The Milwaukee Brewers announced the schedule for the 2021 regular season, which – no joke – opens on April 1 at 1:10 p.m. against the Minnesota Twins in Milwaukee.
It will be the first regular season game to be played at the newly renamed American Family Field ... and it's 49 days away.
Besides the fact that it still remains unclear how many, if any, fans will be allowed to attend games, it’s an unusual schedule. (Fans were not present at all during the 2020 season due to the pandemic.)
For example, it’s the first time the Crew is opening with an interleague game.
That doesn’t mean it’s the first time the team is facing the Twins on opening day of the season, however. The two teams – back then both in the American League – opened together in 1971 in Minneapolis and 1992 here.
I also noticed that the NL Central Brewers' two series against the Mets, who are in the NL East, are unusual. Typically both the home and away series are played in April and May, but this year, the Brewers head to Flushing Meadows in July and the Mets visit Brew City in late September.
That home series is part of a marathon Milwaukee September during which the Brewers play 16 of 26 games at home, including the season’s longest homestand. During that 10-game stretch, from Sept. 17-26, they’ll host the Cubs, the Cardinals and Mets.
A a 10-game road trip from Aug. 9-19 includes games at Wrigley Field to face the Cubs (Aug. 9-12), the lovely PNC Park to play the Pittsburgh Pirates (Aug. 13-15) and Busch Stadium to meet the Cards (Aug. 17-19).
This year marks the second straight season in which the Brewers will tackle the American League Central in Interleague play, with home sets against Minnesota (April 1-4), Detroit (May 31-June 1), Kansas City (July 20-21) and the Chicago White Sox (July 23-25).
The Brewers will travel to Kansas City (May 18-19), Minnesota (Aug. 27-29), Cleveland (Sept. 10-12) and Detroit (Sept. 14-15) in Interleague play. Alas, there’s no away series on Chicago’s South Side.
At the installation of the first American Family Field signage a couple weeks ago, Brewers President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger said that the goal was to have fans in the stands this season, but added that it will depend on numerous factors.
You can see the entire schedule in the image above.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
