Pittsburgh Pirates 2013 schedule released

Major League Baseball unveiled the schedule for its 2013 season on Wednesday. With the Houston Astros shifting to the American League, it means interleague play every day of the season. The first teams affected by the change will be the Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Angels, as they will meet on opening day.

September 8, 2012; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez (24) breaks on a ground ball against the Chicago Cubs during the eighth inning at PNC Park. The Chicago Cubs won 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

The season will also be kicked off by the return of the World Baseball Classic during spring training.

Here’s a look at some highlights of the Pirates schedule:

– They open the season at home, April 1 against the Chicago Cubs.

– With the departure of the Astros out of the division, the Pirates are now in a five-team division and will play the other four teams 19 times, which is a switch, considering they only had 15 games against the Cardinals this season.

– As far as interleague play goes, the Bucs will play the AL West. That’s a tough draw, but they do get the Astros at PNC Park May 17-19.

– Because of the balanced divisions, the Pirates will be heading out west more next season, something that has never been good to them.

Just like this season, the Bucs have another early-season (April 5-10) visit to Los Angeles and Phoenix, then they will travel to Anaheim and Seattle on June 21-26 and return to California on an Aug. 19-25 swing through San Diego and San Francisco.

In addition to a home-and-home four-game series with traditional interleague opponent Detroit (May 27-30), the Pirates will also host the Mariners (May 7-8) and visit the Rangers (Sept. 9-11).