How Can the Brewers Cobble Together More Late Rallies?

One thing with which they have really struggled is turning games on their heads, with poor showings in the late innings and an inability to exert material pressure on the opposing bullpen.

So far this year, the Brewers have managed to tie or take the lead just twice from a deficit in the seventh inning, and just once in the eighth inning. They have, as of yet, failed to take a lead in the ninth inning. Their hitting hasn’t been good enough, and while it’s important to lay out that coming back from 18 runs behind isn’t likely in the final inning, you could still expect them to have outperformed the others in their division, as weak as it is at this present time.

The Cubs and the Cardinals have each come back five times from a deficit in the seventh. The Reds have come back on an astonishing nine occasions already. When you look at what those three teams are providing, the answer is fairly obvious: consistent hitting–players at home in the batter's box and who can create solid contact with far greater regularity than the Brewers are doing.

It gets even worse. You would think trailing in the fourth inning would provide reasonable chances of a turnaround. However, the Brewers have won less than one in 10 of those games so far. By contrast, they have only lost one out of the 20 games in which they led after the fourth. They have an ability to grind through close games and ensure they emerge on the winning side, but they need to have an increased level of performance when trailing, too, if they are to keep themselves above water until the injury bug abates.

One other scoreboard situation is that the Brewers have, in the last few years, been able to call game with regularity when they have a lead in the late innings, but they have a winning percentage of just .500 in games that are tied going into the eighth. Peter Strzelecki and Matt Bush have been up and down: Bush due to his injury, and Strzelecki having gone away from the high-strikeout approach that worked so well for him last season. Bush is set to begin throwing on the mound soon, and if he is the version that the Texas Rangers had last season, the Brewers will feel much happier about themselves in these situations, especially with the effectiveness of Joel Payamps so far this year.

Championship-caliber teams cannot give up on games just three innings in, and the Brewers will need to step it up in these situations. The club has lost some of the spark it had earlier in the season, especially with the Freshmen’s struggles (three hits combined over the last week in 39 total at-bats) and the lack of a high-performing veteran presence in the lineup is taking its toll. The return of Luis Urias may fill a gaping hole in the Brewers lineup so far, but even then, the Brewers need Christian Yelich, Willy Adames, and Rowdy Tellez to perform with far more regularity than we have recently seen.