EAST LANSING — Michigan State announced its baseball schedule for the 2021 season on Wednesday. MSU is set to play a 44-game, conference-only schedule with the season opener set for March 5. 

There are quite a few differences in this season’s schedule compared to previous ones. MSU will not play any mid-week games in 2021. There is also the addition of the ‘pod play’ weekends, where three teams will gather at one location and will play two games against each of the other schools. Lastly, in order for the conference to have more flexibility in rescheduling games, there will be no conference tournament this season. 

MSU’s schedule opens with back-to-back weekends in Greenville, SC at Fluor Field. The Spartans will open the season with four games against Maryland on March 5-7 before taking on the Northwestern Wildcats on March 12-14. 

The first weekend of pod play for MSU will take place on March 19-21 in Ann Arbor. The Spartans will play two games against the Michigan Wolverines and two against the Illinois Fighting Illini. 

The home opener for MSU is scheduled for March 26-28 when the Spartans welcome the defending Big Ten Champions, the Indiana Hoosiers, to McLane Stadium. 

During the course of the season, MSU is also scheduled to host Penn State and Purdue in a pod play weekend (April 9-11), as well as Nebraska (April 23-25), Michigan (May 7-9) , and Iowa (May 28-30).

Further details on the pod play weekends and game times have not been announced, but the release of a schedule is certainly a step in the right direction, as the season is set to begin in just over two weeks.

Follow Zach Surdenik on Twitter at @ZachSurdenik.