MLB Opening Day: Planning your life around the 2021 Milwaukee Brewers season

After the shortened season in 2020, it’s back to a full schedule of 162 games in 2021. That means a lot more games to plan around, and while you’re waiting for life to get back to normal, that means more opportunities to watch or listen to the Brewers. Still, there’s some need to plan out what times you have to keep available for those games. So, here’s our yearly guide to planning your life around the season.

First, let’s take a look at the schedule by day of the week and starting time:

As usual, if you‘re looking for days to do something other than watch the Brewers, your best bets are Monday and Thursday. Saturday and Sunday have no off days, and there’s only two off days on Friday, both at the start of the season. Tuesday and Wednesday are also busy days, with only the All-Star Break and a random Wednesday during the season being off days.

As for start times, most games (103 of 162) will be at night again, and most of the day games will happen on the weekend (35 day games on Saturday and Sunday). Late night starts are a bit more limited, with only 9 games starting after 8 PM.

Next up, let’s see how the home and road schedule breaks down each month:

It’s a mostly balanced schedule. Three months with more home than road, three months with more road than home. June is the busiest home month with 17 home games, and July is the quietest with only 9 home games. Off days are also well spread, with 3 or 4 each month except July that has a few extra days with the All-Star Break.

Next, let’s look at some of the longest streaks of the season:

Longest home stand: September 17-26 (3 vs. Cubs, 4 vs. Cardinals, 3 vs. Mets)

This home stand will be a critical season ending stretch for the Brewers. All three opponents will likely be competing for playoff spots, and this will also be 2 critical series against NL Central title contenders. A strong home stand could put the Brewers in the playoffs. A weaker one could place the Brewers on the outside looking in.

Longest road trip: August 9-19 (4 @ Cubs, 3 @ Pirates, 3 @ Cardinals)

Similar to the late season home stand, this road trip may establish a division leader going into September. Two of the three opponents will be division contenders, and all can be a thorn in the Brewers side.

Longest Streaks of Consecutive Games: 17 twice (April 23 - May 9, June 25 - July 11)

The Brewers will get to play 17 in a row twice this season, though both streaks happen relatively early. The first starts in April, when the team should still be mostly fresh and able to take on an extended streak of games. The second happens around the midpoint in June and leads right into the All-Star Break, so the team should have plenty of time to rest once that trip is over.

West Coast road trips

April 19-21 @ San Diego
June 17-23 @ Colorado, Arizona
August 30-September 2 @ San Francisco
October 1-3 @ Los Angeles

There’s four different west coast trips this season, evenly spread throughout the season. The first one comes up early in the season with a trip to San Diego in April. The longest west coast trip happens in June, with a two city trip to Denver and Phoenix. The remaining trips happen late season. One trip happens to start the month of September in San Francisco. Then, the Brewers finish the regular season with a trip to Los Angeles. Keep these trips in mind as they will have later start times.

Let’s finish up with some quirks in the schedule.

• After a series against the Cardinals between May 11 and 13, the Brewers and Cardinals don’t play again until August. The two teams then play 13 times over the last 43 games.
• Meanwhile, the Reds and Pirates are absent in the last month of the season. The Brewers last game against the Reds is August 26, and the last game against the Pirates is August 15.
• The Brewers will also see a lot of the Pirates in a 3 week period. Between July 27 and August 15, the two teams play 9 times, and in 3 of 6 series during that period.
• Similarly, the Cubs will be a common opponent to start the season. After the opening series against the Twins, the Brewers and Cubs play 9 times in 3 weeks, also meeting up in 3 of 6 series during that time.

With that, you now are ready to plan your life around the 2021 season. It’s a full schedule again and plenty of baseball to watch. Get settled in and ready for a long season of baseball. We have plenty of games to enjoy.