Rays open 2014 season at home on March 31

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.-The Tampa Bay Rays will open the 2014 season at Tropicana Field versus the Toronto Blue Jays at 4:10 p.m. on Monday, March 31, according to the Major League Baseball schedule released today. The schedule is subject to change. Game times for the remainder of the schedule will be released at a later date.

For the first time in club history, the Rays will host American League East rivals the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox for a combined total of five weekend series. The Red Sox will play three weekend series: May 23-25, July 25-27 and August 29-Setember 1. The Yankees scheduled weekend series at Tropicana Field are April 18-20 and August 15-17.

The Rays will play 20 interleague games including four against the Miami Marlins and 16 versus the five teams from the National League Central Division. The Rays will play the St. Louis Cardinals four times including two games at home, June 10-11, and two games at Busch Stadium, July 22-23. The Pittsburgh Pirates will visit Tropicana Field for the first time since 2003 and the Milwaukee Brewers for the first time since 2005. The Rays will make just their second visits to Chicago's Wrigley Field and Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park. The Rays only visit to Wrigley Field came in 2003 and their lone trip to Cincinnati was in 2005.

The Rays will play 19 games each against American League East rivals Yankees (10 home, 9 away), Red Sox (10 home, 9 away), Blue Jays (10 home, 9 away) and Baltimore Orioles (9 home, 10 away). They will also play seven games against the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, Houston Astros, Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Seattle Mariners. They have six games apiece with the Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals and Oakland A's. The Rays close out the 2014 regular season with a three-game series at Cleveland, September 26-28.

Season tickets for 2014 may be reserved by calling 888-FAN-RAYS or online at raysbaseball.com.