Crew takes momentum into break, aims to carry it the rest of the way
It’s long been said that time flies when you’re having fun.
That’s certainly the case right now if you’re at all invested in the Milwaukee Brewers.
Not only has the first half of summer flown by, but how ancient does the first four games of the season back in March feel now at the July All-Star break?
Do you even remember the talk about torpedo bats, the three homers given up on the first three pitches of the season by Nestor Cortes, the 20 runs allowed in game two, the ugly 11-1 loss to Kansas City in the home opener and some guy named Vinny Capra hit Milwaukee’s first home run of the year?
Barely, I bet. Even on May 17, the Brewers were sitting at a mediocre 21-25 after a second straight home loss to Minnesota. Fifty games later, the Brewers now sit at 56-40, one game behind the team from slightly to the south in the National League Central Division and just 1.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the race for the best record in the NL. The Brewers will start the 66-game last 40% of the season Friday in LA for another key series with the Dodgers after sweeping them in Milwaukee last week.
A team can drown itself quickly with an early month of lousy baseball and make the 162-game marathon feel even longer. But if it finds a way to keep breathing near the surface, just one or two 10-day stretches of great baseball can be all it takes to propel it into a pennant race. And, as I’m sure I’ve written in this space many times in 27 years, there is often nothing more fun as a sports fan than to be in an MLB pennant chase where there’s a game darn near every day to feed your fanaticism.
On the flip side, a lousy month late in the season can be quite demoralizing. The 2007 season always sticks in my mind as a Brewers fan. The Brew Crew held an 8.5game lead in the NL Central that season with a 43-31 record on June 23 after a 9-1 run. But they lost the lead by Aug. 17 and missed the playoffs at an average 83-79.
Anything can happen between now and Sept. 28. A couple of bad series against the wrong teams could change the outlook. But right now it feels like the 2025 Brewers are in this race for the long haul.
When the season started in late March, the Brewers –– now without recent mainstays Willy Adames and Devin Williams –– felt like a team that would have to rely on pitching, defense and speed and maybe, if the Brewers could luck out into any kind of power hitting, they could stay in the wild card hunt. The pitching wasn’t good to say the least in those first four games, giving up 47 runs, but it has certainly been really good since. In March, we wondered if a starting rotation with Freddy Peralta as its ace would be good enough to last six months. Four months later, the Brewers might have one of the deepest rotations in baseball. Peralta is tied for the league lead in wins with 11. The April trade acquisition of Quinn Priester looks like a steal. Now in triple-A, Chad Patrick looks like he has a future. Lefty Jose Quintana has given Milwaukee a key veteran presence and an innings-eater.
Then all of a sudden, Brandon Woodruff is finally back from shoulder surgery, nearly two years later, and rookie phenom Jacob Misiorowski is throwing absolute smoke. Talk about two great additions before we even think about the trade deadline!
The loss of Williams, so far, has been no big deal for the bullpen. Hard-throwing Trevor Megill is 21 of 24 in save opportunities. Nick Mears, Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby, DL Hall, Jared Koenig and the injured Rob Zastryzny all have had way more good outings than bad. There probably has never been a Brewers pitching staff that, as a whole, threw harder than this one.
The Brewers rank seventh in the MLB in earned run average (3.66), 11th in shutouts with eight and fifth in opponents batting average (.233). The bullpen ranks seventh in holds (65), the team is seventh in strikeouts per nine innings (8.76). All pretty good. Just think, last year’s prize finds Tobias Myers and Bryan Hudson have spent most of the season in triple-A, as has Logan Henderson, who went 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA in four starts with the Brewers early this season. Who knows what the Brewers will do with Cortes when he finally comes back soon after being on the injured list since early April.
The speed and defense has played a role, like everyone knew it should. You just hoped the Brewers would get on base to use their speed offensively. They have, ranking second in all of baseball with 110 stolen bases. As expected, the Brewers are average at best in slugging percentage, but they rank a solid 10th in on-base percentage (.324) and have turned that into 457 runs, which ranks seventh.
This team has found ways to score. Christian Yelich’s recent surge has been a big part of that as he leads the team with 19 homers and 65 runs batted in. His .259 batting average doesn’t compare to his MVP-type seasons when he first became a Brewer. But it’s at a point where if he keeps hitting for power, you’ll take it. Jackson Chourio’s 16 homers, 62 RBIs and .264 batting average kind of mirror Yelich. When manager Pat Murphy put Sal Frelick at the top of the order and put Yelich and Chourio back-to-back in the lineup, the offense took off.
Frelick is emerging as a star, one of those guys who does a ton of little things to help a team win. Brice Turang won’t carry an offense, but he’s good enough. The defense from Frelick, Turang and shortstop Joey Ortiz is often spectacular. Third baseman Caleb Durbin, probably viewed by the Brewers as the key piece in the Devin Williams trade over Cortes, has gotten better with more playing time, evolving into that prototypical pesky Brewer infielder.
The one guy who needs to pick it up in the home stretch is catcher William Contreras. The average is getting better from where it was through June, now sitting at .245. But the power is way down with just six homers and a career-low .347 slugging percentage. If he can find a second wind in August and September through the rigors of catching and rediscover his hitting pop, look out. The other offensive key, of course, is making up for the loss of first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who will be out for awhile with a thumb injury. Again, Hoskins doesn’t have the greatest average, but he is a power threat and drives in runs. Andrew Vaughn had a great first week as his replacement. We’ll see how long that lasts.
The trade deadline is July 31. One would think the Brewers are in a buy position, not sell, unless they –– knock on wood –– tank between now and then. Then again, with some of the excess pitching talent right now, they could be a little of both, maybe sell an arm for a hitter with a little pop.
Baseball almost always comes down to pitching and that, to me, is the biggest thing to watch for the Brewers the rest of the way. Can they keep the bullpen from wearing out? How many innings will they allow Woodruff and Misiorowski to throw? Will Cortes and Henderson be used to lengthen the rotation later in the season? Will Megill stay as good as he’s been?
Keeping pace with the Dodgers won’t be easy if they get healthy. Catching the team down south for the division won’t be easy either. Admittedly, their lineup is awfully tough one through nine. Winning the two remaining series with them would help a lot. Keeping Yelich healthy for a whole season is key as well.
Buckle up Brew Crew fans. This would be another fun run for the team no one in the nation notices until they realize it’s in the playoffs yet again.
Matt Frey is the Sports Editor at The Star News.
