We are just weeks away from the Atlanta Braves playing actual real baseball that counts. Our long waking nightmare is almost over. So far things have been looking pretty good on the Braves front. While a few players like Ozzie Albies, Kyle Wright, and Joe Jimenez are a little banged up coming off some offseason medical procedures, most of the players that the team are planning on relying on are healthy and getting back up to speed well.
So now we must look forward to the 2023 season and there are some key dates and deadlines we will need to keep in mind during the course of the season. Some are self-explanatory, others you may not have thought about. As more dates are added and/or firmed up, we will update this post with them.
MLB Important Dates for the 2023 Season
March 30 - Opening Day: All teams are scheduled to play on Opening Day which is scheduled for March 30, 2023. For the Braves, that is a matchup on the road against the Washington Nationals.
April 6 - Home Opener: For those wanting to make the pilgrimage to Truist Park to see the Braves' first home game of 2023, that will be happening on April 6 against the San Diego Padres. That is going to be a spicy four game series as that Padres team is really going for it.
July 9-11 - MLB Draft: There does not seem to be an official announcement of the date of the 2023 MLB Draft just yet, but these are dates that have been reported and they line up with the All-Star break so we are running with it. The Braves will be picking 24th in the first round as of now and they also received the 70th overall pick as compensation for losing Dansby Swanson to free agency.
July 11 - All-Star Game: While the All-Star break is a multi-day affair with multiple events going on during it including the MLB Draft and the Home Run Derby, the actual All-Star Game will be taking place on July 11 in Seattle. Barring a catastrophe, the Braves should be well represented there in 2023.
July 31 - MLB Trade Deadline: Most observers agree that while the 2022 trade deadline was pushed a couple of days because of the owner lockout, there is a strong likelihood that it will return to its traditional July 31 spot on the calendar (if that changes, we will update this post). The league does seem to have a small window of dates that they could flex the deadline within, but July 31 remains the most logical and most likely.
October 3 - Postseason starts: Now that we finally have a normal season that isn't getting messed up by a raging pandemic or a labor battle, the postseason schedule can hopefully return to some semblance of normalcy and it tentatively will start on October 3.
November 4 - World Series starts: As with everything these days, this date is tentative for the moment, but the World Series is SUPPOSED to start on November 4. Hopefully it will involve the Atlanta Braves professional baseball club and they are the current odds favorites if you buy into what Fangraphs has to say about the subject.