Dodgers to take two Sundays off next season ahead of hosting the All-Star Game

And, on Sunday, the team rested.

That is a sentence that is rarely heard in baseball. Sunday is a popular day for ballgames, and major league teams usually get their days off sprinkled in the middle of the week.

But, for the first time in recent memory, the Dodgers will get two Sundays off in 2020.

The Dodgers will not play on the first Sunday of the season, March 29, or on July 12, the Sunday before the All-Star break.

When the 2020 schedule was announced in August, the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants were scheduled to open the season Thursday, March 26, at Dodger Stadium, take Friday off, and play there Saturday and Sunday.

However, after ESPN last week picked the Chicago Cubs-Milwaukee Brewers game as its Sunday Night Baseball selection for that first weekend of the season, the Dodgers shifted the Sunday date to Friday. The Dodgers preferred the Friday date all along, a team official said, but the league asked the team to let ESPN make its decision first.

The Dodgers’ average attendance last season for Friday games: 49,896; for Sunday games: 48,218.

The Dodgers host the All-Star game on Tuesday, July 14. Normally, host teams play on the road through the Sunday before the game. But the Dodgers complete a five-game trip with two games at Angel Stadium on July 10 and July 11. Their last home game before the All-Star break is Sunday, July 5, giving the organization a week to prepare for the All-Star game and lead-up festivities.

According to the annual schedules posted on the team website, the last time the Dodgers did not play on Sunday was Sept. 16, 2001, as part of the league’s postponement of games following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.