NEW YORK (Reuters) - Major League Baseball has decided to start and end its 2011 season earlier in a bid to ensure the World Series concludes in October, according to details of its schedule released on Wednesday.
The 162-game regular season schedule will begin March 31 and conclude September 28, the earliest end to a regular season since 2003, following a recommendation from a special committee for on-field matters.
"The challenges of our scheduling are considerable, but I shared the committee's desire to make the necessary adjustments to assure that post-season baseball does not extend beyond October," baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement.
The 2010 regular season began April 4 and is scheduled to end October 3. Playoffs are tentatively set to open on October 6 with up to three World Series games slated for November if it was to go a full seven games.
Among the regular-season matchups will be the first game between the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox in Boston's Fenway Park since the 1918 World Series. The teams meet May 20-22.
The 82nd All-Star Game will be played July 12 in Phoenix.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina. Editing by Frank Pingue)
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.