2006 SCHEDULE RELEASED

The 2006 schedule and ticket prices for the 2006 season have all been released. Most ticket prices are the same except for the upper end tickets which have gone up slightly in price. Field box seats went up to $95 and loge box seats went up to $85. Green Monster tickets also went up in price as did seats on the right field roof.

The Sox begin 2006 in Arlington, Texas on April 3rd, a Monday. After an off-day, the Sox fly up to Baltimore for their first AL East matchup of the 75 game divisional schedule. If we want to win the division in '06, we've got to win at least 40 games within the division.

The home opener for the Red Sox is Tuesday April 11th against Toronto. The Sox have a 10 game homestand against the Blue Jays, Mariners, and Devil Rays. At not time in 2006 do the Sox have a scheduled 4 city road trip, or 4 team home stand. However, last season, the Red Sox didn't have many homestands against more than 2 teams for much of the early part of the season. It is nice to see that we will have a few lengthy homestands.

Last season, the blatantly artificial scheudling of New York vs. Boston to begin and end the season has not carried over into 2006. The two teams don't play each other until May 1st. They then play 5 times in 11 days, and 11 times in 39 days. Then they don't play for 70 days. Weird schedule.

The interleague opponents for the Red Sox all come from the NL East. Interleague play will begin on May 19th in Philly. Then AL play resumes, then interleague begins once more on June 16th in Atlanta. Then, the Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies, and New York Mets come to town. The Red Sox end regular season interleague play with a trip to Miami to play the Marlins.

Looking at the schedule, the stretch from May 29th to August 3rd, also known as summer, could prove to be brutal. From May 29th to June 18th, the Sox have to play 15 of 18 on the road. This road stretch includes trips to the Rogers Centre, Yankee Stadium, the MetroDome and Turner Field. We haven't really played well in these places recently. Then there's a 9 game homestand, but they're all interleague games. We typically struggle with interleague games. A 10 game roadtrip including 3 in the Chicago brings the season into the All-Star break. After the break, the Sox should be able to feast on KC and Oakland in Fenway, but then they have to do the West Coast trip to Seattle and Oakland. Then its home against 2 90+ win teams, the Angels and Indians. If the Sox want to succeed, we will need to win alot of games early and late in the season because that middle stretch could kill us.