Brewers to open shortened season against Cubs at Wrigley Field

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The Milwaukee Brewers will open the delayed and shortened 2020 season on July 24 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Outfielder Lorenzo Cain and the rest of the Milwaukee Brewers will start the shortened 2020 season against the Chicago Cubs on Friday, July 24, at Wrigley Field.

MORRY GASH, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Manager Craig Counsell's team will play 10 games — five home, five road — against the Cardinals, Cubs, Pirates and Reds and five games against each team from the AL Central Division.

MORRY GASH, ASSOCIATED PRESS

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MILWAUKEE — So much about the 2020 baseball season is expected to be different, but the Milwaukee Brewers will at least start the season exactly as they had planned before COVID-19 brought spring training to a halt back in March.

The Brewers will open the delayed and shortened ‘20 season on July 24 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The 6:10 p.m. game will be televised on ESPN.

They’ll return to national television the next day when Fox Sports (Ch. 47) carries a 12:05 p.m. game from Wrigley Field.

Following their opening weekend series, the Brewers will head to Pittsburgh for three games with the Pirates before returning to Milwaukee for their home opener against the Cardinals at 1 p.m. on Friday, July 31, the first of a three-game set against the defending NL Central champions.

They’ll follow that with four games against the White Sox — two in Milwaukee and two in Chicago — then host six straight against the Reds and Twins before returning to Chicago for four games against the Cubs.

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The Brewers close the regular season with a tough slate, heading on the road for three in Cincinnati and four in St. Louis.

Their longest trip of the season will take place Monday, Aug. 13, through Wednesday, Aug. 23, when they play 10 games against the Cubs (four), Twins and Pirates. They’ll return to Milwaukee for their longest homestand of the season with 10 games against the Reds (four), Pirates (four) and Tigers.

Teams will play 60 games this season, with 40 of those games coming against their divisional rivals and 20 more interleague games against teams from the opposite geographical division.

For the Brewers, that means 10 games apiece against the Cardinals, Cubs, Pirates and Reds.

Instead of playing five games against each team at home and on the road, the series will be split either 7/3 or 6/4 while the interleague matchups will feature six games against a team’s natural interleague rival which, in the Brewers case, would be the Minnesota Twins.

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Seven of the Brewers’ 10 games with the Cubs will be played in Wrigley Field while six of their meetings with the Cardinals will be played at Miller Park.

Earlier Monday, Brewers manager Craig Counsell acknowledged because of the nature of the season and the efforts to minimize travel by limiting schedules geographically achieving parity would be nearly impossible.

“We understand it,” Counsell said. “You just have to do your best with it. 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, and this is no exception.”

Each team will have six scheduled off-days during the regular season, which will conclude Sept. 27.

In addition to the regular-season schedule, the Brewers announced they’ll play an exhibition game against the White Sox on Wednesday, July 22, at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.

July: 24 at Chicago Cubs, 6:10 p.m.; 25 at Chicago Cubs, 12:05 p.m.; 26 at Chicago Cubs, 1:20 p.m.; 27 at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.; 28 at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.; 29 at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.; 31 vs. St. Louis, 1:10 p.m.

August: 1 vs. St. Louis, 6:10 p.m.; 2 vs. St. Louis, 1:10 p.m.; 3 vs. Chicago White Sox, 7:10 p.m.; 4 vs. Chicago White Sox, 7:10 p.m.; 5 at Chicago (AL), 7:10 p.m.; 6 at Chicago (AL), 7:10 p.m.; 7 vs. Cincinnati, 7:10 p.m.; 8 vs. Cincinnati, 6:10 p.m.; 9 vs. Cincinnati, 1:10 p.m.; 10 vs. Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.; 11 vs. Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.; 12 vs. Minnesota, 6:10 p.m.; 13 at Chicago (NL), 3:05 p.m.; 14 at Chicago (NL), 7:15 p.m.; 15 at Chicago (NL), 7:15 p.m.; 16 at Chicago (NL), 1:20 p.m.; 18 at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.; 19 at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.; 20 at Minnesota, 6:10 p.m.; 21 at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.; 22 at Pittsburgh, 3:05; 23 at Pittsburgh, 12:35 p.m.; 24 vs. Cincinnati, 7:10 p.m.; 25 vs. Cincinnati, 7:10 p.m.; 26 vs. Cincinnati, 7:10 p.m.; 27 vs. Cincinnati, 7:10 p.m.; 28 vs. Pittsburgh, 7:10 p.m.; 29 vs. Pittsburgh, 6:10 p.m.; 30 vs. Pittsburgh, 1:10 p.m.; 31 vs. Pittsburgh, 6:40 p.m.

September: 1 vs. Detroit, 6:40 p.m.; 2 vs. Detroit, 6:40 p.m.; 4 at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.; 5 at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.; 6 at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.; 8 at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.; 9 at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.; 11 vs. Chicago (NL), 7:10 p.m.; 12 vs. Chicago (NL), 6:10 p.m.; 13 vs. Chicago (NL), 1:10 p.m.; 14 vs. St. Louis, 6:40 p.m.; 15 vs. St. Louis, 6:40 p.m.; 16 vs. St. Louis, 6:40 p.m.; 18 vs. Kansas City, 7:10 p.m.; 19 vs. Kansas City, 6:10 p.m.; 20 vs. Kansas City, 1:10 p.m.; 21 at Cincinnati, 5:40 p.m.; 22 at Cincinnati, 5:40 p.m.; 23 at Cincinnati, 5:40 p.m.; 24 at St. Louis, 7:15 p.m.; 25 at St. Louis, 7:15 p.m.; 26 at St. Louis, 6:15 p.m.; 27 at St. Louis, 2:15 p.m.