2013 Indians Schedule Quirks

2013 is going to be the first season in the history of professional baseball when there are an odd number of teams in each league, making it the first season with interleague play all year. This has lead to a few peculiarities in the Indians schedule this year that make it a little different than the norm.

• Instead of the regular three game series, the first of the interleague series will take place at the end of April (4/30) in Cleveland against the Philadelphia Phillies. It will consist of two, two game series concluding in Philadelphia later in the month (5/14).
• Instead of playing the normal six games against Cincinatti, the Indians will play consecutive road and home series against the Reds (and new centerfielder Shin-Soo Choo) from 5/27-30. This is the first time in my memory that the Indians have played a team on the road, then immediately played them at home. The Battle for Ohio will be played in just four games in 2013.
• Other NL opponents include three game series against the Nationals (6/14-16), Marlins (8/2-4), Braves (8/27-29) and Mets (9/6-8).
• Because of the new scheduling, the Indians will be playing many more four (and two) game series than normal. They have 12 four game series scheduled along with four 6 game series. There were 8 four game series in 2012 and no scheduled two game series. This will make it a lot harder to judge teams by their series win/loss record as there should be a lot more series ties.
• The Indians will be playing against the Houston Astros as an American League team for the first time ever  on 4/19.
• The All-Star break will be four games for the Tribe this year, spanning from 7/15-18. It should be a good vacation for almost every player as the Indians attempt to trade away every player who ever had a chance at playing in the contest.
• The Tribe won't play the Angels and their new outfielder Josh Hamilton until 8/9, making them the last American League team for the Indians to play their first game against.
• There will only be 14 total games against the Red Sox and Yankees, including just seven home games that will all be over before the end of April. These are two of the best selling series for the Indians, so it will be interesting to see if people will show up during the normally cold month of April to see the AL East teams. Last season the Indians averaged just over 11,000 fans per game in April excluding Opening Day, partially because there were no high profile games.
• The season closes out in the cold open air of Minnesota, in what could be a very depressing four game bout if neither team makes any more improvements before the season starts.