List Of Milwaukee Brewers Opening Day Starting Pitchers
The Milwaukee Brewers are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They play in the National League Central division. The first game of the new baseball season for a team is played on Opening Day, and being named the Opening Day starter is an honor, which is given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season. The Brewers played their inaugural season in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots, playing home games at Sick's Stadium. The team moved to Milwaukee in 1970, and played their home games at Milwaukee County Stadium until 2000. The team's current home, Miller Park, has been the Brewers' home field since the start of the 2001 season. The Pilots/Brewers played their first 29 seasons in the American League, and switched leagues at the start of the 1998 season.
The Brewers have used 27 different Opening Day starting pitchers in their 43 seasons. The 26 starters have a combined Opening Day record of 14 wins, 15 losses and 14 no decisions. No decisions are only awarded to the starting pitcher if the game is won or lost after the starting pitcher has left the game or if the starting pitcher pitches fewer than five innings. Of the 14 no decisions, the Brewers went on to win seven and lose six of those games (one ended in a tie), for a team record on Opening Day of 21–18.
The Pilots' first Opening Day starting pitcher was Marty Pattin, who received the win in a 4–3 victory against the California Angels. After the team's move to Milwaukee in 1970, Lew Krausse Jr. was charged with the loss in a game at Milwaukee County Stadium vs. the Angels. Ben Sheets holds the club record for most Opening Day starts with six, from 2002 through 2005 and again in both 2007 and 2008. Sheets has a 3–0 record as a starter on Opening Day, the franchise's best record. Marty Pattin and Mike Caldwell also have perfect records; both won each of their two starts. The Brewers' 15 Opening Day losses by starters are distributed among 15 different pitchers, each having lost one game.
Steve Woodard received an unusual no-decision in 2000, when the team's Opening Day game against the Cincinnati Reds was called in the sixth inning due to rain, with the score tied at 3. This was the first Opening Day tie game since 1965.
The Brewers advanced to the playoffs in 1981, 1982 and 2008. The franchise's first playoff experience was in the strike-shortened 1981 season. In a special format created for that season, the Brewers were the second-half champion and lost the AL Division Series to the first-half champion, the New York Yankees, in five games. Mike Caldwell had started and won on Opening Day that season, but the team's playoff opener had Moose Haas start and lose a 5–3 game to the Yankees. The Brewers' lost the 1982 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games; Pete Vuckovich was the Opening Day starter and winner that season and Mike Caldwell was the starting pitcher in the team's first World Series appearance, a 10–0 win. In the 2008 season, Ben Sheets was the Opening Starter in a no-decision; Yovani Gallardo started and lost the first game of the 2008 National League Division Series, which was won by the Philadelphia Phillies in four games.
Overall, the Brewers' Opening Day starting pitchers have a record of 3 wins and 2 losses at Milwaukee County Stadium and 1 win and 1 loss at Miller Park. The Brewers' Opening Day starting pitchers' combined home record is 4 wins and 3 losses, and their away record is 10 wins and 12 losses.
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“Shea—they call him Scholar Jack—
Went down the list of the dead.
Officers, seamen, gunners, marines,
The crews of the gig and yawl,
The bearded man and the lad in his teens,
Carpenters, coal-passers—all.”
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