Brewers 2025 Opening Day Roster, Lineup, Rotation & Bullpen

With the arrival of Opening Day comes the time when every fan of every team still has hope for a run to the playoffs. Some of these hopes are more delusional than others, but recent history suggests that the Milwaukee Brewers will be firmly in the hunt by the end of the 2025 season.

Of course, there are going to be some hurdles to overcome. Willy Adames is gone and the pitching staff looks to be a bit questionable to start the season. However, no team gets more out of the talent they have than Milwaukee and the odds imply that the Brewers will be in a good spot this season.

As for who the Brewers are going to war with to start the season, here is a quick breakdown.

Brewers 2025 Opening Day Roster

The Brewers kept everyone in suspense down to the end of spring training partially because it was clear that they were trying to figure out how to assemble a pitching staff to start the season. There was also the matter of the bench which was a surprisingly compelling storyline especially in the infield. One of the favorites for the utility job, Caleb Durbin, ultimately didn't look quite ready for primetime while Vinny Capra found some power and swooped in to nab a roster spot.

Brewers 2025 Opening Day Lineup

1. Jackson Chourio
2. Christian Yelich
3. William Contreras
4. Rhys Hoskins
5. Sal Frelick
6. Joey Ortiz
7. Garrett Mitchell
8. Vinny Capra
9. Brice Turang

This is going to take some getting used to. The Brewers' first lineup of 2025 is pretty interesting especially as you get to the back half. Chourio, Yelich, Contreras going 1-2-3 makes loads of sense and if you are believer in Rhys Hoskins' spring, hitting him cleanup should work out well. That said, if he struggles with his hit tool again, he will almost certainly need to move down.

As for the 5-9 spots, this feels as though it could change a good bit over the course of the season depending on how guys respond. Frelick and Mitchell in particular are guys that could play their way to being hit higher in the lineup, but could also get pushed down. Batting Turang in the nine hole might be a reflection of his arm fatigue issues. Of note, Vinny Capra got the nod at third base for Opening Day over Oliver Dunn which is a pretty big vote of confidence.

Brewers Opening Day Rotation

• Freddy Peralta (Opening Day starter)
• Nestor Cortes
• Aaron Civale

Okay, so having only three dedicated starters on the Opening Day roster is not ideal, but this was the hand Milwaukee was dealt. Brandon Woodruff still needs time to build himself back up after a lengthy layoff and Tobias Myers unfortunately hurt his oblique in camp which puts the Brewers in a tough spot.

Fortunately, help should be on the way relatively soon. While Milwaukee appears to be leaning on some length guys in the bullpen to start the season, Woodruff should be back relatively soon and Myers' injury shouldn't keep him out for too long. The wild cards are Nestor Cortes and Jose Quintana. Quintana needs a bit more time to build his innings up, but has been famously awesome playing in Milwaukee. Cortes could be a nice backend of the rotation addition, but it is unclear how his arm/body will hold up.

Brewers Opening Day Bullpen

• Trevor Megill (closer)
• Joel Payamps
• Jared Koenig
• Bryan Hudson
• Tyler Alexander
• Chad Patrick
• Connor Thomas
• Elvin Rodriguez
• Elvis Peguero
• Abner Uribe

If the Brewers get off to a strong start this season, it will be because their bullpen performs well. Milwaukee surprisingly decided to add Chad Patrick to their roster at the last minute as another multi-inning reliever and heavily implied that we could see a fair amount bullpen games early in the season.

It will be curious to see who Milwaukee ultimately decides to keep around once Woodruff, Myers, and Quintana return as they certainly won't need this many relievers. The picture gets even cloudier when you start thinking about Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson who could figure into the team's rotation and/or bullpen plans at some point in 2025.

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