Brewers (Harrison) vs Athletics (Springs): 6/8/26, 9:05pm

[Frisbee Slider]

Tonight is the first MLB game in Las Vegas since 1996.

33-year-old left-hander Jeffrey Springs starts for the Athletics. The Brewers roughed him up on April 20 last season, as Milwaukee beat the A’s, 14-1. source

Kyle Harrison starts for Milwaukee. Harrison threw three scoreless innings in relief against the Athletics on September 10 last season.

[Frisbee Slider]

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

Throwing Harrison feels like holding pocket aces to me.

hopefully the kids don’t get tired late.  Let’s keep it rolling

[sveumrules]

On April 25th the Brewers were sitting at 13 W - 13 L, their low point of the season so far. Since then their 27 W - 10 L record is the best in MLB, 1.5 games ahead of ATL / PHI at 26 W - 12 L over that same stretch. Some of their pertinent rankings...

OFFENSE

5.46 R/G (1st) | 113 wRC+ (t-2nd)
.316 BABIP (t-1st) | .265 AVG (1st)
10.5 BB% (2nd) | .345 OBP (1st)
19.6 K% (3rd) | 47.9 GB% (1st)
+3.13 WPA (2nd) | 1.97 Clutch (2nd)
.325xwOBA (10th) | .334 wOBA (t-3rd)
39.1 HardHit% (17th) | 7.1 Barrel% (24th) 
31 HR (28th) | .139 ISO (26th)

441 PA w/ RISP (1st)
125 wRC+ w/ RISP (3rd)
152 RBI w/ RISP (1st)

PITCHING

3.00 RA/G (1st) | 2.77 ERA (1st)
2.95 FIP (1st) | 3.11 xERA (1st)
27.6 K% (1st) | 0.62 HR9 (1st)
.206 AVG (2nd) | 1.12 WHIP (2nd)
77.6% Strand Rate (4th) | +5.37 WPA (2nd)
33.8 HardHit% (1st) | 5.6 Barrel% (t-1st)
103.0 EV90 (1st)

Overall for these last 37 games their MLB best run differential is +91 (202 scored and 111 allowed) or +2.46 runs per game.

The low point of last year's season came a little later on with the Brewers still sitting at 21 W - 25 L after the game on May 17th. From then thru yesterday their 116 W - 63 L record is the best in MLB, eleven games ahead of NYY at 106 W - 75 L. Some of their pertinent rankings...

OFFENSE

5.26 R/G (1st) | 112 wRC+ (2nd)
.311 BABIP (1st) | .263 AVG (t-1st)
9.8 BB% (2nd) | .341 OBP (1st)
19.9 K% (3rd) | 45.6 GB% (1st)
+11.59 WPA (1st) | 4.30 Clutch (2nd)
.320 xwOBA (9th) | .330 wOBA (2nd)
39.3 HardHit% (22nd) | 6.9 Barrel% (28th)
179 HR (25th) | .147 ISO (25th)

1,991 PA w/ RISP (1st)
125 wRC+ w/ RISP (1st)
699 RBI w/ RISP (1st)

PITCHING

3.66 RA/G (1st) | 3.32 ERA (1st)
3.58 FIP (1st) | 3.55 xERA (1st)
25.2 K% (1st) | 0.92 HR9 (1st)
.222 AVG (2nd) | 1.19 WHIP (4th)
75.8% Strand Rate (2nd) | +14.91 WPA (1st)
37.6 HardHit% (1st) | 7.3 Barrel% (1st)
104.4 EV90 (2nd)

Overall for these last 179 games their MLB best run differential is +287 (942 scored and 655 allowed) or +1.60 runs per game.

[formerlybis]

This ballpark in Las Vegas has a reputation as a launching pad, as did the previous series at Coors. No idea if there'll be a partisan crowd/home field bump - maybe? It's a novelty or a taste of things to come, but is there any loyalty yet? Certainly a higher share of the collective Vegas sports mind is being paid to the Stanley Cup final at the moment.

The OPS for the two teams is almost identical, but the Brewers score a lot more runs. The As are not great at run prevention, however. They do have a fairly competent starter in the game Tuesday who we're throwing Gasser against, but otherwise, it's not out of the question to think a series win is the more likely outcome. But, baseball...

[Brock Beauchamp]

For the past ten days, Brewers announcers have referenced "Las Vegas" and every time, I'm like "what the hell are they talking about". Oh, so the A's are playing in the Aviators' ballpark. That's cool, I guess.

[Jake McKibbin]

It'll be interesting to see how the Coors altitude affects these games. The Brewers had just adjusted to hitting with less movement on most pitches, and now you're back at sea level, they'll have to revert to type. Can Garrett Mitchell still hit the ball in the air?

We'll see!

Hopefully a fun week of baseball against two pretty fun offenses

 

[formerlybis]

31 minutes ago, Jake McKibbin said:

It'll be interesting to see how the Coors altitude affects these games. The Brewers had just adjusted to hitting with less movement on most pitches, and now you're back at sea level, they'll have to revert to type. Can Garrett Mitchell still hit the ball in the air?

We'll see!

Hopefully a fun week of baseball against two pretty fun offenses

 

Vegas' elevation is not sea level - more like 2.000 feet. Milwaukee's elevation is 600 feet. I have no idea what this does to your thesis, but provided for accuracy...

ETA: Vegas' elevation will make it the 2nd highest in the league when the A's make it their permanent home. Only the D-Backs and Braves (& the Rox) are above 1k currently 

[Jake McKibbin]

5 minutes ago, formerlybis said:

Vegas' elevation is not sea level - more like 2.000 feet. Milwaukee's elevation is 600 feet. I have no idea what this does to your thesis, but provided for accuracy...

Haha maybe an ideal halfway house from Colorado then!