The Pawtucket Red Sox will play their 2010 season-opener at McCoy Stadium on Thursday, April 8th against the Rochester Red Wings at 7:05 pm. The PawSox 2010 season starts with a 6-game homestand featuring the opening 4-game series against Rochester (including night games on April 8 & 9 at 7:05 pm and a pair of weekend afternoon games on April 10 & 11 at 1:05 pm) followed by a 2-game set against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on April 12 (6:15 pm) and April 13 (12:05 pm).Pawtucket's first roadtrip of the season will take place from April 14-22 as the 9-game trip features stops in Buffalo, Rochester, and Lehigh Valley. The PawSox will return to McCoy on April 23 for an 8-game homestand to close out the month of April as they host Buffalo and Indianapolis for four games each through April 30.
The PawSox will once again play a 144-game International League schedule (72 games at home and 72 on the road). The Sox will play 16 games against each of their five International League North rivals (8 home & 8 away) and 8 games against each of the other eight IL clubs from the West & South Divisions (4 home & 4 away). The division rival Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees will make two visits to McCoy in 2010 for a pair of 4-game series from June 29 - July 2 and from August 5-8.
After a number of affiliation changes prior to last year, this season all 14 International League teams are back with the same Major League club and in the same divisional set-up as last year. The Pawtucket Red Sox and the Boston Red Sox own the longest affiliation relationship (since 1973) in all of the IL.
Pawtucket's home schedule consists of 52 night games and 20 day games with the following breakdown by month: April (14), May (13), June (13), July (12), August (16), and September (4). PawSox home night games through mid-May will begin at 6:15 pm with the exceptions of Opening Night (April 8) and the first four home Friday night games (April 9, 23, 30 and May 14) which will all begin at 7:05 pm. Pawtucket will commence with regular 7:05 pm weeknight starts on May 18 and play virtually all of their weeknight home games at 7:05 pm for the remainder of the season. The PawSox will play each of their Saturday night home games one hour earlier than weeknights beginning at 6:05 pm. Sunday games will remain at 1:05 pm with the exceptions of May 30 (Memorial Day eve) and September 5 (Labor Day eve) both at 6:05 pm with fireworks to follow the games.
The Sox will conclude their regular-season schedule on Labor Day Monday, September 6 vs. Syracuse at 1:05 pm at McCoy. Four teams will again qualify for the International League playoffs that begin on September 8 - the three division winners and one wild card (the second-place team with the best record).
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