Brewers at Blue Jays 

The Brewers are set to head north of the border for a pair of interleague games, as the Blue Jays open in front of the Toronto fans.

Like the Brewers, the Blue Jays have a lineup that could again prove to be very good but have struggled to start the year. Toronto comes into this series at 1-5, but again like the Brewers, have been competitive just about every night. Two of those losses have already been of the walk-off variety — one on Opening Day in the 11th inning against the Oriels, and the other on Saturday in 11 innings against the Rays. Only one of their losses has been by more than three runs.

Trying to avoid the injury bug the Brewers pitching staff is in for a tough test, yet again. The powerful Lineup lead by Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson is not one to mess around with. Willy Peralta and Chase Anderson are the expected starters for the crew.

The Brewers completed their season-opening homestand with a 2-5 record, capped by a 7-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. They had Monday off before starting a nine-game trip.

Like the Blue Jays, the Brewers have had to use their bullpen frequently as well as dealing with injuries among relievers. The Brewers beat the Cubs 2-1 on Friday in 11 innings.

The Brewers will start right-hander Wily Peralta (1-0, 0.00 ERA). He pitched five scoreless innings on April 5 in a 6-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies. He has faced Toronto once in his career, allowing four earned runs in six innings in a no-decision in 2014.

Preview: Opening Day

Miller Park is gearing up for its 16th season of Major Leauge Baseball. Bernie is set to slide and the sausages will take a lap in the 7th. With rain on the away, the roof will stay closed for a mid-day matinee.

The Brewers will host the Colorado Rockies in game 1 of the 2017 season at Miller Park. The young roster will obtain 9 players making their first opening day roster in the bigs.

Two right-handers who took disparate roads to the majors will share a distinction Monday as opening-day starters when the Rockies visit the Brewers at Miller Park. Junior Guerra makes his first opening day start of his career.

Brewers catcher Manny Pina is familiar with Guerra because they’re both from Venezuela, though Pina didn’t start catching Guerra until they were both in the Brewers organization last season.

“Guerra gained command of his fastball and gained confidence from pitching both in the Independent League and leagues outside the country”, Pina said. “But watch out for Guerra’s splitter.”

Guerra emerged last season to become Milwaukee’s most reliable starter, going 9-3 with a 2.81 ERA in 20 starts after being called up on May 1. With the Brewers lacking a true ace, Guerra earned the opening day start from manager Craig Counsell.

2017 Milwaukee Brewers April Schedule

Each month I will do a schedule preview to take a look at the upcoming games.

The Brewers open up the year with 8 scheduled series in April. Opening up with a 4 game series against the Colorado Rockies at Miller Park. The Rockies are looking to a get off to a hot start after their lackluster year, last season. The first weekend series will begin at home against the rival, world series champions Chicago Cubs. A 2 game interleague series against the neighbors to the north, Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays will be a tough test, especially for the pitching staff. The Jays were a quality playoff team last year looking to get back to the promise land.  3 National league central series will follow. Set to begin in Chicago then come back to Milwaukee against the Cardinals and the Reds. April will end at home with a series against the Braves at home.

April can be a good month for the young Brewers club. More than a majority of games at will help the young players settle into the big leagues.

My prediction is for the crew to take 18 of the first 26 games keeping them atop of the NL central standings.