The Texas Rangers released their 2013 schedule today. Here are some of the highlights (full schedule here):

* Texas opens the season on the road in Houston on Tuesday, April 2. This will be the first time Texas has opened the season on the road since 2008. It's the first regular-season game for the Astros as a member of the AL West. Texas will face them 19 times, as they will the rest of the division.

* The home opener is Friday, April 5, against the Los Angeles Angels. This season, the rivals didn't play their first series until mid-May. That opening homestand is six games and includes three against the Tampa Bay Rays.

* There's a scheduled day-night doubleheader against the Arizona Diamondbacks (the Rangers' "prime" NL partner now that the Astros are in the AL) at Chase Field on Memorial Day. This is the first time the Rangers have had a doubleheader on the season-opening schedule since 1991, when they played two at Cleveland. Arizona comes to Arlington later the same week.

* The club's other interleague games in Arlington are against the Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates. Texas plays the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals and the Brewers on the road.

* Texas is back at home on July 4 and playing the Seattle Mariners.

* The final seven games of the season are at home against the Astros (three games) and the Angels (four games). That could prove interesting should the race be tight.

* The club has just one 10-game road trip all season, and it falls in early August, when temperatures are so hot in Arlington. They go to Oakland, Los Angeles and Houston. The off day in that trip is between the final game of the series against the Angels and the start of the series against the Astros.

* Texas plays 17 of its 27 games in April away from Arlington, including a three-game set at Wrigley Field and four in Seattle and Minnesota.

* The Rangers' longest homestand is 11 games from June 10-20. They'll play the Indians for three and Toronto and Oakland for four each.

* They do have a couple of interesting flights based on trips. Texas goes from St. Louis to New York to play the Yankees, but they do have an off day between those series. They also travel from Tampa to Kansas City for the final road trip in mid-September.

* Texas is on the road for seven games before the All-Star break (in Baltimore and Detroit) and then starts the second half against Baltimore and New York at home.

* The Boston Red Sox come to town for one series -- May 3-5. The Yankees are in Arlington once -- July 22-25.