Somebody give the Milwaukee Brewers a drug test. Fast. For something has to be amiss with the Brew Crew in 2025.
Milwaukee opened the season in New York. It must have been a real jolt coming from the Arizona desert where they have their spring training home, dealing with the late March chill.
For the Yankees absolutely buried the Brewers. After losing the season opener 4-2, the Milwaukee pitching was atrocious, with NYY clubbing homer after homer and putting up 20 runs on Saturday then 12 more on Sunday.
This was not a good start for a team predicted to battle the Chicago Cubs and the other NL Central teams for supremacy. Let alone a playoff berth at a minimum.
The home schedule didn’t start off any better, when Kansas City, a team which had its own playoff aspirations, downed Milwaukee by a 11-1 score. I am sure that a ton of Brewers fans were wondering what the heck was happening with their team.
Something must have clicked in Wisconsin in April, as the club won six of its next seven games. Even so, the team managed to lose a game to the lowly Rockies in Denver, part of losing three of four games. Towards the end of April, there was another four game losing streak.
May also did not start out great, with a four game losing streak, which ended with a 4-0 shut out win over the first place Cubs. At the end of May, Milwaukee strung together an eight game winning streak, with those wins coming against Pittsburgh, Boston, Philadelphia and Cincinnati. The Brewers were back in the hunt.
In July, the Brewers picked up speed, going 17-7. Which included an eleven game winning streak, stopped by the Cubs on July 30th.
Through August 13th, the team has been unbeaten for the month. Which has given the team a record well over 70 wins, tops in the MLB, and opened up large leads over the Cubs, Cincinnati and St. Louis, all teams with records over .500.
Milwaukee has an astounding 150+ run differential, with the Cubs the only other team with a 100+ run differential. Moreover, the wins have come over good teams—Boston; Philadelphia; New York Mets; Detroit; Los Angeles Dodgers; and Seattle. If the season ended today, all of the aforementioned teams would be in the playoffs.
Within the division, the Brewers have played well. Maybe not as dominating, but still coming up on the plus side. It also does not hurt to have the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates around to beat up on. The Brewers knocked Pirates star pitcher Paul Skenes out of the game after four innings on Tuesday night—no small feat. They followed that up with another rout of Pittsburgh, which entitled all of Milwaukee to obtain a free burger, as a local establishment has a promotion that when the Brewers win 12 straight, it’s burgers for Milwaukee.
Looking at the batting averages, none of the regulars has an average over .300. Oft-injured and one-time M.V.P. Christian Yelich leads the offense with 23 home runs and 78 runs batted in. It is a solid lineup, with most every player with the exception of catcher William Contreras, having stolen bases in double figures. And Brewers hitters seem to strike out a fair bit.
The pitching seems to be the key. The starting pitching, including injured rookie phenom Jacob Misiorowski, is solid. Quinn Priester has the best winning percentage while Freddy Peralta leads all of baseball with 14 wins. Closer Trevor Megill has converted 28 out of 31 save opportunities. Only Texas and San Diego have allowed fewer runs this season.
The number of home runs allowed is on the lower end, while the strikeouts of other teams’ batters is in the top 10. Converserly, there isn’t any batting statistic which blows away the other teams.
How did this team of no real superstars get to be so good? Experts are unsure. Just after Memorial Day weekend the team had its last rough spot, losing five of eight games. The team was mired at 25-28.
Then the Brewers exploded. From that date, Milwaukee is 48-16, with a 26-4 record in its last 30 games. With no real signs that the team is slowing down.
Meanwhile, every big time contender has had rough times which were the opposite of the Brewers winning. Some of that losses for those teams—LAD, Philadelphia, NYM and the Cubs can be attributed to Milwaukee. For that matter, the Cubs have the National League’s second best record since late May and has lost 14 games in the standings to Milwaukee.
Despite having the best record now in mid-August, I am not anointing the Brewers as the absolute favorite to win the World Series. Bettors tend to agree with this assessment, as the oddsmakers still have LAD, Philadelphia, Detroit ahead of the Brewers and tied with Seattle, which is in a wild card spot in the American League at this point.
Who they have is the reigning National League Manager of the Year Pat Murphy at the helm. He has inspired a lunch bucket kind of mentality—nobody will outwork or outhustle this group. They can sport a revitalized Andrew Vaughn—once the number 3 pick in the 2019 draft who was demoted by the lowly White Sox before finally being traded a bit north—and now is smacking the ball. Plus Isaac Collins is a 28 year old rookie who may be the current leader for NL Rookie of the Year.
Milwaukee faces a difficult eight games in the division beginning on Friday. At Cincinnati for three games then in Wrigley Field for five games. They travel to Toronto for three games to conclude August.
Starting with division opponents, the road to October isn’t going to be a cake walk. Chicago could easily sneak back into the picture; the Reds have designs on a Wild Card berth; and the Cardinals are far from dead. Plus Milwaukee hosts NL East leader Philadelphia; and travels to San Diego for the penultimate series in September—the Padres are hot on overthrowing the Dodgers for the top spot in the NL Central.
This is a pretty great comeback from the humiliation in the Bronx in March and the uninspired play to just after Memorial Day. For now, the Milwaukee Brewers are the feel good story for the 2025 season.
For you Yankees haters, I just want to mention Giancarlo Stanton. The guy is on an absolute tear. Like he tends to do in October during the post-season. Stanton is whacking the ball all over the place. Hard hits galore.
After a lackluster play in his belated start to the season due to his painful elbows, which included not elevating the balls he was making contact with and striking out too many times, Stanton has put that behind him. He is hitting home runs seemingly every game and driving in multiple runs.
His offense is much needed during New York’s tailspin. Especially so with Aaron Judge still possibly banged up with his flexor strain.
Since Judge cannot play the field right now, in order to keep Stanton’s torrid bat in the lineup, Yankees Manager Aaron Boone has penciled Stanton on right field, where he can defend less ground. Stanton has done okay given his limited range and speed.
He always has been a great teammate. Judge and Stanton have a great rapport. This current stretch shows what Boone and General Manager Brian Cashman have echoed about how valuable Stanton is to this Yankees squad.
Let us not forget that Stanton has slugged 441 home runs, climbing the all-time ladder steadily. With some continued success, Stanton could reach Hall of Fame outfielder Carl Yastrezemski’s 452. Or go beyond.
Wherever he ends up on the HR list and how the Yankees do—like winning a World Series—may have a lot to do with how Hall of Fame voters perceive his resume. And take into account his injuries and how they have limited him. Stanton sure is fun to watch when he is on a roll.
One more comment. The torrent of enthusiasm for the unorthodox play of the Savannah Bananas touring baseball team, selling out wherever they go, does not include me. Don’t get me wrong—I liked the Harlem Globetrotters and their style of play. NBA players mimic some of what the Globetrotters brought to a basketball floor.
What the Bananas do is highly athletic and entertaining. It does not resemble that much of traditional baseball. If your’e looking for entertainment and crowd involvement, then go see them. Their brand of baseball is cheap price-wise and endearing; it’s just not for me.
With the August heat still upon us in the Northeast, there is a storm a Brewin’ in the Northern Plains.
No comments:
Post a Comment