The most impressive series of the first half of this week is from the Milwaukee Brewers. They entered San Diego and swept the Padres, allowing only three runs in three games for a pretty talented ball club.
The Brewers are now heading to Chicago to take on the Cubs in a weekend series. They’ll be in first place at 11-7 when Friday afternoon’s game starts at Wrigley.
Keep in mind that the Padres came into this series at 10-7, having just lost two out of three to the Dodgers and simply saying “two out of three” doesn’t do justice to that series. After a marathon extra inning affair on Friday and a game that was almost a blade of grass from a draw on Saturday, the Padres were not too far from the top baseball team. At the very least, they showed they could stand toe-to-toe with the Dodgers.
And then the Brewers showed up and swept, barely allowing an offensive whimper from the Padres.
Of course, those who’ve paid attention to the Brewers so far this year wouldn’t be surprised.
We can start with Corbin Burnes, who closed the Padres on Tuesday. After renewing his arsenal last season, he’s all leveled up to Ace status. So far this year, he has allowed only one run in 24 1/3 innings. He has a 0.37 ERA, 0.33 WHIP, 0.69 FIP and those aren’t even the most impressive numbers. The 1107 ERA + really stands out as ridiculously impressive, even in these small examples. How about 40 strikeouts and zero walks? That is the first time in modern history that a pitcher has struckout at least 40 batters without a walk to start a season.
While Burnes is in the spotlight, he should at least share a bit of it.
Brandon Woodruff took the win on Monday. He now has an 1.96 ERA and 0.74 WHIP with 26 strikeouts against six walks in 23 innings this season. He gave up three earned runs in four innings on the opening day, but has been nearly untouchable since then (19 IP, 5 H, 2 R).
On Wednesday, it was back-end starter Adrian Houser’s job to get through the opponent’s lineup a few times. He should give up two runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings. He’s not one of the top three starters, but he’s still there with a 3.32 ERA and the Brewers have won two of his four starts. That is played from the back.
The other top-three starter would be up-and-coming Freddy Peralta. He didn’t stay in the rotation after his rookie year in 2018, but now he’s back looking like a frontline starter. Through 18 innings this year, he has an ERA of 2.00, 1.11 WHIP and 31 strikeouts. The 12 walks are high, but he only allows a counter-average of .133 and with all that swinging and missing, he stranded the traffic. And if you haven’t seen him pitch, keep an eye out for the annoying slider.
Left starter Brett Anderson was usually good too, sitting 2-1 with a 2.65 ERA and 1.12 WHIP.
In total, Brewers-starters have a 1.99 ERA this season with 111 strikeouts in 99 2/3 innings.
We know how great the Brewers’ bullpen can be behind Josh Hader and 2020 Rookie of the Year Devin Williams (he struggled a few times this year due to scrutiny, but the stuff is still there) with manager Craig Counsell pulling the strings. However, the group has been a bit of a weak link so far, putting in a pretty hit-inducing eighth on Wednesday. They had brought a 4.10 collective ERA to the game.
Let’s take a look at the other side here too. It could be pointed out that the Brewers didn’t really tear the cover off the ball offensively, entering the action as 14th in NL average, 12th in on-base percentage and 13th in slugging on Wednesday. It’s true. What is also true is that Christian Yelich has been injured (only nine of the 18 games played). We’re not sure how much insult they would give, but we also know that Kolten Wong and Lorenzo Cain have a track record that suggests they could help the offense. Each of them has appeared in just seven games, also injured.
Speaking of Wong and Cain, both will also greatly bolster the defenses on their return. Along with new hire Jackie Bradley as an excellent outfield defender and Omar Narvaez as a well-respected backstop, the Brewers appear to be doing very well this season. In fact, prior to Wednesday’s game, they ranked first in all of baseball in terms of defensive efficiency – the percentage of balls put into play converted into outs – and that’s mostly without the exceptional reach of Cain and Wong!
We’ll go through the necessary caveats that this is only April 21 and the Brewers have only played 18 games with 144 to go. So much more can happen. However, given all we’ve seen with the context and circumstances behind it, the Brewers look like the best team in NL Central at the moment.
Their dominant rotation – particularly Corbin, Woodruff, and even Peralta – led the way.