Elephant Rumblings: Diving into the A’s balanced 2023 schedule

Happy Thursday, Athletics Nation!

Yesterday, MLB announced the 2023 schedules for all teams, and for the first time every single team will match up against each other in the regular season. A term that was added in this years CBA, the change to the schedule reduces each team’s intra-division games and ups the inter-league series they play.

What this means for the A’s is a lot less games against the Astros and Mariners, who should be leading the division again next year, and a lot more trips to the east coast. Some things remain as they were before: The Bay Bridge series continues as normal split across a pair of two game sets in July and August, there will be 52 games split between the rest of the AL West (down from 76), and a total of 46 inter-league games (up from 20).

While the A’s will have had at least one inter-league matchup with every team over the last few years in the old schedule format, the revamp allows for a guarantee that every team will make a trip to every stadium within a two year span. Take for instance Bob Melvin’s return to Oakland on September 15th. As pointed out by The Athletic’s Steve Berman, next season will be Padres’ the first trip to the Coli with BoMel at the helm.

Same goes for the NL Central, the Athletics haven’t played against any of those teams since 2019, and haven’t made a trip to Milwaukee or Cincinnati since 2016. American Family Field will get re-visited next year, and Great American Ballpark will follow in 2024.

There are some other key moments on the schedule for everyone, MLB has set all 30 teams to play on Opening Day, Jackie Robinson Day, Mother’s Day, Lou Gehrig Day, Father’s Day, July 4, Roberto Clemente Day, and the final three games of the year. This not only means that (barring weather delays) no teams will be wearing theme jerseys a day later than the rest of the league, but also that any close calls and tiebreakers at the end of the season will come down to the wire in a dramatic fashion.

Roster Moves, Transactions, and Injuries

• RHP Tyler Cyr claimed off waivers from Philadelphia

A’s Coverage

• Ashford: Game #125 A’s avoid sweep, beat Marlins 3-2 in finale
• Brener: Oakland A’s 2023 schedule released
• Kawahara: After Jesús Luzardo and Cole Irvin duel, A’s beat Marlins 3-2 in 10 innings ($)
• Gallegos: Logue learning, benefiting from Irvin’s tips
• McPherson: Jesus Luzardo’s strong start in Oakland return a reminder of why Marlins traded for him
• Kawahara: A’s to open 2023 season at home, host some high-profile NL opponents ($)
• Rodriguez: Everything to know about A’s 2023 schedule with new format

MLB News & Interest

• Castrovince: MLB schedule is out, and there’s a twist for ‘23
• Athletic MLB Staff: MLB unveils balanced schedule for 2023: One highlight for each of the 30 teams ($)
• Rogers: All 30 Major League Baseball teams to play one another in a season for first time in 2023
• Shoenfield: Albert Pujols to 700? A Triple Crown contender? Top 10 storylines to follow the rest of the season
• Drellich: Inside MLB’s Astros cheating investigation: GM Jeff Luhnow deleted phone data ($)
• AP: Viral baseball sensation Savannah Bananas leaving Coastal Plain League to go all-in on ‘Banana Ball’
• Today in Baseball History

Best of Twitter

More from Luzardo on his time with the A’s

Frankie still has his guys’ backs

Stew on the new schedule

Your streak throwback for the day: