The Major League Baseball schedule won’t be officially announced until Monday night, but Cubs Insider has gained an advanced look at the Cubs list for 2020. According to a source familiar with the situation, the Cubs will open at home against the Brewers. Friday, July 24 in the first of what will be some very uneven home / road splits with divisional opponents.
Instead of playing five games at each stadium, the Cubs’ 10 games against their National League Central Division rivals will be split 7/3. Getting the Brewers and Cardinals for seven games at Wrigley is great, but playing seven games at Cincy can be difficult. The Cubs will also play the White Sox six times, the Indians and Royals four times each, and the Twins (at Wrigley) and the Tigers only three times each. ->
Game times have not yet been announced, but weekday games other than Friday are expected to be at night. Weekend games will likely be during the day unless the Cubs are part of Sunday Night Baseball. ->
Here is the full schedule:
7/24 – Brewers
7/25 – Brewers
7/26 – Brewers
7/27 – @ Reds
7/28 – @ Reds
7/29 – @ Reds
7/30 – @ reds
7/31 – Pirates
1/8 – Pirates
2/8 – Pirates
3/8 – Royals
4/8 – Real
5/8 – @ Royals
6/8 – @ Royals
7/8 – @ Cardinals
8/8 – @ Cardinals
9/8 – @ Cardinals
8/10 – DISABLED
11/8 – @ indians / spiders
12/8 – @ indians / spiders
8/13 – Brewers
8/14 – Brewers
8/15 – Brewers
8/16 – Brewers
8/17 – Cardinals
8/18 – Cardinals
8/19 – Cardinals
8/20 – DISABLED
8/21 – White Sox
8/22 – White Sox
8/23 – White Sox
8/24 – @ Tigres
8/25 – @ Tigres
8/26 – @ Tigres
08/27 – OFF
8/28 – @ Reds
8/29 – @ Reds
8/30 – @ Reds
8/31 – OFF
1/9 – @ Pirates
2/9 – @ Pirates
9/3 – @ pirates
4/9 – Cardinals
5/9 – Cardinals
9/6 – Cardinals
9/7 – Cardinals
9/8 – Reds
9/9 – Reds
10/10 – Reds
11/9 – @ Brewers
12/9 – @ Brewers
9/13 – @ Brewers
9/14 – OFF
9/15 – Indians / Spiders
9/16 – Indians / Spiders
9/17 – DISABLED
9/18 – Cufflinks
9/19 – Cufflinks
9/20 – Cufflinks
9/21 – @ Pirates
9/22 – @ Pirates
09/23 – @ Pirates
09/24 – @ Pirates
9/25 – @ White Sox
9/26 – @ White Sox
9/27 – @ White Sox
Ed. Note: Some thoughts may get lost in the rush to post, so I wanted to add an observation here while I’m still on my mind. Unbalanced divisions of the origin road are one way to limit travel by cutting one trip from each match, but they might not result in an advantage in one way or another as they would under normal circumstances.
Regardless, divisional teams have unbalanced divisions every season, this only increases a little. But what really balances things is the lack of most or all fans in the stadiums, which will change the dynamics of the advantage of playing at home. We are not talking about big factors in one way or another, of course, but it is an interesting concept to ponder.
What I find even more intriguing than the notion that a visiting team will not have to face legions of detractors is that neither team will have much noise. It has been at least a bit disconcerting to see the Cubs scrimmages in the squad at Wrigley and I think that will have an impact on the players if the season starts.
This could actually be a bonus for the Brewers in particular, as they don’t have to worry about the Cubs having more fans than they do at Miller Park. That also means they don’t have to invent ways to keep Illinois residents from buying tickets, a futile exercise that always makes me laugh.
