Major League Baseball released the subject-to-change schedule for the 2017 season Wednesday. Obviously with 162 games per team to sort through, there's no reason to do some sort of extended analysis, particularly when we still have the best of 2016 remaining.

There are some points of note, though.

First off, the interleague series will pit the ...

AL East vs. NL Central

AL Central vs. NL West

AL West vs. NL East

Opening night falls on Sunday, April 2, when we'll see:

Giants at Diamondbacks
Yankees at Rays

Does Arizona and Tampa Bay getting spotlight games to open the season seem weird? Yeah, it does, but there's a reason. As those two expansion teams started play in 1998, the 2017 season is their 20th in existence.

Then we move to what we know as Opening Day, which is Monday, April 3. The matchups:

Marlins at Nationals
Braves at Mets
Rockies at Brewers
Padres at Dodgers
Pirates at Red Sox
Blue Jays at Orioles
Indians at Rangers
Tigers at White Sox
Royals at Twins
Cubs at Cardinals
Phillies at Reds
Angels at Athletics
Mariners at Astros

Thankfully, MLB doesn't make any fan bases wait until Tuesday any more.

Every matchup in there is fun since it's a new beginning, but how about the Cubs-Cardinals going at it right off the bat?

The Cubs and Cardinals on opening day? Yes please. USATSI

Indians-Rangers, Jays-O's and Mariners-Astros pit 2016 contenders against each other while the Pirates-Red Sox could be a nice interleague bout to start things off.

We also know the Braves are opening a new stadium, Sun Trust Park, but that doesn't happen until April 13 against the Padres.

The All-Star festivities in Miami's Marlins Park will be the Futures Game on Sunday, July 9, All-Star Monday featuring the Home Run Derby on July 10 and then the All-Star Game on July 11.

The final day of the regular season is Oct. 1, meaning we have a great shot at getting the World Series over before November.