Judge, Correa, trip to Mexico and Dodgers among SF Giants’ 2023 schedule highlights

Opening Day is finally here, with the Giants looking to get back into the playoffs and recreate the magic of 2021.

The Giants open the 2023 season in the Bronx against the New York Yankees, a clash between two of baseball’s most storied franchises — and former borough neighbors.

Here’s a look at some of the Giants’ series this season that are worth circling on your calendar.

March 30-April 2 at New York Yankees

The Giants spent Opening Day in New York for the first time since 1956 – their penultimate season before moving West. It was also an opportunity for fans to dream about what offseason free agent target Aaron Judge might have looked like in Orange and Black. They’ll also get a chance to see what former Giants lefty Carlos Rodón looks like without a beard, although they won’t have to face him: he’s starting the season on the IL or likely would have faced his old team in Game 2.

April 10-12 vs L.A. Dodgers

MLB’s new balanced schedule means that for the first time, all 30 teams will face each other in at least one series but will play six fewer games against their divisional rivals. It just makes the 13 Giants-Dodgers matchups mean more, right? The Giants opening homestand concludes with the Dodgers, but the rivalry will have to simmer for a while, as the teams won’t meet again until mid-June in L.A.

April 29-30 vs. San Diego Padres in Mexico City

The Giants won’t get their first look at the Padres until San Diego star Fernando Tatis Jr.’s suspension for drug use ends, but they’ll make history by playing in the first MLB games in Mexico City. Last year’s lockout canceled a scheduled Giants-Marlins series there. Expect runs to be plentiful –  Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú, which seats a little more than 20,000 fans, is about 2,000 feet higher than Coors Field, and the dimensions are a cozy 325 feet down the lines and 400 to dead center.

May 22-24 at Minnesota Twins

Part II of the what-could-have-been tour takes the Giants to Minneapolis, where they’ll get their first look at Carlos Correa since his introductory news conference in San Francisco infamously was scrapped at the last minute. Correa ultimately returned to Minnesota after concerns about an old leg injury scuttled larger free-agent deals with the Giants and Mets, but one of the Giants’ consolation prizes – Michael Conforto – is a career .556 hitter at Target Field (5 for 9).

June 23-25 vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

If the Giants want to get back to the playoffs, they can’t lose any more ground to the improving Diamondbacks. After going 25-4 against Arizona the previous two seasons, they lost the season series a year ago, and Arizona is a trendy preseason pick to move past the Giants in the West hierarchy. Arizona’s visit is part of a pivotal 22-game stretch against projected playoff contenders that also includes the Cardinals, Dodgers, Padres, Blue Jays, Mets and Mariners.

July 25-26 vs. A’s

The first half of the annual Bay Bridge Series … but will it be one of the A’s last visits as residents of Oakland? The A’s lease at the Coliseum expires after the 2024 season, and the team headed into another spring training threatening to move to Las Vegas if a deal for a new ballpark in Oakland can’t be reached. The Giants have won three of the past four series but have lost six of the 10 games at home during that stretch.

July 28-30 vs. Boston Red Sox

Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford is the only player remaining on either team since the Red Sox last visited San Francisco in 2016. But Giants fans could recognize quite a few faces on the new-look Boston roster that rolls in for a weekend series. Former Giants Adam Duvall and Christian Arroyo are being counted on heavily by the Red Sox, as are former Dodgers Justin Turner, Enrique Hernandez, Alex Verdugo and closer Kenley Jansen.

August 11-13 vs. Texas Rangers

Giants fans thought they had seen the last of Bruce Bochy when he announced his retirement in 2019. But “Boch,” who guided the Giants to their three World Series titles in five years, was lured back this winter and will make his first appearance in the visiting dugout at Oracle Park since 2006. The 1993 Giants, who won 103 games but finished second in the N.L. West, will be honored before Game 2 of the series.

Aug. 25-27 vs. Atlanta Braves

If the Giants are in the playoff chase in late August, a home-and-home series with one of the preseason favorites in N.L., capped by these weekend games at Oracle, figures to be a good indicator to gauge their title hopes. It’d probably be in the best interest of the Giants to get ace Logan Webb two starts against the Braves. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 1.33 ERA in four career starts against Atlanta.

Sept. 29-Oct. 1 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Will it be 2021 all over again, with the arch-rivals battling for the N.L. West crown down to the final day of the regular season? The three-game set at Oracle concludes a stretch that sees the Giants face the Dodgers seven times over the final 11 days of the season, starting with four games at Dodger Stadium. The Giants haven’t won a season series against L.A. since 2016 and were 4-15 last season, although three of those wins came at home.