Season opens at home vs. Minnesota on Friday, April 6, exactly 20 years after first game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards
The Orioles will kick off their 20th anniversary season at Oriole Park at Camden Yards with an Opening Day game on April 6, 2012 against the Minnesota Twins, 20 years to the day after the ballpark originally opened. The game is the first of a six-day season-opening homestand that will also see the New York Yankees come to Baltimore.
The Orioles will play each of their AL East rivals three times at Oriole Park. In addition to their opening homestand trip from April 9-11, the New York Yankees will make a two-game stop in Baltimore May 14-15 and play a four-game weekend series, September 6-9. The Red Sox will have three three-game series at Camden Yards – May 21-23, August 14-16 and September 28-30. The Tampa Bay Rays will make their first trip to Oriole Park the weekend of May 11-13, followed by two more three-game series July 24-26 and September 11-13. The Toronto Blue Jays will play in Baltimore April 24-26, August 24-26 and September 24-26.
In Interleague Play in 2012 the Philadelphia Phillies will make a weekend trip to Camden Yards, June 8-10, followed by a mid-week visit by the Pittsburgh Pirates, June 12-14. The Birds will also continue their rivalry with Washington in a home-and-home series against the Nationals. Baltimore will visit Nationals Park May 18-20, then host Washington in a weekend series June 22-24. The Birds will also travel to Atlanta from June 15-17 and New York from June 18-20 to face the Braves and Mets in Interleague Play.
Baltimore will host the Kansas City Royals twice, May 25-27 and August 9-12, and the Oakland A’s will also make two trips to Oriole Park, April 27-29 and July 27-29. Every other non-division AL opponent will make one trip to Camden Yards.
The Orioles will play 17 home games in August, their busiest month at Oriole Park. Overall, the Birds will play 42 of the 85 games prior to the All-Star break at Camden Yards. They have one 10-game homestand, August 6-16 against Seattle, Kansas City and Boston and two nine-game homestands, May 7-15 against Texas, Tampa Bay and New York and June 22-July 1 against Washington, Los Angeles and Cleveland.
The Orioles’ first road trip is a 10-game, three-city journey to Toronto, Chicago and Los Angeles from April 13-22. The team also has a nine-game, 11-day trip from May 28-June 7 to Toronto, Tampa Bay and Boston and a nine-game, 10-day trip September 14-23 to Oakland, Seattle and Boston.
Baltimore will conclude the season on the road with a three-game series at Tampa Bay, October 1-3. The complete 2012 schedule follows, with times to be announced at a later date.
