Image: Artur Didyk - Getty Images
Baseball batter at night in stadium
It’s not going to start exactly when it was supposed to and it will look a little different, but Major League Baseball will be back soon and it’s time to take out your calendar to get ready.
Originally scheduled for Thursday, MLB’s Opening Day has been pushed back a week, but teams will still play a full 162-game schedule, making up the games by eliminating three off days and tacking a previously scheduled April series onto the end of the calendar in October. The resulting schedule is a mix of new things and things that will feel familiar.
The most unusual thing in the adapted schedule is a one-game homestand against on April 25 and a planned doubleheader at American Family Field on Sept. 8 to make up a series with the Giants that was postponed due to the lockout. After being originally scheduled to open the season at home, the Brewers will also start a full 162-game season on the road for the first time since 2018.
Overall this schedule features 63 day games, the most in any Brewers season since at least 2017. For the purposes of this discussion, any game that starts before 5 p.m. is considered a day game. There are also a lot of early evening contests this season, with eleven scheduled “night” games with a first pitch before 6 pm Central time. Games starting after 8:30 p.m. Central Time are marked “late.”
With game times filled in for nearly all of the Brewers’ 162 contests, here’s a day-by-day breakdown of the baseball ahead:
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Monday:
- Day Games: 4
- Night Games: 10
- Late Games: 2
- Off Days: 10
The “day game” count above is somewhat deceptive as this season’s four Monday day games all fall on special occasions: The Orioles’ home opener on April 11, Memorial Day, Labor Day and the Fourth of July.
All told, Monday is the Brewers’ most frequent off day this season and becomes even more sparse during the heart of the summer: From June 6 through July 18 the Brewers play just two Monday games in a span of seven weeks.
Tuesday:
- Day Games: 0
- Night Games: 23
- Late Games: 2
- Off Days: 1*
For another season Tuesday is the busiest weeknight on the Brewers’ calendar: They haven’t played a day game on a Tuesday since 2018 and their only off day on the calendar is only an off day for some, as it’s the night of the All Star Game in July.
This year there are a couple of Tuesdays where the Brewers’ schedule has baseball well after many folks’ bedtimes: On May 24 they play the second of back-to-back 8:40 pm starts in San Diego, and on August 23 they’ll play the second of a three game series against the Dodgers with start times of 9:10, 9:10 and 8 p.m. Central Time.
Wednesday:
- Day Games: 12
- Night Games: 12
- Late Games: 1
- Off Days: 1
For the first time since 2018 the Brewers are scheduled to play every regular season Wednesday except the All Star break. They’ve also scheduled the most Wednesday day games of any season in the last four years. Some of them will start especially early, with four scheduled for a first pitch at or before 12:10 pm. The twelfth night game is assumed at this point but still listed as “TBA” on the schedule as teams wait to hear MLB’s plans for the regular season’s final day on Oct. 5.
Thursday:
- Day Games: 9
- Night Games: 7
- Late Games: 2
- Off Days: 9
With Thursday often serving as a “getaway” day before teams leave to open a series in a new city on Friday, Thursday night baseball has become an increasingly rare commodity. The Brewers played just seven Thursday night games (and no late games) in 2021, had just eight on the schedule before the 2020 calendar was wiped out and played just five such games in 2019. There would have been just six “prime time” night games on the calendar this season if not for the aforementioned doubleheader against the Giants, which is listed here as both a day and a night game.
Friday:
- Day Games: 2
- Night Games: 22
- Late Games: 2
- Off Days: 0
Wrigley Field is the only MLB venue to regularly host Friday matinees, and the Brewers are there for a pair of them on April 8 and Aug. 19. This may happen less often in future seasons, as upcoming MLB schedules will include fewer games against division rivals (and fewer trips to Chicago for the Brewers) in favor of a calendar where every team faces every other team every year.
Saturday:
- Day Games: 11
- Night Games: 15
- Late Games: 0
- Off Days: 0
The Saturday slate is far from final at this point, as games may be moved forward or back to accommodate national television broadcasts or to get out of the window of other national TV broadcasts. The Brewers are already slated for four national TV appearances on Saturdays, with games on FOX on July 16, Aug. 6 and Sept. 10 and FS1 on August 20.
|
|
Sunday:
- Day Games: 25
- Night Games: 1
- Late Games: 0
- Off Days: 0
While most of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball schedule won’t be determined until a later date, the Brewers already know they’ve got one appearance on the calendar: Their April 24 game against the Phillies has been moved to the evening for that national appearance and will make the schedule a little tighter for a trip where they go from Philadelphia to Milwaukee to Pittsburgh in a span of about 36 hours.
With most of ESPN’s schedule yet to be determined, the Brewers could be moved to Sunday night several more times this season if they stay in contention. They have games on the calendar on May 29 and Aug. 14 against the Cardinals, July 17 against the Giants and Sept. 18 against the Yankees.
