Harold Hutchison

The Brewers have one of the best defenses in the major leagues. Their run-prevention unit has given them chances to win as consistently as that of any other team. But teams don’t win purely by stopping the other team from scoring; they need to score runs. Milwaukee’s offense tends to run hot and cold. The team banks on its elite defense and strong pitching to push through to win every night. What would a lineup that maximized Milwaukee’s offense look like? Let’s go position by position. Catcher: William Contreras Contreras struggled for a bit after the All-Star break, but he's since heated up and delivered big for the team. Even after his slump, he could still match his 2025 totals. In fact, his batting average this season is higher than it was when he was playing through a finger injury. Contreras is the team’s best choice on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. He has two Silver Slugger awards, two top-20 MVP finishes, and two All-Star Game appearances to prove it, but it's also a choice made easy by the lack of an appealing alternative. And in this particular exercise... First Base: Gary Sánchez What? No Jake Bauers or Andrew Vaughn? Well, this is about assembling the most potent offensive lineup, and the cold corner isn't the place where either of the team's regulars provide the most relative offensive punch, adjusted for the position. Sánchez therefore gets the call at first base, where he filled in when Vaughn and Jackson Chourio were both out with hand injuries earlier this season. He's perhaps the team’s most potent threat in terms of home runs per at-bat, and the Crew may need that sudden jolt against the Dodgers in the playoffs. Second Base: Brice Turang Turang, like Contreras, is the best choice for both offense and defense at his position. Like Contreras, he’s become a complete ballplayer, after initially being seen as simply a solid starter whose main tools were speed and defense. Since the start of the 2025 season, Turang has become arguably the team’s most well-rounded offensive threat. Shortstop: Cooper Pratt Pratt is much like Turang was when he came up. There are no doubts about his defense or speed. However, he always had a higher offensive floor. Indeed, in his rookie season, he’s delivered an 88 OPS+, compared to Turang’s 61 in his rookie campaign in 2023. He’s also got some serious power potential. Third Base: Andrew Vaughn Vaughn’s made some occasional appearances at third base this season, but also saw some action at the hot corner during his first few years with the Chicago White Sox. He’s not likely to win a Gold Glove there, but in 13 games and six starts, he’s been competent, and it gets a 134 OPS+ bat into the lineup. Left Field: Jake Bauers Bauers has arguably been the team’s MVP this season, leading the Crew in home runs, RBIs and extra-base hits. In this case, where he isn’t an offensive liability, we can account a little bit for his defense. Thus, he will be in left field. Center Field: Garrett Mitchell Mitchell has shown what he can do when he’s healthy, posting career highs in many offensive categories. He’s also quite good defensively, and no liability in center field. The power and speed will help Milwaukee extend lineups; he's the kind of presence that increases the frequency of both single tallies and crooked numbers. Right Field: Jackson Chourio Chourio is seen as the Brewers’ franchise player of the 2020s, and he’s actually improved in some key stats from his first two seasons (OBP in particular), even if the counting stats are down due to his fractured hand taking him to the injured list for the first portion of the 2026 season. Lately, he's been as indispensable as any bat other than Bauers. Designated Hitter: Christian Yelich Yes, he’s having arguably the worst year of his career, but Yelich is still arguably the team’s best option at DH. The big reason: He’s posting an .806 OPS with runners on base, and like Contreras, he’s turned things around a bit in recent games (.800 OPS from August 16-22). He remains the heart and soul of this Brewers team. Overview Some of these decisions might seem out of the box, but none of these starters are entirely incompetent defensively at these positions. In addition, if the team needs to boost their defense to protect a lead, the option is always there to bring Joey Ortiz, David Hamilton, Sal Frelick or Luis Lara in. Milwaukee can field a devastating offense if it wants to. It's unlikely we'd ever see this exact configuration, no matter what, because there are context questions that have to define what a "best offensive lineup" looks like. Against lefties, Vaughn and Sánchez have to be on the field to say the best lineup is present. Against righties, it's much easier to make a case for Ortiz over Vaughn, for instance. But the thought exercise reveals the blend of depth, impact and versatility Pat Murphy has celebrated so openly, ever since spring training.

October baseball isn't far away, and the Brewers are likely to be in the thick of it again. One thing fueling their MLB-best record of 81-50 after their series victory over visitors from the South this weekend: their shutdown defense. They always catch the ball well; this year is no exception. Yet, the team isn't elite in the field this season, as they've been in the past. Their .710 Defensive Efficiency (outs per ball in play) ranks eighth in the big leagues. How can the Brewers double down on this strength in October and become their most suffocating selves on defense? It’s not so hard, when you think about it. Let’s go over each of the positions in question. Catcher: William Contreras Contreras was a bat-first catcher when he was acquired by the Brewers, after David Stearns inserted himself into negotiations between Atlanta and Oakland. That's no longer the case. Contreras (like Jonathan Lucroy, Omar Narvaez and Victor Caratini before him) has emerged as a very solid defensive backstop. This year, he’s thrown out 39% of would-be basestealers. This was an easy choice. First Base: Jake Bauers Bauers has gotten attention for his massive offensive breakout in 2026, but in his two previous seasons with Milwaukee, he also provided above-average defense at first base with his athleticism, giving him a clear edge over Andrew Vaughn on the defensive side of the ledger. He's not a defensive ace there, at this point, but he doesn't hurt you. Second Base: Brice Turang He’s got a Gold Glove and Platinum Glove from 2024, and is still arguably the best defender among Brewers infielders. This one doesn't take much hand-wringing or worrying. Turang anchors this defense at its best. Shortstop: Cooper Pratt The rookie has hardware from the minors (a Minor League Gold Glove for the 2024 season), but he’s also made only two errors in 46 games. Any ball hit in his vicinity is pretty much a guaranteed out. The smoothness of his transition to the majors at a young age and a demanding position has been profoundly impressive. Third Base: Joey Ortiz Ortiz has come alive since he began platooning with David Hamilton at the hot corner. He’s got a slight edge in terms of defense, although he and Hamilton are tied for the team lead in errors at eight apiece. As we all know, defense is about much more than error rates; Ortiz shows good range and a strong arm at the hot corner. Left Field: Jackson Chourio Chourio has improved at tracking and getting jumps on fly balls, and his arm has become more of a weapon this season, to boot. Considering that he competently held down center field for the Brewers in 2025, he’s likely the best choice for left field, particularly given whom they have in center and right. Center Field: Luis Lara The Brewers obviously see Lara as a key part of the future. They committed $31 million over seven years, and could end up paying him more than double that amount. His rookie season has already delivered some highlight-reel catches, and he’s also shown quite the arm in just 34 games, gunning down two runners with no errors. Pitchers can feel very good knowing Lara has their back. Right Field: Sal Frelick Frelick won a Gold Glove in 2024, and if he proves he's fully healthy again before the start of the postseason, he should be that caliber of defender once more. This year, playing through a shoulder malady, he was both more tentative in pursuit of difficult fly balls and much less able to control the running game with his arm. If a prolonged stint on the IL fixes that, though, he's the best right fielder on the team. Overview This lineup maximizes the Brewers defense, but have no fear, none of these guys are automatic outs at the plate, either. This exact lineup could take the field a few times, but it's more likely that Garrett Mitchell holds onto the bulk of the playing time in center. Lara might soak up Frelick's time in right, unless and until the older of the two diminutive stars proves his shoulder trouble is behind him. In any case, this is how the team can best stifle offense when opponents put the ball in play. Of course, they also benefit hugely when Jacob Misiorowski or Kyle Harrison is on the mound, because then, they don't have as many balls in play to worry about, anyway.

The box score will tell you Jake Bauers hit a two-run homer in the third inning Saturday. However, diving deeper into the at-bat, Bauers did something more impressive and important: he demonstrated how the Brewers have ended up winning three consecutive division titles, and are well on their way to a fourth. Prelude to the Showdown Bauers came into the game with identical .883 OPSes against both left-handed and right-handed pitching over the 2026 season—marking a breakout campaign even for a player who just had a smaller-scale breakout in 2025. Atlanta left-hander Martín Pérez has pitched fairly well this season, coming into the game with a 3.15 ERA and 1.20 WHIP, although he isn’t generating a lot of strikeouts and had issued 45 walks in 111 1/3 innings before the game began. The Situation Bauers faced Pérez with two outs and William Contreras on first base. The Brewers had just evened the score when Contreras hit an RBI single to plate Cooper Pratt, who had reached on an error by Pérez. The veteran southpaw had already thrown 17 pitches in the inning when Bauers came to bat, following 37 pitches in the first two innings. At that moment, in a 1-1 game, Pérez still looked like he would make it through the fifth, at least. He was one out away from escaping the third having given up just one run, and the visitors had gotten six strong innings from Chris Sale Friday afternoon. They were behind in the series, at that moment, but they had a fairly clear path to winning it. The Bauers at-bat, though, would change everything. The Showdown Pérez started by getting a called strike on a sinker, but his next pitch went into the dirt for ball one. Bauers was then fooled by a changeup, swinging and missing to go down 1-2. At that point, Pérez was one pitch away from getting to the dugout. He would have labored some, but it would also be a mental boost to just have gotten out of it. However, his second changeup missed low, evening the count at 2-2. Bauers then became pesky. Pérez threw all five of his pitches in succession, and Bauers fouled each offering off: backdoor sinker, top-rail four-seamer, curveball down, changeup down, front-hip cutter. The pitch count was climbing, but just as importantly, Bauers was proving he had all of Pérez's pitches covered. Bauers fouled off a sinker that would have been ball three (probably his worst swing decision of the plate appearance), and then he fended off a changeup in the lower inside portion of the strike zone. Then Pérez went with a four-seam fastball on the upper-outside portion of the strike zone for the 29th pitch of the inning. He'd run out of ideas and choices; that pitch was just a worse version of the one he'd thrown on the second 2-2 pitch. The result was thunderous. dnZ3ck9fWGw0TUFRPT1fVWdnRlhGQU1BMU1BQ0ZSVFV3QUhCd0ZTQUFCV1VsWUFCQU5XVWdZRVV3b0dCUVVF.mp4 The sudden two-run lead was lovely. With Logan Henderson on the mound and a bullpen as robust as Milwaukee's, even an early cushion like that feels like a big head start toward a win. The real tell, though, laid in the obvious effect that at-bat had on Pérez. This was a pitcher who's asking himself, "What more could I have done?" He got beaten, and he knows it. Martin Perez (Screenshot/X/@Brewers)" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" data-fileid="13778" data-ratio="44.63" data-unique="zmx68bsd1" style="width: 941px; height: auto;" width="1800" data-cke-saved-src="//d3631dqpbz5qlb.cloudfront.net/monthly_2026_08/image.jpeg.748cb6443ed8e94dff44ea16893ed063.jpeg" src="//d3631dqpbz5qlb.cloudfront.net/monthly_2026_08/image.jpeg.748cb6443ed8e94dff44ea16893ed063.jpeg"> The Aftermath Pérez would get out of the inning, but not before being run to 37 pitches in the frame by an Andrew Vaughn walk and a Christian Yelich groundout. His pitch count was up to 74, and at that point, everyone knew he’d be lucky to get through the fifth inning. In the fourth, Pérez would throw “only” 23 more pitches, giving up another run via a sacrifice fly by Cooper Pratt. He wouldn’t come out for the fifth inning. The Brewers forced Braves manager Walt Weiss (who topped Joey Meyer for AL Rookie of the Year in 1988) to go to his bullpen after four innings, forcing Atlanta to get four frames from their pen even in a loss that cinched the series for the Crew. It was only a small step toward a sweep of the set, but it was a concrete one. The Overall Philosophy The Brewers have a distinct offensive philosophy. Relentless Resiliency is an excellent term for it: They create pressure on pitchers by avoiding strikeouts, avoiding “chasing” pitches out of the strike zone, and making contact. Eventually, the pitcher gets tired, frustrated, or both, leading to a mistake that the Brewers take advantage of. The Bauers-Pérez showdown in the third was that relentless resiliency, boiled down to one at-bat. A refusal to quit, some solid fundamentals, and waiting for the other guy to make that one mistake that lets you break the game open. It was brilliant work by Bauers in the moment, but it was also a microcosm of the team's decade-long run of success and the reasons why they've been able to sustain it.