Padres host Diamondbacks in season-opener

It’s roughly 17 weeks later than everyone would have wanted, but we have a new start date for the Padres’ 2020 season. Opening day for San Diego will be on Friday, July 24. They are set to host the Arizona Diamondbacks in the team’s opening four-game series.

Padres-Diamondbacks will be one of 14 games played on that Friday, following the Thursday double-header that will commence the 2020 season. The second game against the Diamondbacks will be broadcasted on FS1 at 8:10pm ET.

The 60-game schedule will involve teams playing the entire season in their own region. The Padres will only play National League West and American League West teams. Same goes for other divisions — central plays central, and east plays east.

The season keeps the same six divisions and the playoff format remains unchanged. Three division winners and the two next-best records as wild cards in each league will advance to the postseason. So in each league there will likely be teams fighting for wild card spots against teams they don’t even play.

The Padres play 40 total games against their four NL West opponents - 10 games against each team — and 20 games against the five teams in the American League West.

The interleague split for the Padres includes a pair of three-game series against their designated rivals, Seattle, and 14 games against the other four AL West teams. They play a pair of two-game series against the Angels, and a single three-game series against both the Astros and the A’s.

The Padres are scheduled to end their regular season on September 27. That means they’ll have to complete all 60 games in a 65-game span. It sounds pretty daunting when you say it like that, but this team is built for that inevitable sprint to the finish line.