re: Baseball schedule question: is playing 12 games in the first 17 days of the season normal?

Listened to Chris Blair interview Jay on the Hey Fighting Podcast network and they discussed it. Basically gives them the opportunity to see guys play in a regional type situation playing different teams, prepares the coaching staff for postseason play having to prepare for multiple teams, and he also mentioned how the beginning of the season always has the excitement from fans and players early to get started so he thought it would be good to front load the schedule a little more and get them playing a lot early.