Press Release Major League Baseball
The first 2013 Spring Training exhibition game will be held on Thursday, February 21st in Fort Myers, Florida, where the Boston Red Sox will host Northeastern University, Major League Baseball announced today. Four games for charity, including one in the Grapefruit League and three in the Cactus League, will be played on Friday, February 22nd, and the first full slate of games involving all 30 Major League Clubs will take place on Saturday, February 23rd.
The teams competing in the San Juan, Puerto Rico pool (Pool C) and the Scottsdale/Phoenix, Arizona pool (Pool D) of the 2013 World Baseball Classic will participate in exhibition games against Major League Clubs on Tuesday, March 5th and Wednesday, March 6th. Teams representing the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Spain and Venezuela will each play two games at Grapefruit League sites, while teams from Canada, Italy, Mexico and the United States will each compete in two contests at Cactus League sites. In addition, the two Semi-Finalist teams to advance from the second round in Tokyo, Japan (Pool 1) will play two exhibition games at Cactus League sites on Thursday, March 14th and Friday, March 15th before heading to San Francisco for the Championship Round of the World Baseball Classic from Sunday, March 17th through Tuesday, March 19th.
Select exhibition games at Major League and Minor League ballparks will be played from Thursday, March 28th through Saturday, March 30th. The Houston Astros, playing their first season in the American League, will host the opening game of the 2013 regular season on Sunday, March 31st, when they welcome the Texas Rangers at 8:00 p.m. (ET) / 7:00 p.m. (CT) on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Twelve games are scheduled for Monday, April 1st and seven games are scheduled for Tuesday, April 2nd, with the first full slate of regular season games on Wednesday, April 3rd.
The complete 2013 Spring Training schedule, subject to change, follows.
