Tommy Ciaccio

Image courtesy of © Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images After a bumpy landing to start their two-series home stand, the Crew found their footing against the Astros, decisively taking games one and two before Houston returned the favor with a 9–1 rout to avoid the sweep. The Crew are now 6–4 in their last ten, a modest step forward from the broader .500 mark that defines their season so far. It’s been an underwhelming start for Milwaukee, but they now head to Tampa to face a Rays team struggling perhaps even more visibly. The series will be played at George M. Steinbrenner Field—the Rays’ temporary home while Tropicana Field undergoes repairs after Hurricane Milton quite literally tore its roof off last October. Usually home to the Tampa Tarpons, a Yankees affiliate, the stadium is now serving as the stand-in for Major League Baseball. Whether it’s the less-than-ideal new digs or just the familiar cycle: develop → compete → trade everyone → rebuild → repeat, the Rays seem off to a discombobulated start in 2025. Long defined by the mystique of their crafty defiance of budget constraints, this year’s club looks more like a team reckoning with the consequences of prolonged austerity. They aren’t dismal, but the spark feels hibernative, like a kid asleep in the backseat on a long car ride—waiting to wake up once they’re home. There’s no clear face of the franchise, and what star power remains is decidedly muted. The Rays have competed meaningfully and consistently long enough that this is likely a temporary aberration. But it’s one the Brewers would do well to exploit—if they can keep their momentum going on the road. Adjust to the Anomaly Win or lose, Milwaukee is a baseball city, and its hometown faithful are loud and proud. Nearly 42,000 pack American Family Field on any given night, sticking it out through all nine innings with the kind of raucous energy that fills the air and provides a spark. The Rays? Well, they’re not even playing at Tropicana right now. Ongoing repairs after Hurricane Milton have them at George M. Steinbrenner Field—a spring training park with a max capacity of 11,026. And even that’s not selling out. It may not be the most orthodox home field advantage, but the Brewers are used to the cheers and the jeers - indifference, though, may be a different beast altogether. The Brewers will have to bring their own energy, because they won’t be able to source it from the crowd. Aggression In Game One The Rays are sending Zack Littell to the mound as their game one starter—an intriguing choice, given his unconventional career arc. Littell joined Tampa Bay in 2023 after a brief, disastrous stint with the Red Sox, who waived him following a forgettable showing. It was a very Rays move: take a flyer on a slumping pitcher with clear upside. And, as usual, it’s paid off—at least to a point. From 2019 to 2021, Littell’s ERA zigzagged wildly: 2.68, then a brutal 9.95, followed by a solid 2.92. That volatility hints at both his ceiling and his fragility. Since arriving in Tampa, he’s shown signs of stability, but early 2025 has raised some red flags. A noticeable dip in velocity and a low strikeout rate could make for red meat for a slumping Jackson Chourio. It could compel a reticent Christian Yelich to substitute his discipline for power. Attack Rasmussen Early One time, Brewer Drew Rasmussen has been a bright spot for the Rays with a 3.09 ERA, but early-inning issues have accounted for much of the damage he has sustained this year. In the first, he pitched a total of seven innings with a reasonable 3.86 ERA, but that number ballooned up to 7.71 in the second. It would seem Rasmussen finds a solid rhythm once the game gets going, so it would be prudent for the Crew to exploit this weakness before he tightens up and they are forced to contend with a stronger Rasmussen and a very solid bullpen to follow. Predictions: The Rays just don’t feel complete this year, and it’s because they simply aren’t. Inasmuch as they might have a face of the franchise, they are either injured (Shane McClanahan) or having a down year (Yandy Diaz). Combined with the fact that they aren’t playing in a major league stadium, it has to be disorienting for the adrift Rays. I think the Brewers are likely feeling a touch refreshed from a fairly successful homestand and will take that momentum to Florida and take two of three. View full article

Image courtesy of © Michael McLoone-Imagn Images The last couple of weeks have erased much of the positive momentum Milwaukee had built amid this uneven start to the season. A missed opportunity to sweep the White Sox gave way to two dispiriting losses to start a home series against the Cubs—at home, no less. But then came a reminder that legitimately excellent talent still resides on the Brewers roster. Freddy Peralta pitched masterfully through six innings, allowing just four hits, walking one, and striking out seven. Peralta has been viewed as an ace-in-the-making ever since his 2018 debut with the Crew. Now, just a month shy of his 29th birthday, he looks closer than ever to realizing that promise. His start galvanized the team and helped them salvage a game, though they still lost the series. The hope now is that this inauspicious stretch serves not as a harbinger of things to come, but as a crucible in which to prove themselves. They’ll have the chance to do just that with a three-game set against the Astros, also at home. Houston, who entered 2025 hoping to dispel the notion that they are in the twilight of their dynasty, are coming off their own series loss—handed to them by none other than the Chicago White Sox. The Astros' offseason was a difficult one to evaluate, as it saw them endure a major shake-up of their identity. When they traded Ryan Pressly and perennial MVP candidate Kyle Tucker to the Cubs, and made it evident that Alex Bregman would be wearing a different uniform come Opening Day, it seemed like the 'Stros had almost accepted that another rebuild would soon be on the offing. On the other hand, the team did have bullpen depth from which to deal, and their maneuvers brought in two controllable position players, while making room for free-agent signee Christian Walker. It could also be argued that the team achieved addition by subtraction, in replacing Bregman with a very capable Isaac Paredes; replacing Tucker with top prospect (and immediate-impact rookie) Cam Smith; and letting Yusei Kikuchi and future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander walk in free agency. Yes, these moves do constitute major turnover for a team whose core had brought them a second championship in five years in 2022, but it freshens up their outlook for the second half of this decade. Still, where the Brewers sit one game under .500, the Astros are only one game ahead of them. Both teams seem to be in a bit of a haze, unsure if they are on the cusp of a soft rebuild or if their respective abilities to pull magic out of a hat will whisk them into the postseason once more. Either way, it projects to be a chippy series, with two teams looking to establish who they are, what they are and where they are going in 2025. Three Keys for Taking Down the Astros Let Cameron cook!: Look, I am not expecting Daz Cameron (son of former Brewer Mike Cameron) to come close to being the player he was once hyped to become. That said, there is a reason he hasn’t completely washed out of the league yet; it just happens to reside in less celebrated tools. He managed to get a hit and steal a base Sunday. The power/speed combo scouts saw in him has yet to play in the bigs so far, and at 28, it's hard to project a sudden renaissance. However, the 112.6-mph maximum exit velocity he yielded as recently as last year is enough to give me some hope—even with uncertainty swirling around Sal Frelick's health. A refreshed Yelich: Until yesterday, Christian Yelich had played every game since April 15—a welcome sight for Brewers fans, given the litany of injuries he’s battled in recent seasons. While the former MVP isn’t exactly slumping, though, his 2025 campaign has gotten off to a slow start. His .667 OPS won’t turn heads, but his elite plate discipline still makes him a nightmare for opposing pitchers. Yelich ranks near the top of the league in walk rate, consistently forcing pitchers into deep counts and mistakes. If he can find just a bit more thump in his bat, he has the potential to be a real difference-maker in Milwaukee’s lineup. A day off might be just what he needed to reignite the spark. Stay steady against Framber: The imposing Astros lefty has long been a menace on the mound; his track record is sparkling. That Framber Valdez is only a two-time All-Star feels like an oversight, especially given his past dominance against Milwaukee. But this year’s 1-4 start doesn’t feel like bad luck—it feels earned. Valdez enters this series with a 37:15 strikeout-to-walk ratio, a notable decline from his career norms. He’s still generating ground balls, but hitters are squaring him up more than usual, producing concerning exit velocities off his pitches. Not to pile on the struggling White Sox, but the fact that they tagged him for four runs—and that only 48 of his 87 pitches found the zone—should raise eyebrows. Whether it’s contract-year nerves or a real slip in form, the Brewers may find an opening against a pitcher who’s typically anything but generous. Expectations: Genuinely hard to predict this one. Both teams feel like they are in a very similar place in their competitive arc. Given said similarities, I’ll say the Brewers take two of three. View full article

Image courtesy of © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images The Brewers wrapped up a dismal road trip with two days of competent—if not outright strong—play against the White Sox, only for the South Siders to usher in May with a humiliating loss for the Crew. Chicago’s -32 run differential will get an eight-point boost when the stats update Friday morning—each of those runs unanswered by a Milwaukee lineup that looked utterly befuddled at the plate in Thursday’s blowout. That number might have been halved if not for a Herculean grab by Luis Robert Jr., who robbed Rhys Hoskins of a grand slam. But even if that ball had cleared the fence, the Brewers still would’ve needed four more to tie. Still, Milwaukee took the series, winning two of three from the rebuilding White Sox and returning home with a .500 record. They’re 9-4 at home, but they’d be wise not to exhale just yet: the other, far more dangerous Chicago team arrives next. Yes, the dreaded Cubs make their first visit to Milwaukee in 2025—and they’re coming loaded for bear (pun intended). The offseason moves by the Cubbies have proven to be a boon. Former Astro Kyle Tucker was traded in his contract year for, among others, Chicago’s number one draft pick in 2024, promising right fielder Cam Smith. Tucker is rewarding the Cubs for their expense by being the offensive powerhouse he’s proven himself capable of being over the last several years, already going yard eight times and swiping eight bags. Somehow, though, it isn’t Tucker who owns the lead for WAR on the Cubs. That title would belong to defensive wünderkind Pete Crow-Armstrong. All five tools have come to life for the youngster, who exceeded his rookie limits last year. Back then, Crow-Armstrong slugged 10 homers in 410 plate appearances. This year, he’s already hit six in just 120. His speed, however, could be argued to be his most lethal asset. He’ll steal a bag—and, in fact, already has 12 times so far this year—but where he really shines is in his dominance in center field. He ranks in the 95th percentile in sprint speed, recently covering 48 feet in 3.3 seconds to steal a softly hit ball from Tommy Edman. He currently possesses 14 outs above average, good for fifth in the league. The Cubs are so domineering this year that it feels like a flicker of the headline that it used to be that Craig Counsell is their skipper. Truthfully, the stakes feel too high in this series for sentimental narratives to be a big point of investment for Milwaukee. The Cubs are convincingly winning against good teams, even taking four of the last five games they played against the Dodgers. The Brewers, need I remind you, were just perpetrators of a two-hit shutout against the White Sox. It’s the first week of May, so literally nothing definitive can happen in terms of wins or losses for pretty much any team, but the Brewers can send a message if they put up a convincing fight against the Cubs. Here are some keys as to how they might. Three Keys To Take Down The Cubs Don’t waste Quintana’s start: Milwaukee’s current WAR leader, veteran lefty José Quintana, is 23 innings into his Brewers tenure—and thriving. After a quietly dominant second half with the Mets last year, Quintana has kept the momentum rolling in 2025. The Brewers scooped him up as a mysteriously overlooked, bargain-bin addition late in the offseason, and so far, the signing looks like a steal. He’ll take the mound against Jameson Taillon, who, unlike many of his surging Cubs teammates, is merely having a good—not great—season. If the Crew can support Quintana with one or two runs, and he keeps looking like he has, they can steal a win here. Don’t waste the Ben Brown start: On the other side of the Quintana excellence coin are Ben Brown’s struggles. The 25-year-old righty had a solid rookie campaign for Chicago last season, but has been struggling massively out of the gates to begin this year. His fastball has lost a mile and a half per hour off of its average, and the result is seeing way less swing-and-miss and way more hard hits. If the Crew avoid the lethal defense lurking in center field, they should use Brown’s start to match the offense the Cubs are likely to show up with. Brown is set to face Quinn Priester to start the season. Continued improvement from the infield: Caleb Durbin may not be turning heads on the national stage as he begins his rookie career, but the 5'7" third baseman is a massive improvement at the hot corner compared to what Oliver Dunn was producing. Isaac Collins, a waiver pick up from the Rockies, has already put up a 0.5 WAR in his 38 plate appearances. Those appearances contain one homer, ten hits and a respectable .781 OPS. Rhys Hoskins probably won’t be the slugger the Crew was hoping he’d recapture when they signed him, but he is actually doing some damage this year compared to last year. Joey Ortiz has taken a massive step back, but there is time to address that thanks to the robust back-up that’s been found in the depth. Predictions: The Cubs recently had the highest World Series odds, going by one slightly offbeat system, and it’s not hard to see why. They have a lineup that can slug, hit, steal, run the gamut on every offensive cliche you can drum up. They’ve passed the Dodgers barometer test, and looked like they were having fun doing it. There are genuinely some ways I could see the Brewers winning this series, but it doesn’t feel like the most likely outcome. I think it’s two wins to one, in the Cubbies' favor. View full article

Freddy Peralta takes the ball in the first game of a set on Chicago's South Side Tuesday, as the Brewers try to salvage a road trip that began with bad vibes and lots of losses. Beyond a tone-setting start from Peralta, what are the keys to a sweep for the Crew? Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images At the end of a road trip marked by errors, walkoffs, and rallies rendered moot, the Brewers find themselves at a crossroads. Sitting one game under .500, they’re now looking up at Cincinnati and the Cubs. At just the right moment, they head to Sox Park, to face a still-undeveloped White Sox team. Can the Brewers make an example of this green squad—or will they leave Chicago in even worse condition than they arrived? There is no charitable light to cast on the Brewers for how this road trip has unfolded. The runs have come, yes, but Milwaukee is a team built on run prevention—and that's where things have gone most awry. Rallies can be exciting, but when the punctuation to the contest is a division rival walking you off, they only serve to highlight how the losses came to pass. In the case of games one and two of the three-game set against St. Louis, those losses may not have happened, had sloppy play not helped the Redbirds notch a few extra points. There is some potentially good news, though, should the Brewers make good on it. The last series on this jaunt pits Milwaukee against the lowly Chicago White Sox. The White Sox made history last year in all the worst ways—most infamously, by taking sole possession of the worst record in modern baseball history, a cringeworthy 41-121. It’s worth mentioning that they tied the previous franchise record (107 losses) on the first day of September, giving them almost a whole month of games to build on their horrendous legacy. Since then, the White Sox have done what they can to crawl their way out of baseball hell, and there are glimmers of competence emerging. The South Siders are still quite bad. You can’t go from that level of misery to competitive relevance in one offseason. That said, they do at least look vaguely like a team that can play major-league baseball. With the Brewers on their heels after back-to-back series losses that shouldn’t have been, this will be a good opportunity for them to reverse course and crawl back over the .500 mark. If the opposite happens, however, it will be an ill omen for their ability to meaningfully compete in a division that has a suddenly dominant Chicago Cubs team atop the standings. Three Keys for Taking Down the White Sox Tighten Up!: It's not a sprint; it's a marathon. No single series defines a team over a 162-game season. It's a comforting cliché to lean on when times get tough — but there's another side to the coin. We're not even through the first month, and Brice Turang has already committed three errors. Last season, he committed just seven all year. When the Platinum Glove Award winner is off his game, it redounds to the entire identity of the team. The White Sox are a bad team, but they aren’t as abjectly bad as last year, and could steal a win if the Brewers leave it on a plate for them. Work the count, but watch your back: The White Sox pitching staff is on pace for 126 hit batsmen. For context, the average for a team usually hovers between 60-70 per year. This is insanely high, and dangerous, but also speaks to a fairly easily exploitable flaw in the opposition. If the Brewers can exhibit a bit of plate discipline, they can stake themselves to an early lead and sail to victory from there. Once men are on, time to slug: The 2024 White Sox outfield posted a dreadful -19 Outs Above Average, and not much has changed since, aside from the addition of Joshua Palacios—who owns a -0.1 dWAR. With defense being an uncharacteristic question mark for the Crew so far, the bats have a prime opportunity to come alive in this series. The Brewers aren’t a dominant power team, but they have enough pop to challenge a shaky outfield. Expectations: I’ve been too bullish on the Brewers over their last two series, so I’ll pump the brakes a bit on this. I still believe in the team and believe they can and should win series against teams that are inarguably worse than them, even if they haven’t done so in recent days. The White Sox are a compelling enough team, and one with home-field advantage, so I’ll say they win one to the Brewers two. View full article

Rivalries never die, but sometimes the boil fades to a low simmer. The Cardinals seem to be in the thick of an uncharacteristic identity crisis in the waning days of the Mozeliak era, returning to defend their home turf from last place in a division they once seemed destined to dominate. It may not make for as fiery a rivalry as it once was, but with the Cardinals chances at postseason play rapidly disintegrating, its not impossible to imagine sparks flying over the next three days. Does the Crew have what it takes to return to their winning ways, or to the Cardinals breathe life into their sinking season? Image courtesy of Matthew Stockman/Getty Images The St. Louis Cardinals have been a thorn in the side of the Brewers fan base as long as much of them have been able to cultivate memories. Ever since 2007, the shrewd hand of John Mozeliak has steered the Cardinals into a winning lane and kept them there. Almost immediately upon taking control, Mozeliak executed a trade that would set the tone for the first act of his tenure when he sent a sentimental favorite in Jim Edmonds to the Padres in exchange for a lesser known prospect named David Freese. Freese's career as a Cardinal would eventually culminate in winning the World Series MVP award for an unbelievable performance in the 2011 championship series. In the following offseason, Mozeliak would show his steely reserve once more in letting all-time great and future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols walk in free agency. What seemed unthinkable in the moment proved to be the right decision as Pujols' production declined precipitously year after year, all the while the Cardinals continued to play meaningfully competitive ball, winning their division five times since getting that ring. In the last half a decade though, there has been a vibe shift. After an exciting Wild Card appearance pioneered in part by the leadership of manager Mike Shildt, the Cardinals front office made the puzzling decision to move on from the well-regarded skipper. The reasons were thin, and, for a famously convivial fanbase, felt unconvincing. “Philosophical differences” were the sum of the explanation, and for those differences Shildt was replaced by Oliver Marmol. The first year of Marmol’s tenure felt like vintage St. Louis baseball - competence at worst, dominance at best, and a path to the postseason. Since then, though? The situation has devolved into something frankly unrecognizable. 2023 was their first losing season since 2007, built largely on the sudden decline of likely Hall Of Famers like Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. There was also a palpable dysfunction felt, particularly as it pertained to the addition of Willson Contreras, who came with titanic shoes to fill as the ostensible replacement for Yadier Molina. 2024 was arguably a bit of a return to form as they managed a 83-79 record, good for a .512 winning percentage — but not good enough to reach the postseason. With flagging consistency, Mozeliak announced that 2024 would be his final year as POBO for the Cardinals, with Chaim Bloom set to take his place. As the siren song for Mozeliak rings out, the Cardinals are meeting the churn with fairly uninspired play of their own. Their recent 1-2 series loss against the Braves must have felt like an exhale as it punctuated a road trip that started with a four-game sweep at the hands of the Mets. As the Cardinals sit dead last in the NL Central, the Brewers sit just below the Cubs near the top, but things aren’t all gravy in Brewerville either. A comedy (or tragedy) of errors, most consequentially by two Gold Glovers in Brice Turang and Christian Yelich, allowed the Giants to rally for a win, taking the series in the process. The result? The always-awkward closed door team meeting. The series that starts on Friday figures to be a perfect storm that could brew some high-stakes intensity, insofar as such a thing could exist this early in the season. Start with the obvious acknowledgement of their historical acrimony, but that’s just sentimentality when you consider the material positions of both teams. Two division rivals are looking to right the ship, with the Brewers still reasonably clawing for a top spot. In St. Louis, there will need to be an urgent turn around for the Red Birds, or they will be firmly in the seller’s market by June. Also, the Contreras brothers! That’s kind of fun! Three Keys For Taking Down The Cardinals Gray stays Gray: Sonny Gray has had an interesting journeyman’s career to this date. Despite occasionally being ace-like in his game (finishing in the top-10 in Cy Young voting three times, most recently as a runner-up with the Twins in 2023) the Cardinals uniform will be the fifth uniform he has put on. Despite his occasional excellence, and regardless of what jersey Gray is wearing, Gray seems to have his troubles with certain Brewers bats. An ascendant Brice Turang is a career 4-for-9 against Gray, Christian Yelich is 5-21 with a homer, and Rhys Hoskins is 4-for-15. If the core can do its thing and knock Gray out early, it could force St. Louis to turn to their inconsistent bullpen — and deplete them for the next few days. Priester stays Priester: It’s hard to know what Quinn Priester is going to be, but what he has been so far is unequivocally and undeniably excellent. Priester’s curveball and change-up never played especially well in previous seasons, so they’ve taken the backseat in the righty’s repertoire. He’s filled the gap by turning the sinker into his primary pitch and adding an effective cutter to his game. At least so far, the results have been game-changing. Self-Assuredness: After years of living under the cruel crimson thumb of St. Louis, it feels fair to take a cheap and decidedly non-analytical shot and say that the Brewers should take comfort and even a little joy in just knowing they are the better team. Living outside of anything corroborated by metrics and analysis may be uncouth, but the Brewers and their fans deserve to simply revel in it, so let’s. Prediction: Even outside of being in the spirit of reveling in all of this, I genuinely do think the Cardinals are just a bit of a mess right now, and I don’t think it's the kind of mess that’s fixed by something as nominal as home field advantage. The Brewers just put up a convincing fight against an objectively better team out West and I think they can do so again in St. Louis. The Crew takes the series 2-1, if not an outright sweep. View full article

The week starts for Milwaukee with a bit of a sentimental four-game set out west, as they take their winning momentum to Oracle Park to take on the Giants—and visit an old friend. Image courtesy of © Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images The Brewers trade in one Californian opponent for another, this time leaving their home turf to trek westward to face the San Francisco Giants. As the season shakes out, the Giants and Brewers are refracting a similar energy: each is the perennial David to an intradivisional Goliath, although the Crew have been more accurate with their slingshot over the last several years. As the Dodgers have gathered up superstars, the Giants have had to be clever in their efforts to put together a meaningfully competitive lineup, but that pursuit has not been without some major hiccups. There were notable pursuits of Bryce Harper, who ended up signing a record-breaking contract with the Phillies; Shohei Ohtani, who took his talents to Dodger Stadium, instead; and Aaron Judge, who played the centerpiece in a now-infamous (though hilarious, misspelled and misinformed) tweet by Jon Heyman. There have been some successful additions, though, and Brewers fans need no introduction to their marquee addition from this season’s free-agent class. After several productive years in a Brewers uniform, Willy Adames cashed in on his stellar production at shortstop with a seven-year, $182-million pact with San Francisco. It has been slow going for Adames to this point, sitting just below the Mendoza line with a .190 average and only one homer. The peripherals surrounding his lack of production leave room for real concern—most notably, a significant drop in bat speed, which informs everything else about his at-bats. Still, the Giants' lineup is not without threats. Brewers arms will have to navigate and leapfrog batters, the combined efforts of which put up a deceptive .698 OPS that undersells their ability to outscore their opponents. That said, the Giants couldn’t outscore the Angels in two of the three games in their last series. Meanwhile, the visiting Brewers are fresh off a decisive series victory against an untethered Athletics team. The Crew won the first game but lost the middle game, before running up the score in a rubber-match victory, to the tune of 14-1. This shellacking pushed Pat Murphy's club two games above .500 to start their road trip. If momentum means anything, then this will be welcome fuel for a Milwaukee team still largely diminished by injuries. Adding further fuel to their fire was the exciting call-up of Caleb Durbin. At 5-foot-6, Durbin already defies a lot of what one might expect in a typical big-league player, but the small-statured infielder comes equipped with a fascinating offensive profile. Known particularly for his plate discipline and high-contact approach at the plate, Durbin has unlocked some pop over the last year and a half, hitting 10 home runs last season and two already this year. Three Keys To Take Down The Giants Don’t underestimate the middle of the lineup: The Giants have never been a team associated with pop. In fact, they hold the dubious and borderline unbelievable distinction of not having had a player hit 30 or more home runs in a season since 2004, when Barry Bonds mashed 45. Aside from Jung Hoo Lee (who possesses an eye-popping .355/.412/1.044 line) and some decent offensive output by Mike Yastrzemski, there isn’t a lot on the box scores that screams “imminent threat” at the plate. Much of the Giants lineup is composed of players with a history of streakiness, but right now, those players are performing with enough efficacy to support a +31 run differential - good for third in the league. Lean on the sidearmer: Pitching woes are still a bit of an issue for this team. One narrative that has slipped a bit under the radar is the one surrounding 27-year-old righty Grant Anderson. The sidearmer was designated for assignment by Texas last year after home run issues became an insurmountable problem for him; he gave up 2.3 homers per nine innings. Milwaukee’s front office saw paths to fixing that, however, and so far, it's working. Anderson is near the top of the league in stifling hard-hit balls, with only 2.8% of batted balls being Barrels—a massive drop from the 10% that did so last year. A major caveat, of course, is that the season is still brand-new. We haven't seen enough to know whether he can sustain this. A bit of discipline from Chourio: It’s a bit difficult to know what to make of Jackson Chourio’s sophomore campaign. His offensive output looks great, with the numbers to prove it. The young phenom currently leads the Brewers with five home runs. That said, the gap between his batting average and his OBP is razor-thin, at an almost comical .253 to .266. This is largely due to an untenable 41.5% chase rate, second-worst in the league behind Michael Harris II. This is not untrodden territory for Chourio, who had a slow start to last year’s season before turning it on and making a run for Rookie of the Year. If he can tighten up his game, his contribution can go from marginal to astronomical. Predictions: It’s really hard to doubt what the Giants have done. If it wasn’t for the behemoth that is the Dodgers, it’d be easy to see them competing for the top spot in their division. They just don’t have many holes, and the ones they do have feel manageable—but I don't think it will be a losing effort. The Crew takes two of four. View full article

Two teams with wind at their sails are on a collision course that will kick off on Friday in Milwaukee. After a rough loss to start the series, the Crew turned it on and dominated the Tigers for back-to-back wins. Meanwhile, the Athletics come to Milwaukee after absolutely feasting on the lowly White Sox. Can the Crew continue their winning ways, or will a provocative and pesky upstart A's team derail them at home? Let's dig in. Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-Imagn Images For the first time in a while, the Athletics are a source of serious intrigue in the league, but inauspiciously, not much of that intrigue is born from their quality of play. Over the last decade, the A’s have seemingly locked into a perpetual Sisyphean state of a churning rebuild, so much so that it’s difficult to associate the franchise with having a glory day period that includes three consecutive World Series victories from 1972-74. While the Athletics franchise still possesses those gilded memories, they are now unmoored from the city that’s hosted them since 1968. As the Oakland faithful bid their team a tearful goodbye, the A’s set into their temporary limbo state, packed with intriguing talent. The dominant righty closer Mason Miller, robust powerhouse slugger Tyler Soderstrom, and the newly extended Lawrence Butler, who figures to emerge into veteran-hood in a few years when the A’s permanently plant roots in their new home of Las Vegas. With all the disarray that has defined them in the last few seasons, you’d be forgiven for missing that they’ve shed their punchless ways. The offense to this point in the season is primarily anchored by the aforementioned Soderstrom, who possesses a beastly 1.101 OPS through their first 19 games. The record pretty solidly reflects their run differential, one game below .500 and -5 respectively, but this time last year that run diff sat at a glaring -15. As of Thursday evening, the Astros are in the surreal position of looking up at the A’s in their division. The mix of high-ceiling youngsters and the infusion of veteran influence like Luis Severino and Gio Urshela combine for a compelling alchemy to help shape the vision for what the A’s will eventually be. The Crew is emerging from winning another interleague series against the Tigers. In taking two of three, the Brewers corrected course after a couple of devastating bullpen meltdowns cost them a road series against the Diamondbacks. The Brewers will enter the series against the Athletics as one of only six teams left in the league who have yet to be shut out this season, helping winnow that number by delivering the Tigers their first shutout in 2025. The Crew sits just one game above .500 and one game back of a very convincing-looking Chicago Cubs team in the NL Central. This is in part thanks to some fantastic starting pitching, including newcomer Quinn Priester, who has been sharp in his two appearances with Milwaukee, and late free agent signing Jose Quintana, who is carrying over a torrid second half with the Mets last year, with an unbelievable beginning to his tenure with Milwaukee. Three Keys For Taking Down The Athletics Competence and Confidence: It’s not hard to see that the Athletics have some sturdy pieces on their roster that should be entering their prime the next time the A's pry open that competitive window, but they aren’t there yet. The Crew's studied, measured approach and caution around the more self-assured veterans might be enough to give Milwaukee the edge in this series. A resurgent Christian Yelich: Yelich broke an 0-19 streak on Tuesday and went yard with a 404-foot blast to center the next day. It’s been difficult to know which version of Yelich will emerge season-to-season ever since fouling a ball off his kneecap in 2019, ending an MVP-worthy season. Since then, it seems like elite-level production has been off the table for Yeli, but his heart and determination remain. He’s put up a decent 5.7 WAR combined over the last two seasons, but is off to a glacial pace to begin 2025. If he can position himself on the positive side of production, he’ll be a major help to his offense-starved team. Stave off J.T. Ginn and outlast Luis Severino: Athletics righty J.T. Ginn is fewer than 40 innings into his major league career but possesses some troublesome stuff. His chase rate and strikeout percentage are well above average, and he’s near the top of the league in ground ball percentage. Some bad looks in the infield has his WHIP sitting at 1.313, which indicates that he’s doing a fairly decent job of stifling exit velocity. Meanwhile, former Yankees and Mets arm Luis Severino is pitching fairly well in his first year out of New York. Contrary to Ginn, Severino’s relatively low 4.01 ERA seems largely thanks to good luck, as hitters are seeing his stuff and hitting it hard. Still, Severino is a reliable innings eater, averaging 6.1 innings per start. If the Crew can resist hacking at the wily stuff of Ginn and chip away at Severino, and perhaps exploit his lagging fastball, the Crew could put up a solid enough lead that makes their struggling bullpen feel a bit more at ease to wrap things up. Predictions: Predicting sweeps is never wise, but they do happen, so let’s be bold and say the Crew takes all three here. Why? They can do it because the Athletics seem like a great team to make an example of. View full article

The Brewers return home after a deflating losing series against the Diamondbacks. What's awaiting them but the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers? The Tigers stunned the baseball world with their white-hot ride into the playoffs last year, and they've maintained their winning ways in the 2025 campaign's early goings. Tarik Skubal dominated his way to the position of last year's AL Cy Young award winner, and he'll be the first pitcher the Crew sees in Milwaukee. Does the Crew have what it takes to rebound from a fairly mediocre road series, or do the Tigers solidify their spot on top of a wobbly division? Let's check it out! Image courtesy of © Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images Anyone who bet on the Tigers to make it into the playoffs on August 11th of last year is probably sitting on their yacht right now. With a 0.2% chance of seeing October ball, Detroit turned on the jets and went 31-13 to clinch their first postseason appearance since 2014. The Tigers would breeze past the Astros before eventually getting taken out by the division rival Guardians, and while that outcome may not be the ultimate wish for Tigers fans, that they made it to the dance has to be cause for hope. That they just took two of three on the road against their division rival Twins should give them an early season spark that might follow them southbound to Milwaukee. The Brewers return home after losing a deflating series against the Diamondbacks. After winning the series' first game, they took a commanding lead into the ninth inning before a bullpen implosion led to a rally and a loss at the hands of the Snakes. The next game was admittedly less tragic but still manifested in a come-from-behind win by Arizona but there are still many reasons to be excited about how the Crew performed. William Contreras's average is still abutting the Mendoza line, but he did sock his third home of the year in the series' last game. Jackson Chourio added to his reputation as a budding superstar, nearly reaching one WAR in only two weeks of play. Brice Turang continued his oddly unnoticed streak of legitimately impressive hitting. Perhaps most impressively, former Brewers-killer Jose Quintana helped his new Crew grab their sole W in the series by shutting out the D-Backs over the course of seven innings on his way to becoming the 24th pitcher ever to defeat all 30 current MLB teams. Attrition is the biggest bugaboo for the Brewers right now. You could point fingers at the front office for not signing more depth over the course of free agency when there were already question marks about what they had, or you could look at the extensive series of bad-luck injuries they’ve endured to this point. The truth is both are to blame, but it's a moot point, and until Brandon Woodruff returns, Civale heals, or some scrap heap series of acquisitions and waiver claims come to pass, the Crew has to work with what it’s got. The good news is that despite this defining affliction, the resilient Milwaukee Brewers are keeping their heads above water for now. Three Keys To Take Down The Tigers Better bullpen management: More specifically, don’t pitch Joel Payamps unless it’s an absolute emergency. His first two seasons in a Brewers uniform were solid, posting a 2.55 and 3.05 ERA. Obviously, something is off with the righty because his once dependable arm has seen those once-stingy numbers explode to untenable heights, nearing almost 17 earned runs per nine innings. The rest of the pen has been sturdy enough that, for the time being, Payamps either needs to be used in mop-ups or blowouts or maybe even some time in Nashville to get his groove back. Go to war with the starters: The Brewers have quite a rope-a-dope awaiting them in the first two games of the series, contending first against reigning Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal. After that, a resurgent Jack Flaherty looks like he’s competing to wrestle away the status of staff ace at the season’s outset. Skubal’s K and whiff rate have cooled off considerably from last year’s peak, and Flaherty is walking a below-league average of 10.6% of batters faced. Work the counts, tire these arms out, and take your chances on the pen. These arms range from crafty to elite, and they won’t give out hits easily. Challenge defense up the middle: The Tigers have made some vast improvements from the team they were even two seasons ago, but their contract with Javier Baez has been an albatross ever since it was signed before the 2022 season. Those woes were primarily related to his bat, but over the last few years, his once-elite metrics with the glove have also taken a noticeable dip. Gleyber Torres’ defensive stats have always been lackluster and are part of the reason the Yanks were content to walk away from him. Driving the ball may be futile, given the arms they are up against, but if they can square up some hard-hit balls through the middle infield, they might be able to cobble together some meaningful offense. Predictions I mean, look, they’re going up against an undeniably elite talent in Skubal, and Jack Flaherty has proven that he's deadly when he’s locked in. The Brewers can win this series, but a sweep feels considerably less likely. If Milwaukee can wrestle a win away from Skubal in the first game, my opinion on that matter changes. View full article

The Crew goes from the Mile High City to the desert after winning a series agains the Rockies. The NL West provides a gradient of difficulty for opposing teams, and things are about to get a bit more challenging for Milwaukee. Image courtesy of © Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports Even with the relative step-up in competition coming, it seems like a lot is clicking for the Brewers. Jackson Chourio is authoring the beginning of a stellar sophomore season, Brice Turang is finding his power stroke, and Freddy Peralta is thus far pitching like a Cy Young contender. Do the Brewers have what it takes to contend against the likes of former Milwaukee ace Corbin Burnes and the stacked lineup that supports him? Let's dig in. The eyes of the baseball world have been compelled Westward ever since Shohei Ohtani touched down in America. First with the Angels, and now the feared Dodgers and the dominating apparatus they’ve constructed. With so much attention being paid to Los Angeles, you’d be forgiven to have overlooked what’s happening in the sunbaked sprawl of Phoenix. Being overlooked has kind of been a motif for the D-Backs, even as far back as 2001 when they won the World Series, denying the Yankees their fourth consecutive ring. The same is true now, having cobbled together an adroitly built roster with toolsy flourishes throughout. Many of the players on said roster took the baseball world by surprise in 2023 after they confidently plowed through the Brewers, Dodgers and Phillies to win the pennant, only to ultimately lose to the Rangers in the World Series The Brewers will take Chase Field with an identical 7-6 record to their hosts, this after winning a series against the Rockies that saw them decisively crush them in consecutive games before the Rox returned the favor and spoiled Quinn Priester’s solid Brewers debut. Who pitches for the Brewers in the initial game has yet to be determined, emblematic of the Crew’s deeply depleted rotation. The second game pits Brewers rookie Chad Patrick against a familiar face in Corbin Burnes. This might appear as unfairly tilted in favor of the D-Backs, but Burnes has yet to shine in a Diamondbacks uniform, walking his fair share of hitters and getting barreled up by others. This seems more than likely to turn around before too long, but Milwaukee may have the good fortune of matching up against his arm before it truly warms up. The last game pits ace against ace with Freddy Peralta against Zac Gallen. Gallen is in his penultimate year before hitting free agency and has yet to find his stride as well. He's still getting a lot of swings and misses, but he's walking more than the league average in the process. Where the Diamondbacks' pitching has yet to find their rhythm, the offense has been steady. This is particularly true with the overlooked powerhouse that is Corbin Carroll, who leads the NL with an insane .520 xwOBA. The Crew won’t face a whole lot of let up should they get past arguably the best leadoff hitter in baseball. Following Carroll is the second-place team WAR leader in Geraldo Perdomo. Shortly after that, some fearsome slugging in the newly acquired Josh Naylor and veteran homer threat Eugenio Suarez. Even Pavin Smith is hitting well, currently possessing an almost shocking 1.152 OPS. The fangs on a lineup like this look even sharper when you consider the state of the Brewers embattled rotation. Thankfully, at least, the Brewers will avoid pitching to Ketel Marte, who is on the IL with a hamstring strain. Three Keys To Take Down The Diamondbacks Keep the aces off balance: The predicted one-two punch of Burnes & Gallen once theorized as possible contenders for first and second-place Cy Young finishers have yet to live up to that reputation. The Brewers might be able to make moot the D-Backs potent offense if they can put up crooked numbers of their own and do some damage to the starters before Arizona turns to their bullpen, which has been stellar so far, by the way. A Tale Of Two Corbins: Where Burnes hasn’t been himself to start the season, Carroll has been absolutely torrid to start the season. I know this point effectively repeats the points that have already been established in the rest of the article but it can’t be overstated how talent as potent as Corbin Carroll’s is can serve as the crux of the entire series. The Brewers need to be mindful and play several steps ahead of someone who might supplant Ohtani as this years MVP. Find some slug, Frelick: After getting drafted 15th overall in 2021, Sal Frelick quickly ascended to the bigs with gritty play and a flashy glove that endeared himself well to the Milwaukee faithful. He isn’t and will almost certainly never be a player known for his pop, but his hitting has proven to be difference making. What’s more, there is ever so slightly a hint that he might be finding the slightest bit of power. Frelick’s hard hit percentage is up to 14% up from an immeasurable sub-one percent last year. Still a bit on the meek side? Sure, but if you consider his other tools (most notably his speed), if he can continue on this trajectory and maintains his average, you won’t have to squint hard to see him look a bit like that Corbin Carroll guy I keep going on about. Predictions: There’s no denying it, the Diamondbacks are good. In fact, they have the makings to be great if everything clicks. There is also the home field advantage to consider, and the Brewers' strained rotation. Given that these teams are fairly evenly matched in terms of their composition, I have to give a slight edge to the D-Backs to take two of three. View full article

After an impressive home stand with back-to-back series wins against the Royals and Reds, the Brewers head west. The first series on this coastless excursion will be Coors Field. It's been a long time since the Rockies have posed a meaningful threat as a team, but with a recent infusion of some top prospect talent, they are indicating an attempted return to form. Do the Rox have what it takes to stop the Brewers' momentum, or will the Brewers leave Colorado having ascended over the .500 mark? Image courtesy of © Michael McLoone-Imagn Images It wouldn’t be unfair to say that the last time the Rockies played a game of any real relevance was October 7th, 2018. That game ended with Ian Desmond flying out to Lorenzo Cain, unceremoniously ending the Rockies playoff run with a 6-0 shutout. The Brewers would ultimately lose the following series to the Dodgers but would continue to chase playoff ball in each of the following seasons, with reasonable expectations that they’ll be there again come season end this year. The Rockies? Not so much. It’s been a parade of befuddlement in the Mile High City. The Rockies front office has executed a number of genuinely head-scratching moves. Most notably, they handed a massive contract to declining former MVP Kris Bryant. Three years into a seven-year contract, he has collected a -0.3 WAR. What’s more was their unloading of the one-time face of the franchise and future Hall Of Famer Nolan Arenado, who was acquired by the Cardinals, who were essentially paid for the pleasure of said acquisition. Predictably, this hasn’t yielded much in the way of desirable results for the Rox. There hasn’t been any discernible coherence in whatever direction they have taken since the last time they saw October baseball. That lack of a vision perhaps culminated in the last two seasons, consecutive abject campaigns with over 100 losses in each. Through the fog of misery, though, shines the potential of some sort of guiding light. The front office has decided to call up their top prospect, RHP Chase Dollander, and their eighth-ranked prospect, OF Zac Veen. It’s a bold move that further drains the talent pool of what is already considered a middling-at-best farm system, with Baseball America ranking the organization 13th and Keith Law going as low as 23rd. Still, it’s evident that in a division headed up by the behemoth Dodgers, such boldness is necessary if they want to even tread water. Meanwhile, Brewers fans aren’t so aggressively rubbing the paint off the panic button in Milwaukee. Despite the numerous injuries the Brewers rotation is currently dealing with (an issue made significantly worse thanks to a Nestor Cortes elbow sprain), the Crew performed with aplomb against a division rival in the Reds right when they needed it most. Winning three games out of four saw Milwaukee claw their way to a .500 record, and while they walk into this next series limping and licking their wounds, they are doing so with a lot of bite. Brice Turang is currently making a case for “most underrated player in the game” after quietly winning a Platinum Glove thanks to his stellar defense last season. If early signs indicate anything, he’s also learning to mash the ball, work the count, and hit for average. The combined effort is a 0.4 WAR and a 136 OPS+, which looks pretty sweet on the back of any baseball card, let alone that of a middle infielder with amazing defense. Jackson Chourio’s curious swing-and-miss continues to be a mild issue but one that figures to work itself out as he sees more pitchers and other members of the youth movement like Garrett Mitchell and Sal Frelick continue to contribute meaningfully. Christian Yelich and William Contreras haven’t found their swing just yet, but their silence at the plate feels more like a lull than a warning sign—something bound to jostle loose as soon as the weather gets warm and the season hits its stride. The quiet alchemy that has yielded so much surprising success for the Crew still seems to be burbling away. The blueprint has more or less stayed the same for more than half a decade, and if it hasn’t proven itself broken yet, why mess with a good thing? Three Keys To Take Down The Rockies Attack fast: Kyle Freeland was once considered an ace in the making, and early showings this season suggest the window for that may not be fully closed. In 12.2 innings pitched in the two games he’s started, Freeland has an impressive 2.13 ERA while striking out 10. At 9.2 IP, veteran righty Antonio Senzatela hasn’t pitched as deep into games, but he has yet to surrender a single run - this despite an unsightly 2.172 WHIP. The Brewers should pick the starters apart as deftly as possible and then sink their teeth into a relief corps with a combined 6.98 ERA to this point in the season. Veteran bats coming to life: There are seven combined hits between Contreras and Yelich. As I stated before, it’s only a matter of time before that drought ends. It takes a spark to start a fire, so what better time to ignite that fire than at a high-elevation game against a team with a less-than-stellar bullpen? Remember, the Rockies are bad: This isn’t to say to play with an air of decompression and nonchalance, but it might be a valuable point of consideration that Colorado is not an especially threatening team. When a roster is as defined by attrition as the Brewers is (Quinn Priester, anyone?), it might be worth trusting a starter to face a couple of extra batters rather than burn the pen. The Brewers face the Diamondbacks after this series, and it might be prudent to have as many hands on deck as possible for what is undeniably a more formidable foe. Predictions: The Rockies are, without a doubt, the lesser team. That said, predicting a sweep feels like folly under the best of circumstances, and these aren't the best of circumstances. The Brewers' rotation is dangerously thin, and it honestly feels like luck is at least partially responsible for their .500 record to this point. Still, the idea of the Rockies winning this series feels even more far-fetched than a Brewers sweep, so let's split the difference between those two outcomes and say the Crew takes two of three on enemy territory. View full article

Oh God. More torpedo bats. Image courtesy of © Katie Stratman-Imagn Images After two series of interleague play to kick off the 2025 campaign, the Brewers will host the division rival Reds! After the bumpiest of starts to the season, the Brewers rallied from being swept to take two of three games and win the series against the Royals. The Reds will be looking to return to winning form, having not scored a run since Monday. Two teams with something to prove tangling in the same competitive division? Sounds like an electric early-season series to dig into. It’s been a limp decade-plus for the storied Cincinnati franchise, and it’s been a very long time since young upstart names like Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips would impose upon Milwaukee, with All-Star arms like Johnny Cueto and Aroldis Chapman to back them up. This year, though, the whispers of good things to come might be turning into shouts. Suddenly, the Queen City is laden with talent, ranging from elite to quietly solid. That young talent will be informed by the expertise of future Hall Of Fame manager Terry Francona, who emerged from semi-retirement to take the helm in Cincinnati. Tito’s return is so much more than just a nostalgic watermark to their season. It’s a highly respected stabilizing force that can mentor already brilliant talent and take it to the next level. The 2-4 start for the Reds may not look like anything special, especially given that two of those L’s are on account of frustrating back-to-back shutouts at the hands of the Rangers. Examining those losses a bit closer however, you’ll notice they were both 1-0 games. Conversely, the first game of that series was a 14-3 shellacking by Cincy, proof that the Reds can flip the switch and put up crooked numbers in a hurry. The solidification of Cincinnati’s roster is exemplified in Elly De La Cruz, who followed an impressive 98-game rookie year with a history-making sophomore showing. In 2024, he authored a 20-homer, 60-stolen base season, surpassing 100 career stolen bags nearly a month before the season wrapped. A week into the season, he has more homers than stolen bases (two to one), but if he’s dialed his game even tighter, you could expect those numbers to race each other upward throughout the season. Another compelling infield storyline can be found in Matt McLain. McLain also impressed in his freshman year, arriving on the scene in 2023 at the age of 23 and putting up an impressive 3.6 WAR. Sadly, shoulder injuries sidelined the promising young player for the entire 2024 season and put reasonable skepticism as to what version of McLain would show up post-recovery. Early signs are putting those doubts to rest. He’s already gone deep three times, and is hitting the ball hard, albeit sometimes into tough-luck outs. The latter is also true of new Red and native Wisconsinite Gavin Lux, who was acquired by the Reds after helping the Los Angeles Dodgers win it all last season. The balls Lux has put into play have found leather, but they are jumping off the bat at an average of 93.5 MPH. Meanwhile, in Milwaukee, what looked like a five-alarm inferno to start the series simmered into a controlled burn. The 11-1 beatdown they took to kick off their series against the Royals was followed by a resounding win (led by rookie Chad Patrick), then an exciting walk-off built by a Freddie Peralta gem and a Brice Turang squeeze bunt. What follows in the rotation, and what the Brewers will be putting up in their first intradivisional matchup, feel like the biggest question marks in their rotation. For those who have rightfully expunged it from their memory, Nestor Cortes began his tenure with the Brewers by giving up three home runs in as many pitches. Elvin Rodriguez figures to be next in line, filling the less desirable role of spot starter. There simply aren’t enough innings pitched by Rodriguez to provide any meaningful analysis on his game. That said, while it isn’t fair to place the blame exclusively on Rodriguez for how things turned out, the aforementioned Royals beatdown does have his fingerprints on it. Brewers Keys To Success Be careful with Elly: Focusing so heavily on one player might seem overwrought, but what De La Cruz brings to the lineup isn’t just flashy star power. If he’s pitched directly, he’s liable to go yard, but if you walk him, he’ll Rickey Henderson his way around the diamond with ease. Early going indicates that he’s working on his discipline at the plate, but last year he was near the top of the league in whiff rate. If the Crew can find a way to exploit that weakness, it will make their days a lot easier. Cortes’s Redemption: How quickly we forget the bygone dominance of our ephemeral heroes! It seems pretty likely that Nasty Nestor’s days of flirting with acehood are behind us, but it was just last season that the lefty pitched to a reasonably good 3.77 ERA over a career-high 174 1/3 innings. Plus, there’s no way he can be as bad as he was in his last start…. Right? Keen Management: In a bit of good karma (perhaps unearned, since many Brewers fans indulged in a good deal of schadenfreude), Pat Murphy won the Manager Of The Year Award in his first year at the helm of the Brewers. This after years of it eluding the now-pariah Craig Counsell, who left Milwaukee to manage the dreaded Cubs. While it’s nice to have a skipper with such an accolade to their name, Francona has three of them. It will be a good early-season test for Murphy to galvanize his already stellar reputation if he can flash a little dugout mastery when the opportunity presents itself. View full article

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The Brewers and Royals kick off the second series of the year with one win between them. It was an ugly series of blowouts in the Bronx, but the Crew has what it takes to rebound in their home opener. Let's look at where these teams are, and what Milwaukee needs to do to turn the tide and snag a series win. Image courtesy of © Brad Penner-Imagn Images Time To Inhale? I began the last article I wrote with one word: “exhale”. With a fairly disastrous opening series behind us, it might feel like an obsolete sentiment, but logic (and recent baseball history) tells us that is not necessarily the case. Flash back to the beginning of last season, when the Brewers stomped through the Mets in a decisive three-game sweep, leaving the Queensmen looking inept. The season ended with the Mets owning a respectable 89-win record, earning a playoff berth in which they knocked the Brewers out of the postseason in heartbreaking fashion. As bitter a memory as that might be, it’s important to have context to weigh against the doom-and-gloom of an unfavorable opening series. Interleague Baseball At American Family Field The Brewers return home, but interleague baseball stays with them as they welcome the Kansas City Royals. After years of middling play, the Royals emerged as a dark horse last season, riding into October and reaching the ALDS before falling to the Yankees, three games to one. Still, there is a fire in the Royals' belly, fueled by some overheated expectations. The undebatable face of the franchise is young shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who has quickly vaulted himself to a unanimous top-10 player in the league after debuting in 2022. Witt amassed a jaw-dropping 9.4 WAR in his 2024 campaign, but the Royals had other sneaky talent to fuel their playoff run. Seth Lugo was quietly the runner-up in Cy Young voting, while crafty veteran Michael Wacha maintained his steady mid-rotation form. Cole Ragans, infamously acquired for a few months of Aroldis Chapman, is a statistician’s darling, and looks to build on his occasional ability to find utter dominance. The Royals and Brewers have a bit of a sentimental symbiosis in their history, as many players have shared the uniform in the last decade or so. Zack Greinke’s tenure with the Crew began when Milwaukee swapped out a litany of young talent for his skills—including Lorenzo Cain, whose career was bookended by second, wonderful tenure in a Brewers uniform. Mike Moustakas came to Milwaukee in exchange for Brett Phillips and Jorge López. In perhaps a less-remembered exchange, Norichika Aoki was traded for World Series magnet Will Smith (reliever, not catcher or rapper/actor). Fuzzy feelings aside, these two teams enter the ring as oft-forgotten, small-market franchises, both of whom are looking to silence doubters and return to October ball. This chippy energy could serve to invigorate the freshly swept Brewers, or (similarly) put a charge in the 1-2 Royals. The Three Keys For Brewers Success Against The Royals Amnesia: This goes without saying. Being swept to start the season can feel defining—but it isn’t. The Brewers need short memories and a confident mindset heading into this series. Marathon, not a race, etc. The Brewers should treat it thusly and enter this series with the confidence that they can sweep. Getting length out of the starters: If there’s one significant drawback to getting blown out three times in a row, it’s the toll it takes on the bullpen. Brewers starters pitched just 10 combined innings, leaving the pen overextended. The back end of the rotation will need to fend off a pesky Royals offense to prevent a destabilizing game of 40-man roster roulette. Attack fast: The Royals made a clear effort to bolster their already decent bullpen at last year’s deadline, and through the offseason. Flamethrower Hunter Harvey, sidearmer John Schreiber and All-Star closer Carlos Estévez don’t figure to be a breeze for Milwaukee’s bats. If the offense is going to do damage, which it can, its best odds might be against the well-scouted familiar faces it will face on the mound. Prediction: Experiencing hope after a deflating series like the one the Brewers just experienced feels almost defiant, but I still think the Brewers take this series. Home-field advantage is one thing, but beyond that, the Brewers' bats didn’t quit even when things looked utterly hopeless. That (combined with the fact that the Royals didn’t exactly set the world on fire in their opening series) makes this feel like viable ground for a rebound. View full article