumberland, Georgia. It succeeds Turner Field as the Braves home ballpark. The first game at SunTrust Park will be on April 14, 2017 against the San Diego Padres.
There were plans to host some games at Olympic Stadium in London, England during the season but the plans were dropped after a lack of time for negotiations.
United States
This will be the fourth year of the current eight-year deals with Fox Sports, ESPN and TBS. Fox will air eight weeks of baseball on Saturday Night leading up to the 2017 Major League Baseball All-Star Game which will also air on Fox. Fox will then televise Saturday afternoon games for the last four weeks of the regular season. Fox Sports 1 will televise games on Tuesday nights and on Saturdays both during the afternoon and night. ESPN will televise games on its flagship telecast Sunday Night Baseball, as well as Monday and Wednesday nights. TBS will televise Sunday afternoon games for the last 13 weeks of the regular season. Fox and ESPN Sunday Night Baseball telecasts will be exclusive; all other national telecasts will be subject to local blackout.
TBS will televise the National League Wild Card Game, Division Series, and Championship Series. ESPN will televise the American League Wild Card, Fox Sports 1 and MLB Network will televise the American League Division Series, and Fox and Fox Sports 1 will televise the American League Championship Series. The World Series will air exclusively on Fox for the 18th consecutive year.
Local
Philadelphia radio station 94.1 WIP-FM renewed its contract with the Philadelphia Phillies for the 2017 season.
National
ESPN Radio will air its 20th season of national coverage, including Sunday Night Games, Saturday games, Opening Day and holiday games, the All–Star Game, and Home Run Derby, and the entire postseason.