On 6 November 2022, the Houston Astros defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 4–1 at Minute Maid Park, and in the process, secured their second World Series Championship. After a long 4 months of anticipation, baseball fans are itching to get back into the ballpark, but they won’t have to wait long – just over a week from today, MLB returns for another season!
In 2023, MLB Opening Day will take place on Thursday 30 March, and for the first time in decades, all 30 teams will be in action. While excitement will be high across the league, interesting encounters to look out for include the San Francisco Giants’ visit to Yankee Stadium to play the New York Yankees, and the Philadelphia Phillies’ trip to Globe Life Field for a game against the Texas Rangers.
While most facets of the game will remain familiar to baseball fans this year, MLB has introduced a number of new rules and regulations to help improve fan enjoyment and player safety in 2023. For example, a pitch timer will be employed to improve the pace of the game, restrictions on defensive formations aim to create a fairer environment for batters, and larger bases will be in use to help avoid collisions.
Similarly, the MLB schedule will also look different this year. As part of an initiative to balance each team’s strength of schedule (and thus ensure that some teams don't benefit from playing ‘easier’ opponents more often) all 30 MLB teams will play one another at some point in the season for the very first time. A team’s full schedule will be structured as follows: 13 games against each division opponent (e.g. for the New York Yankees, these would be games against the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, & Tampa Bay Rays); 64 intraleague games v teams within the same league (AL v AL/NL v NL); and 46 interleague games v opponents outside of a team's league (AL v NL).
With such a long season ahead, and so many potential twists and turns upon the way, it's hard to predict a favourite for the 2023 World Series, but the Houston Astros are likely to be major contenders following last year’s triumph. On the East Coast, the 2022 NL Champion Philadelphia Phillies will hope to make it back to the World Series this year, while the Aaron-Judge-led New York Yankees have their sights set on 2023 being the year they return to the Fall Classic after a 14-year absence.
Of course, a talented Los Angeles Dodgers roster will have something to say about the way things shake out in October, or it could even be the year that a young Seattle Mariners team comes of age and earns the franchise its first World Series. Only time will tell, but for now, fans can enjoy the fact that baseball is (very nearly) back!
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