NASHUA – The good news is that on an unseasonably warm December Tuesday, the Nashua Silver Knights schedule fittingly has been released, nearly three months earlier than it was a year ago.

The so-called bad? Well, at first look, the Silver Knights are playing in a Futures Collegiate Baseball League that is shrinking.

At least that’s the optic, as the Brockton Rox are no more, with its former ownership apparently needing to use its funds for the New England Knockouts professional independent league (Frontier) team that made its debut last spring. With the Rox no longer in the FCBL, that eliminated the need for a travel Road Warriors team to keep an even number.

It’s quality over quantity, to hear FCBL Commissioner Joe Paolucci address it.

“They (Brockton) did us a favor playing last year, and I don’t think they wanted to with (having) the independent league team,” Paolucci said. “I know that (shrinking) is what the perception is. The league is strong as long as the organization is strong, it doesn’t matter how many teams you have.”

And Brockton simply wasn’t strong.

This will definitely be a different season as the Silver Knights are opening up their 62-game schedule on Wednesday, May 28 at Holman Stadium – with the first of two morning Education Day Games, instead of the traditional evening game opener. The Knights will host the Worcester Bravehearts at 10:3 a.m.

Call it a soft open. The first night game will be two days later on Friday,May 30, vs. Vermont, and that will have traditional Opening Night festivities, Silver Knights general manager Cam Cook said.

“I’d rather open up Wednesday on an Education Day than Wednesday at 6 p.m.,” Cook said, citing the crowd difference. “I do feel for our season ticket holders and loyal, loyal fans whether they can’t attend or it’s going to be a sea of children that they come to. I feel better about it knowing two days later, that Friday game on May 30, will be the real kickoff to the season, our formal Opening Day, with our pre-game ceremonies and stuff there.”

Nashua, Vermont, Worcester, Westfield, New Britain and two-time defending champion Norwich constitute the league, its lowest number of teams since its second year, 2012.

The closest team to Nashua is now Worcester. In the last few years, the FCBL has seen North Shore (Lynn, Mass.), Martha’s Vineyard , and Bristol (Conn.) jump to the rival New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). Pittsfield (Mass.) is basically on hiatus until its historic Wahconah Park is renovated or rebuilt.

It’s a simple schedule this summer that sees no games on Mondays, but the league will go until August 9, five days later than last year – but it is starting four days later as well.

Nashua will have five Fridays during the season, but only four of them are team Fireworks Nights. The other is actually the 11 a.m. July 4 game, this year vs. New Britain. July has just one Friday fireworks night; the other three are in June. “There’s the ying and the yang to that, one Friday is the Fourth of July,” Cook said, noting it’s a heavily attended game anyway. “We kind of lost one there but the Fourth of July is a good one to have.”

June does not have the glut of weeknight games (Tuesday-Wednesday) that the team had a year ago – just two Tuesdays and one Wednesday. However, the Knights pay for that in July with three Tuesdays and two Wednesdays. They have one discount beer Thursday night in June and three in July, plus one in August. Tuesday’s are also discount beer nights as well.

Game times are 6 p.m. except the two Education Day games (the second is Tuesday, June 3 at 10:30 a.m.), and five Sunday 3 p.m. games.

The league’s All-Star Game, at a site to be determined, is on Tuesday, July 22, part of a three day Monday thru Wednesday break. League sources say that Worcester is the leader in the clubhouse for the event, an announcement may come as early as later this week. Nashua comes out of the break at home vs. Vermont on Thursday, July 24. They will be on the road from July 25 to Friday, Aug. 1, back home on Saturday. Aug. 2.

There are just two instances when there are as many as three straight nights of home games: Friday-Sunday June 27-29 and Tuesday-Thursday July 8-10.

The final regular season home game will be at home on Saturday, Aug. 9 at 6 p.m. Playoffs – the top four teams will still qualify despite the reduction to six teams – will begin likely Sunday, Aug. 10, as Paolucci said the league may opt for a day off in between the semis and finals.

Meanwhile, the league will look to add next season, but ownerships couldn’t really be established in a couple of locations – think Lowell and Rockland, Mass. as possibilities – for all to be comfortable. And getting the schedule out this month was a priority.

“It puts every team in a better position,” Cook said. “In no world were we really confident that if we had eight teams it was going to stay that way in January or February, which would have delayed it more.”