The 2008 regular-season schedule was announced by Major League Baseball on Thursday, and among the highlights are the reigning world champion Red Sox playing the earliest season opener in history (against Oakland on March 25 in Tokyo) and then at home against the rival Yankees on a fabulous final Sunday.

From start to finish, baseball fans are prepared for another wild, wild ride. Official preparations for that ride begin on Feb. 14, when pitchers and catchers begin reporting to Spring Training in Arizona and Florida.

The opener in Japan will mark the third time the MLB regular season has begun in that country. The Cubs played the Mets there in 2000, and Hideki Matsui and the Yankees went there in 2004 to open against Tampa Bay.

It will be the first year of baseball at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., and it starts there with the ESPN Sunday Night opener at 8:05 p.m. ET on March 30 when the Nationals host the Braves. Tom Glavine will be back for Atlanta, but Andruw Jones (a Dodger) will not.

It will be the final year of baseball at both New York stadiums, something that is going to evoke all sorts of emotions for months. The 2009 season will mark the opening of the new Yankee Stadium as well as the new Citi Field for the Mets.

The first game of this regular season at Yankee Stadium will be at 1:05 p.m. ET on Monday, March 31. The last one will be against the Orioles at 1:05 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 21. There will be something poetic about finishing on a day when summer ends. It is "The House That Ruth Built," circa 1923, and it especially will hit everyone around the sport when the 79th All-Star Game is played there on July 15.

The first game of the regular season at Shea Stadium will be on April 8 at 1:10 p.m. ET when the Mets take on the Phillies. The last one will be against the Marlins at 1:10 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 28, the last day of the regular season. It was just last year, of course, that the Mets finished at home against the Marlins and had their postseason hopes dashed while the Phillies won the National League East.

Of course, both clubs fully intend to continue playing on those swan-song fields during October. The Yankees and Mets will be contenders. Then again, just about everyone in Major League Baseball will be a contender. So as you examine the master schedule and contemplate the matchups, just remember that competitive balance is at an all-time high and recent history shows that any of these 30 clubs can contend.

On April 15, Major League Baseball will celebrate "Jackie Robinson Day," marking the 61st anniversary of Jackie Robinson's entry into the Major Leagues as the first African American player. Robinson will be honored prior to the start of each Major League game played that day. That was one of the highlights of the 2007 schedule, as masses of players were allowed to wear No. 42 in tribute.

Interleague Play, in its 11th season, will run from May 16-18 and from June 13-29. Just for the record, that second stretch begins on a Friday the 13th. This year's Interleague Play will feature World Series rematches from 1998 (Padres-Yankees on June 17-19 at Yankee Stadium), 2004 (Cardinals-Red Sox on June 20-22 at Fenway Park) and 2006 (Cardinals-Tigers on June 24-26 at Comerica Park).

What a year it could be at Wrigley Field in Chicago. It is the 100th anniversary of the Cubs' last world championship. It is the 100th anniversary of the song "Take Me Out To The Ball Game," which, thanks to Harry Caray's legacy, is a happening inside the Friendly Confines unlike anywhere else. The Cubs start it off with an immediate bang, playing a 2:20 p.m. ET opener on March 31 against the same Brewers club that gave them such a thrilling chase down the stretch in 2007.

Chicago won that pennant race, taking the National League Central crown. But a young Arizona club swept the Cubs in the three-game NL Division Series, and fan after fan left Wrigley that night saying things like: "It's meant to be, because 2008 is the 100th anniversary."

As always, there will be many special moments simply because of the movement of so many marquee players from team to team. One such example is right off the bat, when the Twins open the night of March 31 against Torii Hunter and the Angels.

Look for a season-long celebration in San Francisco as the Giants herald the 50th anniversary of the club's move west from New York's Polo Grounds. The club begins a new era without Barry Bonds (currently without a club) when it opens the season at 4:10 p.m. ET on March 31 against the rival Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. The Giants' home opener is the following Monday against the Padres.

Just think how crazy it could be in the NL West this season. One could almost say there were three playoff teams from that division last fall. Colorado needed that extra-inning hit from Jamey Carroll to score Matt Holliday and beat San Diego in the play-in game, taking the NL Wild Card after Arizona clinched the division. The Dodgers are expected to be much improved behind Jones as well as new manager Joe Torre, and the Giants (especially Aaron Rowand) think they can leap back into the fray.

Rockies fans finally were rewarded with a World Series in 2007, and who can forget the hottest finishing kick of any Major League season? It all ended when the Red Sox swept the Fall Classic in Denver, but that postseason purple spirit was unforgettable. Now, Colorado fans are all over the 2008 season schedule. The team opens at St. Louis for a day game on the first Monday, and then the first homestand begins at 4:05 p.m. ET on April 4 against that same Diamondbacks club that took the NL West.

Start planning those summer road trips now. See if you somehow can find a ticket to one of those last Yankees home games. Try to guess how many clubs will still be in the hunt entering that final week during September. It's getting closer, and the annual release of the full MLB regular-season schedule just makes the excitement greater.

Baseball is on a scorching run of four straight years with record overall attendance, and Minor League Baseball has been following suit. Both are signs of how important the national pastime is to people. Last year, MLB attendance hit 79.5 million, up 4.5 percent from the previous record of 76 million, set in 2006.

"We broke an attendance record [in 2007], and we'll break a new one [in 2008]," Commissioner Bud Selig said earlier this month.

Overall, MLB attendance has increased 59 percent from the 50 million fans who attended games in 1990, the year the Reds won it all in wire-to-wire fashion.

Now the Reds have Dusty Baker as manager. Will they get back to the World Series for the first time since that year Lou Piniella managed the team? Interestingly enough, Piniella now is managing the Cubs team hoping to end the ultimate drought, while the Cubs were the last team managed by Baker.

Cincinnati opens its home schedule on March 31 against Arizona. If there's one thing you always can count on, it's that the Reds will be there to play a traditional home opener on that first Monday, right after the Findlay Market Opening Day Parade through the streets along the Ohio River. That's baseball.

It's about to be back again in 2008.