It Took Almost Two Full Innings for the 2026 Brewers to Announce Themselves

Chase Meidroth did his level best to assert the seriousness of the 2026 White Sox's improvement. He took Jacob Misiorowski deep to lead off the game Thursday, putting Chicago ahead 1-0, and Shane Smith pitched out of trouble in the bottom of the first to keep the score that way. Even as that was all happening, though, you could feel it coming. Once Meidroth's homer woke him up, Misiorowski went about mowing the visitors down ruthlessly. In the bottom of the second inning, though, the Crew really reminded the baseball world who they are.

It started innocuously. Smith struck out Jake Bauers to begin the second, and got ahead of Sal Frelick 0-2. Then, Frelick simply refused to help him get to the end of the at-bat. He took four straight pitches outside the zone and trotted to first base. Smith was ahead of David Hamilton, too, but the new third baseman fouled off two two-strike pitches and then reached via catcher interference. It was typical Brewers scrappiness, and it didn't have to lead anywhere, really, but inevitably, it did. Smith wobbled, walking Garrett Mitchell in a non-competitive at-bat, and suddenly, the home team had the bases loaded and the crowd buzzing.

Catcher Edgar Quero did everything he could to thwart the Brewers and their relentlessly patient approach. He challenged a first-pitch call of a ball low and away, and got his second overturn in as many innings. Smith then came up and in on Ortiz, though, and Ortiz—with the same inside-out swing he used to hit many similar balls last year—poked a flare over the slightly drawn-in infield and into shallow right, for a game-tying single. Smith recovered admirably, then, as he and Quero found the edge of the plate to which his command was stronger (the first-base side) and conspired to strike out Brice Turang. Because Turang worked the at-bat well, though, it took another six pitches to get that out.

Up came William Contreras, with the bases still loaded and two outs. Smith had a bit of confidence and control back, but he was also tiring out there. Even in the middle of the season, an inning in which a hurler throws 30-plus pitches is rare and troublesome. Smith was already at 30 pitches for the frame when Contreras stepped into the box. On a 1-1 pitch, Quero earned what looked like another huge, pivotal strike, with another astute challenge on a pitch that nipped the outside corner. Contreras stayed in the fight, though, and ended up in a 2-2 count, waiting on Smith's 36th offering of the inning.

Smith and Quero had the right idea. They went to a right-on-right changeup, one of the few reliable ways to get Contreras out in such a situation. That pitch has to be well-executed to work, though, and with the workload piling up too fast for a game in late March, Smith made a mistake. Contreras was all over it, lining the left-up change into the left-field corner for a bases-clearing double that virtually settled the game, then and there. Smith's day was over, and the rout was on. Milwaukee went on to win 14-2.

This is what the Brewers do. They force mistakes, and then capitalize on them. No team in baseball is more opportunistic, even though (or, perhaps, because) no team in baseball is more patient. Smith threw a pitch it would have been a crime not to smash, but hitters miss their pitch all the time. Contreras didn't. For that matter, Smith didn't throw that pitch simply out of incompetence. The Brewers had worn him down over the course of the inning. They earned their moment, then seized it. In just the fourth half-inning of the season, it was a lovely microcosm of what has made them great for years, now. It also served as a declaration to the rest of the league: there will be no reprieve in 2026.