Five things you need to know about the 2019 MLB schedule

You won’t have to wait as long for baseball this offseason. Major League Baseball announced the 2019 schedule Wednesday, and games will begin a week earlier than they did in 2018.

Those games won’t open in the United States. The Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics will play a two-game series in Japan on March 20 and March 21.

Unless you’re an extreme fan, we don’t expect you to dig through the entire 2019 season schedule. Thanks to us, you won’t have to do that. Below, we’ve compiled five things you need to know about the 2019 MLB season.

Opening day of the 2019 MLB season features every team

After the series in Japan, MLB will hold its opening day March 28. The league is following suit from 2018, meaning all 30 teams will play a game that day. That’s how it used to be done in the past. Opening day will take place on a Thursday in 2019, so clear your work schedule now.

The 2019 MLB season will be the earliest opening day on record

Going off what MLB deems as opening day, this will be the earliest the league has ever held the event. It’s not by much. The previous record for earliest opening day came in 2018, when regular season play began March 29. The 2019 MLB season will beat that by a day. Still, anything that makes the offseason shorter is fine with us.

The 2019 MLB season is going to Europe

The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will play a two-game series in London on June 29 and June 30. It will mark the first time major-league games will be played in Europe. The teams will play in London Stadium.

Albert Pujols is going back to St. Louis for the first time

Albert Pujols hasn’t played in St. Louis at all since he left via free agency after the 2011 season. That should change in 2019. The Los Angeles Angels will visit Busch Stadium to play the St. Louis Cardinals on June 21-23. Those games will mark the first time Pujols has returned to St. Louis as an opposing player. We’re sure the Cardinals will find a way to celebrate his return.

The 2019 MLB draft might be a bigger deal

MLB has only scheduled three games on June 3. That happens to be the first day of the 2019 MLB draft. In 2017, MLB held nine games on the first day of the draft. That number dropped to five in 2018. With the league again shrinking down the number of games, that could signal that it is trying to make the MLB draft a must-watch event.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik

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