Photo Courtesy Daveynin (Flickr CC)
Cactus League games begin this week for the 2018 Milwaukee Brewers and if you want to catch them all, your schedule is pretty simple: With the exception of a few off days the Brewers play at 2:05 or 2:10 Central time each afternoon through March 10, then 3:05 or 3:10 each afternoon through the final weekend of camp. Even their lone Arizona night game this spring, an 8:40 start against the Mariners on March 21, comes on a day when there’s also an afternoon game.
After that, however, planning your life around a six month Brewers regular season becomes a bit more challenging. For one, you’re going to need more days off work than you’ve taken in the past: The 2018 Brewers play 58 day games, as compared to 49 a year ago. There are also significantly more off days on the calendar, though. An early start to the season on March 29 means the Brewers have 185 days to fit 162 games in, and they’ll have idle days significantly more often during the week as a result.
If you find yourself looking for a day of the week when you can make other plans this season, Thursday is your best bet: the Brewers play evening games on just nine of the 2018 season’s 27 Thursdays and are off 13 times.
What follows is a quick look at the Brewers’ 2018 schedule by day of the week, to aid with your planning for the months ahead. For these purposes, day game start times range from 11:30 am to 3:10 pm Central time, evening games range from 6:05 to 7:45 pm and late games are any start after 8 pm.
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Monday:
Day games: 3
Evening games: 13
Late games: 2
Off days: 8
The biggest thing to note in this group is the virtual extinction of the Monday day game to wrap up a four-game weekend series, once a staple of the baseball schedule. The Brewers’ three Monday day games in 2018 are all special occasions: The home opener against the Cardinals on April 2, Memorial Day against the Cardinals on May 28 and Labor Day against the Cubs on September 3.
Tuesday:
Day games: 2
Evening games: 21
Late games: 2
Off days: 1*
As is typically the case, Tuesdays are a bad night for baseball fans to make other plans. With the exception of day games against the Twins and Cubs in July and August, respectively, the Brewers play in the evening or late evening every week from April 3 to September 25. The lone off day above gets an asterisk because it’s the night of the All Star Game.
Wednesday:
Day games: 13
Evening games: 11
Late games: 1
Off days: 1
The Brewers have nine more day games on the calendar in 2018 than they had in 2017 and the majority of them are seen here: Last year they played just six Wednesday matinees and this year the majority of games on that day will be played in the afternoon. That 13 includes six consecutive Wednesday afternoon games between May 9 and June 13 before the schedule largely shifts to night games once kids are back in school in late August and September. Here again, the lone off day falls during the All Star break.
Thursday:
Day games: 3
Evening games: 9
Late games: 2
Off days: 13
If you need to pick a day of the week to give your fandom an off day and spend time with family or whatever in 2018, Thursday is your day. The Brewers narrowly avoided being off more often than not on Thursdays this season, and have six more Thursday off days on the calendar than they did a year ago. The last Thursday night game of the season at Miller Park is before the All Star break (July 5), and from August 16 through the end of the season the Brewers play on Thursday just one time in seven weeks (a day game in Cincinnati on August 30).
Friday:
Day games: 1
Evening games: 24
Late games: 2
Off days: 0
Once you’ve taken care of your family obligations on Thursday, get back to your couch for baseball every Friday night for 26 out of 27 weeks. The lone exception to the “night games only” rule here is an April 27 matinee at Wrigley Field.
Saturday:
Day games: 10
Evening games: 16
Late games: 1
Off days: 0
Take this schedule with a grain of salt, as Saturday games can frequently see their start times changed to accommodate national television broadcasts. With that said, the Brewers had just three Saturday day games on the schedule at the start of the 2017 season but have ten of them planned for 2018. All of them come before the All Star break, interestingly enough.
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Sunday:
Day games: 26
Evening games: 0
Late games: 0
Off Days: 1
The rare Sunday off day listed here comes right away on April 1 following a Thursday-Saturday season-opening series in San Diego.
This schedule is also subject to change due to national TV broadcasts, but ESPN selected 2018’s first ten Sunday Night Baseball broadcasts before the Brewers acquired Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich and left Milwaukee off the calendar, opting instead to air three Cubs games, three Yankees games and two games each for the Giants, Dodgers, Nationals, Astros and Cardinals. If the Brewers are in contention as the season progresses then their June 24 home game against the Cardinals and their September 2 game in Washington could be among those ESPN looks to pick up.
