Assessing the offense

[BigWoo53]

I think the biggest thing of dragging teams and pitchers has been the difference. There are a bunch of factors why this team is different, results wise. Long ABs. Probably the biggest factor is depth of the lineup and guys actually hitting well at the right time this year...Contreras had an ice cold summer, but he's hitting now...Yelich has been better in the postseason...Turang getting on base at a near .400 clip despite not hitting for average...Chourio coming through in big moments and hitting the ball really hard despite not always getting results. Look at Adames, he had some really good reg. seasons but never did anything in the playoffs. 

The Brewers have the most HRs in the postseason and their pitchers just prevent them, especially the pen. Despite this, they have only scored like 30% of their runs via HR after their 10 run effort tonight with 0 HR. This team is just FINALLY playing its best at the right time. Man does it feel good!!!

[owbc]

10 hours ago, BigWoo53 said:

I think the biggest thing of dragging teams and pitchers has been the difference. There are a bunch of factors why this team is different, results wise. Long ABs. Probably the biggest factor is depth of the lineup and guys actually hitting well at the right time this year...Contreras had an ice cold summer, but he's hitting now...Yelich has been better in the postseason...Turang getting on base at a near .400 clip despite not hitting for average...Chourio coming through in big moments and hitting the ball really hard despite not always getting results. Look at Adames, he had some really good reg. seasons but never did anything in the playoffs. 

The Brewers have the most HRs in the postseason and their pitchers just prevent them, especially the pen. Despite this, they have only scored like 30% of their runs via HR after their 10 run effort tonight with 0 HR. This team is just FINALLY playing its best at the right time. Man does it feel good!!!

Other teams are going to be copying their approach in future years. 

With half the league throwing 95-100+, the pull-heavy approach that dominated the last 10-20 years is going to start fading away. 

It will take a long time to happen, the Brewers will have several more years to run up more division titles and playoff runs before other teams catch on. 

Plus MLB might ban outfield shifting, which would give us an even bigger advantage given how many balls we put in play. 

[Turning2]

27 minutes ago, owbc said:

Other teams are going to be copying their approach in future years. 

With half the league throwing 95-100+, the pull-heavy approach that dominated the last 10-20 years is going to start fading away. 

 

I was just thinking of starting a thread about that. Will the pendulum begin to swing back towards more traditional, foundational baseball?

It might for the majority of the league which fits in that small market category. They might at least attempt to, but it's not a simple matter. It takes a top to bottom makeover in organizational philosophy. Acquiring the right talent evaluators at the lower levels, hiring the right coaches at those levels developing those skills etc. 

The big markets will continue on, business as usual. Spend stupidly, buy the best power hitters and swing away. They will do that because the average, ignorant, casual "fan" digs the long ball just as much as the chicks, and so does corporate MLB behemoth. Homeruns will always be good for business. Sure, there is a lot of swing and miss that comes with that. That suits the casual fan just fine. Many of them are glued to their phones and betting apps most of the game anyway, and only bother to look up when certain hitters come up or a big  play happens, they watch the replay and cheer like they are a real ball fan. Small ball, winning the Brewers way, often means the game hangs on an inning by inning, pitch by pitch basis. Casual fans don't have the attention span for that. They want the big bang, the short lived, instant gratification of the big bomb a few times a game from the guys they see on Sportscenter or their video games. 

[sveumrules]

5 minutes ago, Turning2 said:

I was just thinking of starting a thread about that. Will the pendulum begin to swing back towards more traditional, foundational baseball?

It might for the majority of the league which fits in that small market category. They might at least attempt to, but it's not a simple matter. It takes a top to bottom makeover in organizational philosophy. Acquiring the right talent evaluators at the lower levels, hiring the right coaches at those levels developing those skills etc. 

The big markets will continue on, business as usual. Spend stupidly, buy the best power hitters and swing away. They will do that because the average, ignorant, casual "fan" digs the long ball just as much as the chicks, and so does corporate MLB behemoth. Homeruns will always be good for business. Sure, there is a lot of swing and miss that comes with that. That suits the casual fan just fine. Many of them are glued to their phones and betting apps most of the game anyway, and only bother to look up when certain hitters come up or a big  play happens, they watch the replay and cheer like they are a real ball fan. Small ball, winning the Brewers way, often means the game hangs on an inning by inning, pitch by pitch basis. Casual fans don't have the attention span for that. They want the big bang, the short lived, instant gratification of the big bomb a few times a game from the guys they see on Sportscenter or their video games. 

At what point between today and July 30th when you started the thread did you come around to believing that the Brewers had enough consistent offense to win a World Series?

[Turning2]

2 hours ago, sveumrules said:

At what point between today and July 30th when you started the thread did you come around to believing that the Brewers had enough consistent offense to win a World Series?

About a month and a half ago, I turned to my wife and said, "I finally, actually now literally Brewlieve they have the horses to win it all. Not that they necessarily will, but they have as good a shot as anyone, they can compete and beat anyone".  I did not feel like that last year, and I didn't feel like that on July 30th. I felt like they needed some unlikely things to break big their way last year.  A month and a half ago I felt like they could dictate the game instead of being dictated too. They have had some lucky breaks here in the postseason, but they didn't need them.

 

[cragi]

The brewers are certainly in great shape for a while. One of the scariest things for opponents is that the brewers biggest focus the next couple years is how to effectively OFFLOAD MLB talent. That is, with so much talent on its way up still and others hitting arbitration, they need to flip starters for good prospects to reload and keep the payroll healthy. 

However, the game is not played in a vaccuum and we still have not seen how the big boys respond. They will likely adjust their "mail it in" with superstar veterans approach, so they can get the best of both worlds. They will have the resources to adapt quickly and come back with bigger guns. If the CBA reduces the initial contract by 1 year, that's going to be one of the most productive years of each player put on the open market, which will then flow to the money teams. Unless that comes with real revenue sharing, its going to be a problem for small market teams.

[baseball101]

On 7/30/2026 at 2:46 PM, trwi7 said:

This is an offense that can put up good offensive stats in the regular season but lacks the power to win in the playoffs.  You're not going to get 4 or 5 hits an inning facing aces, a team's best relievers and good defenses and we don't have the power to consistently hit home runs and get runs with one swing of the bat.  It's been the same story for years.

7 hits in a row yesterday.

[yourout]

4 hours ago, owbc said:

Other teams are going to be copying their approach in future years. 

With half the league throwing 95-100+, the pull-heavy approach that dominated the last 10-20 years is going to start fading away. 

It will take a long time to happen, the Brewers will have several more years to run up more division titles and playoff runs before other teams catch on. 

Plus MLB might ban outfield shifting, which would give us an even bigger advantage given how many balls we put in play. 

Moneyball... Brewer style. 

 

[Samurai Bucky]

52 minutes ago, yourout said:

Moneyball... Brewer style. 

 

If someone wants to copy the Brewers' "Moneyball 2.0" style, it will take time.  One of the core tenants is building up the minors and developing from within.  Sprinkle in a few veterans to help.

Also throughout this entire process, Pitching has been a top priority.  Start on the bump with starters and the bullpen.

I have a feeling a lot of fan bases will try to get the talented free agent and expect an immediate turnaround.  That may or may not work.  Moneyball 2.0 is a process.

[thammondwis]

5 hours ago, owbc said:

Other teams are going to be copying their approach in future years. 

With half the league throwing 95-100+, the pull-heavy approach that dominated the last 10-20 years is going to start fading away. 

It will take a long time to happen, the Brewers will have several more years to run up more division titles and playoff runs before other teams catch on. 

Plus MLB might ban outfield shifting, which would give us an even bigger advantage given how many balls we put in play. 

What exactly is the approach and who is the brainchild of it?  Stearns/Arnold/Counsel/Murph? Someone else?

[Turning2]

1 hour ago, baseball101 said:

7 hits in a row yesterday.

There is occasionally an outlier, an exception, an anamoly, a once in a blue moon. It is foolhardy to rely on it but delicious when it pays a visit.

[cragi]

6 minutes ago, thammondwis said:

What exactly is the approach and who is the brainchild of it?  Stearns/Arnold/Counsel/Murph? Someone else?

I dont think its this unique approach they are exclusive to, it came out of a management tree that was having great success with the Astros (Stearns) and Rays (Arnold). They probably brought some of each to deliver a really competitive pipeline of talent. 

They bet big on international development, which their predecessors really struggled with. They invested heavily in scouting and analytics and player development, but especially pitching.  They went from weak to really strong at finding pitching gems and tweaking them to optimize their production. 

they got aggressive at trading away their veterans and stars to stockpile prospects.  They have been amazing at international pipeline from DR and Venezuela.

They felt they could get better bang for their buck with atheletes and defensive players instead of the power bats. They invested in the cheaper small ball approach while everyone else was still trying to power their way to a championship.

[markedman5]

Lots of good stuff here…….i.particularly enjoyed Chourio deciding to move back in the box further and further as the post season went along …….crazy. Lol

 

[owbc]

13 minutes ago, thammondwis said:

What exactly is the approach and who is the brainchild of it?  Stearns/Arnold/Counsel/Murph? Someone else?

I think it started as them trying to get ahead of the rule changes.