Save these dates: MLB releases 2017 Pirates schedule

After a fourth installment of the World Baseball Classic in March, the 2017 Major League Baseball regular season will arrive with three games on the first Sunday (April 2), 13 more Opening Day games on that Monday, and a calendar that includes the debut of a brand-new ballpark in Atlanta and the first MLB All-Star Week in the state of Florida.

MLB released its master 2017 regular-season schedule on Wednesday, starting with two divisional matchups: Giants at D-backs and Yankees at Rays in the first two of those Sunday openers (game times to be determined). ESPN will televise both games in addition to its annual “Sunday Night Baseball” Opening Night game, which will be selected in coming weeks.

Opening Day will feature nine divisional matchups among the 13 games, in addition to an Interleague contest between the host Red Sox — starting the post-David Ortiz era — and the Pirates in a renewal of the franchises that met in the inaugural World Series in 1903. Cincinnati will have its traditional place among those 13 Monday games, with the annual Findlay Market Parade followed by Phillies vs. Reds at Great American Ball Park.

• 2017 Major League Baseball schedule

Seven games are scheduled for Tuesday, April 4, before all 30 clubs take the field on that Wednesday in the first full slate of games.

The final day of the 2017 regular season, featuring 12 …

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