The Milwaukee Brewers are the first to visit Great American Ball Park for a four game series of the Reds' Central Division rivals. The Reds will host the St. Louis Cardinals for three games, starting May 27. The Chicago Cubs will host the Reds for three games, beginning May 31, then visit the Reds for four games from June 6 through the 9th. Finally the Pittsburgh Pirates will meet for six games in nine days. The Reds go to PNC park for three on June 17 and host the Bucs a week later on June 24 with three more. The following is a rundown of the division foes in order of appearance. All-time series Brewers lead 220-212-1 Last season the Brewer were 10-3 against the Reds The Brewers were 92-70 last season, winning the Central Division but losing to Arizona in the Wild Card round. The Brewers manager for the last nine years, Craig Counsel, defected to their arch rivals the Chicago Cubs. Counsel's college coach at Notre Dame University, Pat Murphy. The Brewers will have 11 new faces in the lineup to start the season. We look different than last year. Yes, we are young, there are going to be some learning curves and stuff like that but they are all very talented players and we will be just fine," veteran Christian Yelich told the Milwaukee media. The Brewers welcome 20-year old outfielder, Jackson Chourio, to the roster. He was rated the second best prospect in baseball. Chourio will be the youngest player to make the Brewers roster since teenager Robin Yount in 1974 at the age of 18. Chourio beat out University of Cincinnati graduate Joey Weimer, who had a productive rookie season. An injury suffered late in spring training to top prospect Garrett Mitchell. The starting rotation, the team's strength the last few season, took a hit when they lost former Cy Young winner, Corbin Burnes to free agency and Brandon Woodruff to injury that will cost him the season. The new ace Freddy Peralta will lead left-hander DL Hall, Colin Rea, Joe Ross and Jakob Junis. Former Red Wade Miley will likely join the rotation after he recovers from shoulder soreness. The Brewers had another setback when closer, Devin Williams, who will miss the first six weeks with a stress fracture in his lower back. Trevor Megill, Joel Payamps and Elvis Peguero are candidates to replace Williams with 23-year old phenom Abner Uribe with a shot to compete for the gig. William Contreras and Gary Sanchez are the catchers. Sanchez is expected to DH as well. Newcomer Rhys Hoskins is slated for first base. Speedster Brice Turang is penciled in at second base. He can also play the outfield. Veteran Willy Adames returns at shortstop. Joey Ortiz and second year player, Sal Frelick, will share third base. Frelick is the left-handed bat in the platoon, who can also play outfield. The outfield features Yelich, Chourio and Blake Perkins with Weimer in the wings until Mitchel returns. CHICAGO CUBS Since 1900, the Cubs hold a 1,132-1,110 advantage over the Reds. The Reds were 7-6 winners of the season series in 2023. Chicago finished second in the Central Division with a 83-79 record. The 2024 season starts with an new manager. Craig Counsel takes his leadership two hours south from Milwaukee to Chicago. "We're excited because we are at the start of something fun," the low-key Counsel told MLB.com. "We have to start writing the story." The Cubs started the campaign with starter Jameson Taillon and infielder Patrick Wisdom on the injured list with back ailments. Javier Assad replaces Taillon, who was the opening day starter last season in the rotation. Justin Steele replaced Taillon as the opening day starter. Veteran Kyle Hendricks returns to the rotation. They will be joined by Shota Imanaga who signed a four-year deal out of Japan and Jordan Wicks. Counsel is expected to start Michael Busch at first base, replacing Jeimar Candelario, who was signed by the Reds after finishing the 2023 season for the Cubs. Busch, a left-handed hitter and 2019 first round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is still a rookie after appearing in 23 games for LA last year. Gold Glover, Nico Hoerner, is at second base. Dansby Swanson returns at shortstop as the reigning Gold Glove winner. Christopher Morel will get a long look at third base. The outfield features Reds' menace, Ian Happ out of the University of Cincinnati and all-star Cody Bellinger. They will be joined by Seiya Suzuki and Mike Tauchman. Yan Gomes, 36, a veteran of 12 big league seasons and 25-year old Miguel Amaya will do the catching. Amaya was an emergency replacement from Double A last season. He has impressed the Cubs as a receiver. The Cubs will rotate players at Designated Hitter. Yency Almonte, who came with Busch from the Dodgers will join Adbert Alzolay, Mark Leiter Jr, and Julian Merryweather. The later trio handled the late innings for the Cubs last season. Drew Smyly missed earning a spot in the starting rotation is the long reliever and spot starter. Jose Cuas, a side arm right-hander and Hector Neris, a top performer in the Houston Astros' championship bullpen, will join the group. Hard throwing 23-year old Luke Little cracked the roster with seven games under his belt which is half-way up his 6'8" frame. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS The history of the rivalry favors the Cardinals by a 1,199-1,039 margin. The Cardinals rallied to take the season series from the Reds by winning the last two games of the season. Those two games effectively spoiled the Reds' playoff run. Last season the Cardinals brought up the rear of the Central Division with a rare losing season at 71-91. Young manager Oliver Marmol survived the fiasco and returns for his third season as the Redbirds skipper. The 37-year old still owns a 164-160 winning record. Like the Reds the Cardinals began the season with some key players ailing. Tommy Edmans, a Reds' nightmare, had off season surgery on his wrist a had a series of setbacks this spring. He began the season on the IL. Lars Nootebar injured his wrist this spring and will join Edman's on the IL. Dylan Carlson was the Cardinals leading hitter this spring was injured in a collision with 6'6" teammate Jordan Walker less than a week before the season. He will be replaced on the roster by rookie Victor Scott II, who hit .317 this spring but was ticketed for Memphis before the collision. The Cardinals signed former Red starter Sonny Gray but a hamstring had him on the IL. Keynan Middleton toiled for the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees last year. The Cardinals procured his right arm to aid their bullpen. An aching forearm sent him to the injured list. It is conceivable all the aforementioned could be ready by the time the Cards visit Cincinnati on May 27. Middleton is less likely than the others but could be ready by then. STARTING ROTATION Veteran Myles Mikolas, Zach Thompson, Lance Lynn in his second tour in St. Louis, Steven Matz and Kyle Gibson will hold the fort until Gray's return. Noticeably absent is long time Reds combatant, Adam Wainright, who retired. BULLPEN The good news for the Cardinals is the return of Ryan Helsley, who was limited to 36 innings last season. Giovanny Gallegos, JoJo Romero, Andrew Kitteridge, Mathew Libertore, Andre Pallante, Ryan Fernandez and Riley O'Brien fall in behind Helsley. O'Brien won the roster spot with an impressive spring. He pitched one inning for the Reds in one game and in one game for the Seattle Mariners in 2022. He was a minor leaguer the entire 2023 season. CATCHERS With Hall of Famer Yadier Molina in his second year of retirement, Willson Contreras and Ivan Herrera will fill the void at catcher. Both are good enough offensively to be a DH when not behind the plate. THE CORNERS Pual Goldschmidt, 2022 MVP, is back at first base. Nolan Arenado is a seven-time Gold Glove winner and eight-time all-star at third base. The pair are widely known to Reds' fans. SECOND BASE Nolan Gorman hit 14 home runs in 89 games in 2022 and 27 in 119 games last year. If healthy for an entire season that projects to 41 home runs. SHORTSTOP Masyn Winn is 21 years old. He played 37 games last season, hitting .172. If he could adapt to major league pitching he could be the next star in St. Louis. Brandon Crawford the 12-year fixture in San Francisco is available for backup. OUTFIELD Injuries foiled the Cardinals early season plans. Scott II will get a brief look until Carlson returns. Brendan Donovan and Walker will start the season. Big stick, power hitting Alec Burleson is waiting on the pines. Michael Siani, claimed off waivers from the Reds after 24 games at the big league level. The September waiver pick up used his glove to land a spot on the opening day roster. DH Matt Carpenter, like Lynn, is back for a second tour after anchoring the club in their glory days. Burleson will rotate in along with the catchers. PITTSBURGH PIRATES The Pirates are also ahead of the Reds since 1900 but at 1,140-1,105 are the closest head-to-head. They were 8-5 against the Reds last season, including a comeback from a nine-run deficit in a 13-12 win. That game exposed the Reds dog-tired bullpen and significantly damaged the Reds' playoff chances. Pittsburgh escaped the NL Central basement with a 76-86 mark. Derek Shelton is back for his fifth season as the Bucs skipper. Last historically but definitely not least this year the Pirates are load loaded with young players from years of drafting high in the order. Third baseman Ke'Bryan has is reaching his prime at 27. He set career highs in every offensive category last season, a .271 average, 15 home runs 61 RBI, 31 doubles and a whopping seven triples. Hayes did walk less but also struck out 18 fewer times in than he did in 2022. The Pirates are the only team in the division that avoided multiple injuries to key players. Infielder/Outfielder Ji Hawn Bae and Yasmani Grandal started the season on the IL but should return shortly. STARTING ROTATION Mitch Keller is the ace of the staff. He started his sixth season at the opening day age of 27, coming off his best season at 13-9 and a .421 ERA. More importantly he fell just short of 200 innings at 194 1/3 with an eye popping 210 strikeouts and 55 walks less than two per game. Following Keller are Martin Perez, Marco Gonzalez, Jared Jones and Bailey Falter. For what spring training worth statistically. Jones pitched 16 1/3 Grapefruit League innings without allowing a run. BULLPEN Former Red star Aroldis Chapman is a Pirate in keeping with his Carribean roots as an ethnic Jamaican from Cuba. He will joining David Bednar coming of a highly successful season at closer. The 29-year old right-hander tied Camilo Doval for the National League lead with 39 saves, two ahead of the Reds Alexis Diaz. He had an astonishing low ERA at an even, 2.00. Ryan Borucki, Roansy Contreras, Josh Fleming, Ryder Ryan, Luis Ortiz and Hunter Stratton join the late inning stars. The one caveat from Pittsburghs relative escape from injury is the temporary loss of Colin Halderman and Carmen Mlodzinski, who pitched well last season. Former Red Duari Moreta is lost for the season with elbow surgery. CATCHERS Henry Davis work on his defense paid off and he will start as the number one catcher. Jason Delay earned his second opening day roster spot. He will backup Davis while Grandal heals. FIRST BASE Left-handed Rowdy Tellez will face right-handed pitchers. The Bucs hope a healty Tellez can repeat his 35-home run performance from 2022. Connor Joe will play the position against left-handed pitchers. SECOND BASE Jared Triolo earned spot over Liovo Peguero and Nick Gonzales with a spring in which he hit .310. SHORTSTOP Oneil Cruz is eerily similar to the Reds' Elly De La Cruz. Not only is their last name similar but both are slender and are over 6'5". Cruz broke in with the Pirates as a 22-year old in 2021. De La Cruz debuted last season six months short of his 22nd birthday. Cruz has fended off injuries the last three years but a healthy Cruz belted seven home runs this spring. THIRD BASE Hayes added a Gold Glove this winter. He hit .412 with three home runs this spring. OUTFIELD Bryan Reynolds has quietly become a fine major league hitter from both sides of the plate. He hit .314 in 2019 and .302 in 2021. Although his average has dipped, he has average exactly 25 home runs the last three seasons. Speedy left-handed hitter hit 26 home runs last year but has been a .200 hitter. Michael A Taylor is a true center fielder. He signed with the Pirates this off season. DH Veteran Pittsburgh favorite Andrew McCutcheon will do the bulk of his appearances as a designate hitter. Tellez will join him on occasion. McCutcheon, now 37 in his 16th season, has tapered off in recent years but hit .316 this spring. BENCH Edward Olivares will backup the outfielders and provide a little right-handed power off the bench. Alika Williams will backup the infielder while Bae recovers and Peguero gets valuable playing time at Triple A Indianapolis.
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