Rangers (Quantrill) vs Brewers (Drohan): 8/29/26, 6:15pm

[willie key]

Megill is good 

[BruisedCrew]

Early runs and a little add on. A couple more runs in the 7th would have saved a few points on the BP, but at least Megill avoided any drama. 

[BruisedCrew]

7 minutes ago, Underachiever said:

Brewers need to lose the next two so my August prediction of 17-12 is correct. Fingers crossed!

I assume you mean that your fingers are crossed because you’re lying, not because you are hoping it will happen. 
 

The former is fingers crossed behind your back. 

[cragi]

13 minutes ago, Bulldogboy said:

Brewers were looking to deal Megill in the spring. Can't imagine this team without him.

In fairness, he struggled and had health questions towards the end last year, then came out struggling again this year before putting together a great season. 

[titletownking]

Best team in baseball. Finally getting healthy and in the drivers seat to lock up home field. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

I got a pretty big kick out of Luis Lara tonite. He's shown once again how the athleticism & instincts allow him to make plays, despite him needing mucho polish. Really looking forward to seeing him lock down his OF responsibilities after hundreds & hundreds of reps cuz he mostly gets the job done now w/o them. Then there's the two hits w/RISP, and for my money if you can ever credit someone with a 'good AB' while striking out with the bases loaded, the one in the bottom of the 8th just might qualify.

Drohan battled on a night where he wasn't very good. And if trying to get a 3rd inning out of Patrick was a mistake, then it's one I would've made too. I was hoping for three from him when he entered the game. The leadoff walk probably ticked me off more than the HR.

[Brewcrew82]

Someone said 22 year old Chourio was “disappointing”?

 

[wiguy94]

Just now, Jim French Stepstool said:

I got a pretty big kick out of Luis Lara tonite. He's shown once again how the athleticism & instincts allow him to make plays, despite him needing mucho polish. Really looking forward to seeing him lock down his OF responsibilities after hundreds & hundreds of reps cuz he mostly gets the job done now w/o them. Then there's the two hits w/RISP, and for my money if you can ever credit someone with a 'good AB' while striking out with the bases loaded, the one in the bottom of the 8th just might qualify.

Drohan battled on a night where he wasn't very good. And if trying to get a 3rd inning out of Patrick was a mistake, then it's one I would've made too. I was hoping for three from him when he entered the game. The leadoff walk probably ticked me off more than the HR.

Feel like an AB where you chase ball four two straight pitches in a 3-2 count cannot be considered a good AB

[Zad Fnark]

13 minutes ago, Underachiever said:

Brewers need to lose the next two so my August prediction of 17-12 is correct. Fingers crossed!

Heretic!

[Jim French Stepstool]

12 minutes ago, willie key said:

Megill is good 

Quite a nice situation with him right now. He hasn't been used much lately, and when he has he's had some outings like tonite----first two outs on four pitches.

'Pen is lined up nicely with Uribe & Romero both on the cusp of returning.

[edfunderburk]

In his first three MLB seasons, Jackson Chourio has the same amount of 20 home run seasons as Christian Yelich has in 14 seasons

[Brewcrew82]

1 minute ago, edfunderburk said:

In his first three MLB seasons, Jackson Chourio has the same amount of 20 home run seasons as Christian Yelich has in 14 seasons

Also missed the first month of this season....

[Jim French Stepstool]

9 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

Feel like an AB where you chase ball four two straight pitches in a 3-2 count cannot be considered a good AB

I focused more on the fact that he took it full after going 0-2. He didn't quite recognize ball four on the 3-2 check swing & went too far. All things considered I'd lean more toward 'good' than 'bad' when categorizing the AB.

I'll grade it tougher when he's 24.

[edfunderburk]

MAGIC NUMBER 

[wiguy94]

7 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I focused more on the fact that he took it full after going 0-2. He didn't quite recognize ball four on the 3-2 check swing & went too far. All things considered I'd lean more toward 'good' than 'bad' when categorizing the AB.

I'll grade it tougher when he's 24.

He had one nice foul off on the backdoor sweeper that barely clipped the top of zone but I don't think the takes to get to 3 balls were all that difficult. Two changeups that were well below the zone and a FB that was way above the zone. I think to consider that anywhere near a good AB you'd have to be grading with a huge curve. I wouldn't say it was a bad AB but outside of the fouled off sweeper in the 1-2 count I think it was a pretty meh AB. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

14 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

He had one nice foul off on the backdoor sweeper that barely clipped the top of zone but I don't think the takes to get to 3 balls were all that difficult. Two changeups that were well below the zone and a FB that was way above the zone. I think to consider that anywhere near a good AB you'd have to be grading with a huge curve. I wouldn't say it was a bad AB but outside of the fouled off sweeper in the 1-2 count I think it was a pretty meh AB. 

Fair enough. I'm putting a little more stock on the takes than you are given the moment, the fact he's still not 22 & that Junis probably isn't the easiest AB for a youngster--he's not what you'd call conventional. IMO those were easier takes if he's, say, leading off the inning.

He's shown he's capable of more so I suppose I'd back off 'good' but still go somewhere north of 'meh'.

[sveumrules]

Through the first 26 games when the Brewers were sitting at 13 W - 13 L the relievers had some of the following ranks among MLB bullpens...

8 L (3rd most) | 109 AVG+ (27th) | -1.50 WPA (25th) | 95 LOB+ (19th) | 102 ERA- (16th) | 88 FIP- (7th)

Over the 109 games since then and before tonight the relievers have these rankings among MLB bullpens...

11 L (fewest) | 87 AVG+ (1st) | +8.58 WPA (2nd) | 106 LOB+ (2nd) | 73 ERA- (3rd) | 84 FIP- (2nd)

Put it all together and in 2024 the bullpen had +13.14 WPA (2nd), in 2025 it was +5.03 WPA (10th), so far this year it is +7.08 WPA (2nd), and in total from 2024 through 2026 they are at +25.25 WPA (2nd) from their relievers.

CLE relievers are first with +28.35 WPA over that stretch while the Braves bullpen is third at +19.59 WPA. 

[BruisedCrew]

41 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Through the first 26 games when the Brewers were sitting at 13 W - 13 L the relievers had some of the following ranks among MLB bullpens...

8 L (3rd most) | 109 AVG+ (27th) | -1.50 WPA (25th) | 95 LOB+ (19th) | 102 ERA- (16th) | 88 FIP- (7th)

Over the 109 games since then and before tonight the relievers have these rankings among MLB bullpens...

11 L (fewest) | 87 AVG+ (1st) | +8.58 WPA (2nd) | 106 LOB+ (2nd) | 73 ERA- (3rd) | 84 FIP- (2nd)

Put it all together and in 2024 the bullpen had +13.14 WPA (2nd), in 2025 it was +5.03 WPA (10th), so far this year it is +7.08 WPA (2nd), and in total from 2024 through 2026 they are at +25.25 WPA (2nd) from their relievers.

CLE relievers are first with +28.35 WPA over that stretch while the Braves bullpen is third at +19.59 WPA. 

Is this cherry picking because it doesn’t consider the whole season? 😀

Do the bullpen losses include losses by normal starters who entered in the second or third inning after openers? I think there were a couple of those in April. 

[sveumrules]

20 minutes ago, BruisedCrew said:

Do the bullpen losses include losses by normal starters who entered in the second or third inning after openers? I think there were a couple of those in April. 

 

One of them was Patrick as the bulk guy (4 IP | 4 ER) on April 22nd after Hall opened with two scoreless. Chad started his next two appearances, and once again on May 27th, but has 41 relief appearances versus only six starts on the season, so kinda?

Another was Brandon Sproat (3.2 IP | 4 ER) on April 4th in the second game of a double header after Logan Henderson (2 IP | 2 ER) started the game as an opener / 27th man call up.

The other six - Megill (x2), Zerpa (x2), Anderson, and Uribe - were more traditional reliever blows the game type scenarios.

[Samurai Bucky]

Our view of the scoreboard during a chunk of the game:

There were a lot of glitches.  It was interesting during the seventh inning stretch because you could tell what fans really knew the words to “Take me out to the Ballgame” and “Beer Barrel Polka.”

[liveforoctober]

Does anyone have Yelich' stat line since his initial demotion into the 7th spot for a few games a few weeks ago?

Instead of giving him a few days off... maybe slide Turang down to 7th in the order for a few days just to give him a mental reset and take some pressure off. I know the Cubs put PCA down there for a minute before bringing him back to lead off and ever since they did it he has galloped ahead of the MVP race.

I wonder if there is any psychology to stars taking a deep breath and being humbled by a lineup demotion?

[sveumrules]

25 minutes ago, liveforoctober said:

Does anyone have Yelich' stat line since his initial demotion into the 7th spot for a few games a few weeks ago?

Instead of giving him a few days off... maybe slide Turang down to 7th in the order for a few days just to give him a mental reset and take some pressure off. I know the Cubs put PCA down there for a minute before bringing him back to lead off and ever since they did it he has galloped ahead of the MVP race.

I wonder if there is any psychology to starters taking a deep breath and being humbled by a lineup demotion?

August 4th was the first day Yelich hit fifth and since then he has hit fifth or sixth for 15 of the 16 games he has started (other game was clean up).

Doesn't include tonight's 2 for 3 with a double and walk (which shakes out to a 369 wRC+ for the evening) but before that he was at 71 PA of 262/310/415 (100 wRC+) with a 5.6 BB% and 22.5 K% since that 08/04 date. StatCast thinks he has been unlucky with a .356 expected wOBA (about a 127 wRC+) but only a .316 actual wOBA during that stretch,

Over the 276 PA before that (after returning from injury for good on May 17th thought August 3rd) he was at 276 PA of 221/313/367 (90 wRC+) with a 10.9 BB% and 26.8 K%. StatCast wasn't all that impressed with a .311 expected wOBA and a .302 actual wOBA for that stretch.

Obviously small, sliced up samples but that is a pretty big drop in walk and strikeout rates recently with it looking like Yelich has increased his swing / contact rates from 43.1% and 71.3% during the 05/17 to 08/03 stretch up to 47.1% and 75.7% for this more recent stretch hitting lower in the order.