ST. LOUIS -- A season-opening home series against the Cubs and Interleague matchups against the American League East highlight the Cardinals' 2017 schedule, which was released on Wednesday. This will mark the first time since '11 that the Cards will begin the season at Busch Stadium.
That Opening Week will feature series against the Cubs (April 3-6) and Reds (April 7-9). The April 3 season opener has a scheduled start time of 3:15 p.m. CT, though the game is a likely candidate to be considered for ESPN's national broadcast one night earlier. Each of the past two seasons, the Cardinals have had their season opener bumped back to Sunday for telecast purposes.
• Cardinals' 2017 schedule
An opening-series matchup between the Cubs and Cards in St. Louis hasn't happened since 2000.
The Interleague portion of the schedule features visits to New York (April 14-16), Kansas City (Aug. 7-8), Baltimore (June 16-18) and Boston (Aug. 15-16). The Red Sox (May 16-17) and Royals (Aug. 9-10) will also visit Busch Stadium as part of home-and-home two-game series. The Cardinals have not faced the Yankees in New York since 2003, nor have they been back to Boston since the Red Sox defeated them in the 2013 World Series.
The Blue Jays (April 25-27) and Rays (Aug. 25-27) will travel to Busch Stadium for those Interleague matchups.
The Cardinals' schedule is home-heavy early, with 50 of the team's 81 home games to be played before the All-Star break. The club has four three-city road trips scheduled after that. The St. Louis will end the year at home with series against division opponents Chicago (Sept. 25-28) and Milwaukee (Sept. 29-Oct. 1).
The schedule includes a pair of holiday home dates -- Memorial Day (May 29) against the Dodgers and Independence Day against the Marlins -- and a total of 13 weekend series.
The Cardinals will announce ticket information for the 2017 season at a later date.