The Pittsburgh Pirates announced their 2018 schedule on Tuesday afternoon. It’s an early start next year, as the Pirates travel to Detroit to play the Tigers in the season opener on March 29th. After three games over four days, the Pirates head to PNC Park to take on the Minnesota Twins in the home opener on April 2nd. That’s a two-game series, followed by four more home games against the Cincinnati Reds. On April 9th, the Pirates will visit the Chicago Cubs for their home opener.
The Tigers, Twins, Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals all visit PNC Park as part of the interleague schedule. The Pirates travel to Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit and Minnesota as the road part of their interleague schedule.
The home schedule ends on September 23rd against the Milwaukee Brewers and the season schedule ends seven days later in Cincinnati. The All-Star game is on July 17th and the Pirates have a ten-game homestand leading into the break.
The overall schedule is four days longer than normal to give players some extra rest during the course of the season without getting rid of actual games. Spring Training will also be two days shorter starting this season, although the amount of games will likely stay the same. Both schedule changes were part of the last CBA.
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