Season will start at Wrigley
In the original Major League Baseball schedule for the 2020 season, the Milwaukee Brewers' opener was set for Miller Park against the Chicago Cubs on March 26.
The schedule for the pandemic-delayed 60-game season was released Monday and the Brewers' opening opponent remained the same. The venue, however, has changed.
The Brewers will open the shortest and most unique season in majorleague history on Friday, July 24 against the Cubs at Wrigley Field in a 6:10 p.m contest. With no fans allowed in the friendly confines, that setting will be more than a bit surreal, with the closest
spectators on the rooftops across the street.
After the Brewers’ opening threegame series in Chicago, they will travel to Pittsburgh for three games against the Pirates. They return for their home opener on Friday, July 31, against the St. Louis Cardinals at 1:10 p.m. at Miller Park.
The Brewers will play three games against the Cardinals in that first home stand, then two against the Chicago White Sox before going to Chicago for two more against the Sox. Then, it’s back home for three games against Cincinnati and three against Minnesota.
To limit travel, and hopefully exposure to COVID-19, teams will play regional schedules, with East Division teams in both leagues facing each other, and teams from the Central and West Divisions doing likewise. The Brewers will play 40 games against their NL Central foes – 10 each against the Cubs, Cardinals, Reds and Pirates – as well as 20 games against AL Central teams, including home-and-home series against “regional rival” Minnesota.
The three home games against the Twins will be on July 10-12. The Brewers play in Minnesota on July 18-20.
There has been much discussion about the fairness of those schedules, especially over a shortened 60-game season, in terms of making the postseason, but Brewers manager Craig Counsell said he wouldn’t spend much time worrying about such things.
“I’ll be honest with you. I’m not spending too much time thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of the schedule,” Counsell said. “We’ll have 60 games in front of us and I don’t think any schedule is going to be perfect. It’s hard to make perfectly equitable schedules, especially in this setting.
“I think we understand that. Then, you do your best with it. It’s not going to be an excuse. You just roll with it, really. That’s how we’re approaching it. There’s positives and negatives. Whenever anyone looks at a major-league schedule, we find things we like and things we think were a little bit different,