The release of the tentative major league schedules Sept. 10 drew focus on how the seasons of the Dodgers and Giants would start.

The Dodgers and Diamondbacks will play the first ever regular season game in Australia when they hook up March 22-23 at the Sydney Cricket Grounds. These will be road games for the Dodgers and home games for the D-Backs. Will they build a pool in right field to actually make the D-Backs feel like they are home? The Dodgers then come home, play some exhibitions against the Angels, and then resume the season March 31 against San Diego.

The Giants open away against well-traveled Arizona April 1, who could already be leading them by a game if the D-Backs sweep in Australia. San Francisco will play its first 22 games against  West division foes. The Giants and Dodgers meet for the first time at the Dodgers second home opener home April 4.

But while attention to the early schedule is understandable, this year the most significant date on the Giants-Dodgers schedule will come Sept. 23 when the clubs meet for the 1,000th time since they arrived on the west coast in 1958. It would be too good a thing if both teams are in contention that day, but even if they are not, the historic number should bring special focus to that special day.