MLB Baseball releases master 2007 schedule Yankees Red Sox www.tixx.com

MLB releases master 2007 schedule

The first game of the 2007 regular season will be an April 1 rematch at Busch Stadium between the Cardinals and Mets, who gave fans a postseason classic when they last met for Game 7 of the National League Championship Series. Maybe it will come down to a final at-bat by Carlos Beltran with the bases loaded again.
The last game of the 2007 regular season will be Giants at Dodgers late on the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 30. Who knows, maybe one of sport's great rivalries will come down to San Francisco's Barry Zito against former Giant Jason Schmidt to decide the final postseason berth.

Those are two of 2,430 Major League Baseball games set to make 2007 beautiful, and now it's all there for you to see for yourself. Major League Baseball released the master schedule on Thursday, and fans now can click "Schedule" on the main navigation bar here at MLB.com and while away the hours between now and Spring Training. It's one of the annual milestones on the way to Opening Day, whetting your appetite for game action and making it easy to buy tickets and plan that summer baseball trip.

Here are some of the highlights on the 2007 master schedule:

The Cardinals will face the Tigers at Comerica Park on May 18-20 in a rematch of the 2006 Fall Classic. Kenny Rogers beat the Cardinals in their last meeting there, but the World Series never came back to Detroit. Will the reigning American League champions find redemption, or do the Cardinals still have their number?

Of course, the road to the World Series was anything but easy for the Cardinals, who survived a seven-game slugfest with the Mets in the NLCS. Fans don't have long to wait for this rematch, as a season-opening, four-game set between the Redbirds and the defending NL East champs is slated for April 1-4 at Busch -- starting with the ESPN Sunday-night opener. The teams will meet again June 25-28 at Shea Stadium, which is where Beltran struck out looking on that Series-ending 0-2 pitch by Adam Wainwright.

Fans of the most fabled rivalry in pro sports will not have to wait long to see the next installments. The Yankees visit Fenway Park April 20-22, and the two teams meet up in the Bronx for three games the following weekend. Red Sox fans have probably not forgotten last season's "Boston Massacre II," a five-game demolition by the Yankees that effectively ended Red Sox hopes.

The Tigers and the White Sox are the previous two teams to represent the AL in the World Series, and they are both good bets to remain among the game's elite squads. With the season right around the corner, it's not too early to secure a seat to their season-ending series, a three-game set from Sept. 28-30 at U.S. Cellular Field that could go a long way in determining the AL Central race.

For the Cardinals, the road to a fourth consecutive NL Central crown figures to go through the North Side of Chicago, as the Cubs have made a number of upgrades via free agency, most notably the acquisition of dynamic outfielder Alfonso Soriano. Buy your tickets now to watch another chapter of this storied rivalry unfold. Will this be the Cubs' year at last? Look at the master schedule and plan your road trip now if Wrigley is one of the baseball palaces you just have to hit in 2007.

Imagine the sights at Wrigley Field from May 18-20, when the White Sox travel north to face the crosstown rival Cubs in one of a handful of intriguing Interleague matchups. Or the vibe at Dodger Stadium on June 15-17, when the Angels meet the Dodgers in the battle for L.A. bragging rights. Or the raw aura at Yankee Stadium on June 15-17, when the Yankees renew their subway rivalry with the Mets.

Interleague Play in 2006 was painfully lopsided if you were an NL fan, as the AL dominated and the consensus was it was the better of the two leagues. The Cardinals quashed that kind of talk at the World Series, but it will still be interesting to see how the NL fares against the AL during the next Interleague stretch, which begins on Friday, June 8. Angels at Cardinals will mean new St. Louis second baseman Adam Kennedy facing his old teammates. Pirates at Yankees rekindles thoughts of 1960 and Bill Mazeroski's homer ending the Fall Classic in Game 7.

Red Sox at D-backs in that first Interleague weekend could mean Curt Schilling pitching back in Phoenix, and who knows, maybe against Randy Johnson.

Of course, the Red Sox also will be introducing Daisuke Matsuzaka to North American fans in 2007. Will he be on the mound for the Red Sox on April 8, when his team welcomes fellow Japanese megastar Ichiro Suzuki and the Mariners to Fenway for the home opener?

Will Barry Bonds crank the 23 home runs he needs to pass Hank Aaron for first place on the all-time home run list? And will Astros second baseman Craig Biggio collect the 70 hits he needs to reach 3,000? Will Tom Glavine win his 300th? If you want to click through the master schedule to see the dates when these milestones might happen, then it's all here at last.

In reality, there are 2,430 games worth highlighting here. They all count. Now they are easier to find and put on your calendar. It must mean Spring Training is almost here.

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