Key dates for the upcoming MLB season

A prime-time opener on the north side of Chicago and what could be a frantic final day bookend the 2015 major league season. A handful of dates to mark on the schedule:

April 5: St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs: The regular season begins with one of baseball's best rivalries at the majors' second-oldest ballpark, but Wrigley Field will have a much different look than it did at the end of last year. A massive new video board is expected to be in place for opening day and the famed bleachers will be under construction for the first part of the season. The Cubs themselves also have a much different look, with Jon Lester leading an improved rotation and Joe Maddon in the dugout. It is mostly business as usual for St. Louis, which is trying for its third consecutive NL Central title.

May 1: New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox: The Yankees play for the first time this season at Fenway Park, where the Red Sox faithful likely will have some choice words for Alex Rodriguez in what could be his first game in Boston since his one-year drug suspension. Rodriguez, who turns 40 in July, is a .288 hitter with 24 homers and 76 RBIs in 119 career games at the oldest park in majors, having opened in 1912.