Royals’ games against the Cardinals this season will result in two scheduling quirks
Take a quick glance at the Royals’ 2023 schedule and you may not immediately notice this quirk.
Next week the Royals will play a two-game series against the Cardinals in St. Louis, followed by two consecutive days off. The Royals won’t play on May 31 or June 1, which is why it’s not immediately apparent.
Before the 2023 schedule was released, the games were going to be played next Tuesday and Wednesday at Busch Stadium. That would have meant next Monday and Thursday as off-days for the Royals.
But the Cardinals requested to play on Memorial Day, so the result is a rare two-day break during the week.
The Royals last had two scheduled days off in 2016. When that schedule initially was released, the Royals were due to play on Monday, April 4, then have off days on Tuesday and Thursday.
But Major League Baseball moved the Royals’ 2016 opener against the Mets (a World Series rematch) to Sunday night. The schedule was adjusted to give the Royals an off-day on Monday, a game against the Mets on Tuesday, then Wednesday and Thursday off before taking on the Twins.
So next week’s “mini-All-Star break,” as one Royals official put it, is not unprecedented.
But a schedule quirk coming in August likely has never happened in franchise history.
The Royals and Cardinals will play a two-game series starting on Friday, Aug. 11. Thus, the Royals will have a scheduled Sunday off for what is believed to be the first time ever.
Last year the Cardinals came to Kauffman Stadium for a two-game series that was played during the week. The combined attendance was 31,562, so the Royals wanted to play the Cardinals this year after the work week had ended.
There is precedent for an MLB team getting a Sunday off.
The Angels and Dodgers played a two-game series last July at Angel Stadium of Anaheim before the All-Star break.
This story was originally published May 23, 2023 at 12:40 PM.
