Washington Nationals’ 2020 schedule released; highlights, Interleague with AL West + more...

Start making your plans, because the Washington Nationals’ 2020 schedule was released this afternoon.

Opening Day is on March 26th in Citi Field, when the 2020 Nationals and New York Mets start a season-opening three-game set in Flushing, Queens, NY.

If you’re thinking, ‘Wow, that’s an early start,’ the Nats noted in a press release on the 2020 schedule that it is, “the earliest start of the season in Nationals’ history (2005-present).”

The home opener takes place on April 2nd, when the Mets visit the nation’s capital for three more games between the NL East rivals.

After the first homestand (three with the Mets, and three with Miami’s Marlins), the Nats will head out for an early-season West Coast trip to Los Angeles, where they play three with the Dodgers, and Seattle, for two with the Mariners, as the Nationals matchup with the American League West in Interleague play in 2020 (along with the regional matchup with the Baltimore Orioles).

The Nationals will play the Mariners in Washington, D.C. (May 19th-20th), and the Houston Astros (July 3rd-5th) and Oakland Athletics (August 10th-12th) will also visit Nationals Park, with the A’s trip to D.C. the first since the Nats moved from RFK to the Navy Yard.

The Nationals, as noted above, visit the Mariners (April 13th-14th), LA Angels of Anaheim (May 11th-13th) and Texas Rangers (May 26th-28th), and, “... the visit to Texas will be [the] first since June 17th-19th, 2005.”

The so-called Battle of the Beltways will be a late-season affair in 2020, with the first two games on August 8th-9th in Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the two in Washington on September 15th-16th.

As for the holidays?

“Memorial Day Weekend will feature a visit from the Miami Marlins, May 22nd-25th. The Nationals will host the Houston Astros for a weekend series, July 3rd-5th that will feature the annual Fourth of July game at Nationals Park.”

The back end of the schedule is packed with divisional matchups as well, with 28 of the last 30 games against divisional foes, including the Philadelphia Phillies, against whom the Nats will wrap up the 2020 campaign on September 25-27th in D.C.

HERE’S THE FULL NATIONALS’ 2020 SCHEDULE: