The Milwaukee Brewers are the most impressive playoff team this season.
No, that’s not an exaggeration. It’s the truth. Granted, the Brewers were never the “sexy” team or the team with the most elite talent. Still, they managed to win their division and leave the rest of their NL Central rivals behind.
On Wednesday, Milwaukee became the first team to clinch a postseason berth this season. The Cubs’ loss to the Oakland A’s secured the Brewers their second consecutive NL Central title and their sixth postseason appearance in the last seven seasons.
Although they were expected to play in October, not many believed the Brewers would advance to the postseason that season. In the offseason, their longtime manager Craig Counsell decided to head south to become manager of the Chicago Cubs, leaving the keys to former bench coach Pat Murphy.
When the Brewers traded star and former NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes to the Orioles, it looked like Milwaukee was on the verge of a rebuild. Challenges continued throughout the season, including the loss of the team’s best player, Christian Yelich, to a season-ending back injury.
None of this has stopped Milwaukee from being one of the best teams in baseball, and with each passing month they seem to be getting better and better. And it’s not just the looks; the numbers back up their dominance as well.
What makes the Brewers such a good team? There aren’t many things they don’t do well. Offensively, they rank fourth in runs scored and second in OPS with runners in scoring position. Defensively, they rank fourth in MLB in defensive runs saved and outs above average. And their pitching has held up its end of the bargain, ranking fourth in team ERA.
Milwaukee has shown consistent performance from its entire lineup all season, with All-Star performances from William Contreras, Willy Adames and Yelich before his injury. But the player who has helped take this team to new levels is rookie phenom Jackson Chourio. He has become every bit the star the Brewers saw in him when they signed him to an eight-year, $82 million extension before his debut. The 20-year-old has a .901 OPS since June 1.
Throughout the season, the Brewers have not only built the largest division lead in baseball (10.5 games through Wednesday), but they have also held onto their division lead the longest. Milwaukee has held a shared or sole first place lead in the Central Division since April 12, when they began pulling away from the rest of the division en route to the title.
It’s hard to look at the Brewers and not see Murphy’s signature throughout the roster. After several years in Counsell’s dugout, Murphy has transitioned seamlessly into the manager’s role. You have to imagine that his presence in the Brewers’ dugout for so many years before he got the job built the kind of trust that other first-year managers would take much longer to establish.
The “us against the world” mentality doesn’t often get you very far, but it seems to be a good fit for this team.
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This season, the Brewers have gone 11-14 overall against the Dodgers, Phillies, Padres, Mets and Diamondbacks, with the minus-4 point differential in those games showing just how close they were. In the postseason, the numbers – and the results – could easily turn in Milwaukee’s favor.
It’s impossible to predict what awaits the Brewers in the always volatile NL Wild Card round, but their ability to consistently play their best game makes this a team to keep an eye on as October approaches.
