MLB Opening Day: When Arizona Diamondbacks Starts 2021 Season

PHOENIX, AZ — The 2021 Major League Baseball season gets underway this week, with Opening Day for the Arizona Diamondbacks and the 29 other teams set for Thursday.

The D-backs begins their 2021 season on Thursday, April 1, at 1:10 p.m. against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Veteran southpaw Madison Bumgarner will get the nod on the mound for the D-backs against the Padres' right-handed pitcher Yu Darvish in the first pitching match-up of the season.

The 2021 MLB season will look different from any other year, at least in the stands, as fans will be allowed inside all 30 ballparks after a 2020 regular season that was played entirely without fans in the stands because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Teams have varied greatly in the attendance capacity rules set forth before the season. The Texas Rangers are allowing a 100 percent capacity return, which could mean more than 40,000 fans at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas. No other squad is allowing more than a 50 percent capacity.

The Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals are the teams allowing the fewest number of fans, only permitting 12 percent to start the season, according to The Athletic.

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At Chase Field, a 41 percent capacity will be allowed to start the season, meaning 20,000 fans will be allowed inside the 48,519-seat stadium.

Most teams, like the White Sox and Cubs in Chicago and Yankees and Mets in New York, have set limits below 25 percent capacity.

Thursday will also the first time in many years that all 30 teams will start the season on the same day. In recent years, a Sunday night baseball game was held before a Monday Opening Day.