The Milwaukee Brewers are going to win their third National League Central title in the last four years.
They are 10 games ahead of the second-place Cardinals after winning their weekend series in Oakland. After losing two of three games in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, they scored 20 runs combined in back-to-back victories over the A’s.
They are showing no signs of folding. So injured Brewers pitcher Wade Miley had every right to do a bit of boasting to USA Today last week.
“Nobody on the outside ever believes in us,†Miley said. “Nobody gives us a chance. People always count us out year after year. But it’s an expectation here in Milwaukee to be in the playoffs every single year.
“This is our division.â€
Well, yes it is – at least until the Cardinals or another team proves otherwise.
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Writing for USA Today, Bob Nightengale marveled at the success of the Brewers this season after losing manager Craig Counsell to the Chicago Cubs and ace pitcher Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles via free agency:
Let’s face it, there wasn’t enough bratwurst and beer in the world to convince anyone outside Milwaukee that this team would be running away with the division.
The Cubs were supposed to win the division after bringing in Counsell, signing starting pitcher Shota Imanaga from Japan and re-signing Cody Bellinger.
This was the year the Cincinnati Reds young talent was supposed to take over and lead them to great heights.
The Cardinals were supposed to bounce back with three new veteran starters.
Even the Pittsburgh Pirates were supposed to take a huge next step forward.
But the Brewers?
Yet here they are, tied with the Philadelphia Phillies for the second-best record in the National League entering Sunday, leading the division all but 14 days this season.
Writing for , Thomas Harrigan gave the Brew Crew a shoutout for how they stayed patient with young star Jackson Chourio:
One of the most hyped prospects in baseball prior to his 2024 debut, Chourio went through some growing pains earlier this season, struggling to the tune of a .207/.251/.323 slash over his first 51 games while racking up far too many ground balls (51.7% GB rate) and strikeouts (27.3% K rate). However, the 20-year-old began to find his footing in June and has only gotten better in the second half, hitting .347 with six homers, eight steals and a .958 OPS over 30 games. He has notched 16 multihit games in that time, tied with (Aaron) Judge for the most in MLB.
The Cardinals could learn from that, no?
Manager Pat Murphy should win NL Manager of the Year honors for making this work. Mike Shildt is doing a great job with the San Diego Padres and Torey Lovullo is doing brilliant work again with the Arizona Diamondbacks, but Murphy has somehow done more with less.
“Just win tonight, that’s the mantra we live by,†Murphy said. “We’ve gone through a lot. We have guys who have been thrown away, guys who’ve been told, 'You’re not good enough.' But these guys made me believe in them. They love to compete.
“But we haven’t accomplished anything yet.â€
What they have done so far should be enough to get Brewers general manager Matt Arnold some Executive of the Year honors. He has made numerous under-the-radar moves to keep the Brew Crew rolling.
“We had a lot of turmoil in the offseason,†Arnold said. “We had the decks stacked against us. There were a lot of challenging things.
“But we still felt we had the right mix of people to navigate us through one of the most challenging times in Brewers’ history.â€
TALKIN’ BASEBALL
Here is what folks have been writing about Our National Pastime:
R.J. Anderson, : “(Jordan) Montgomery was, of course, part of the ‘Boras Four,’ a group of accomplished free agents represented by (Scott) Boras that signed late in the process. None of the quartet -- the other members being fellow starter Blake Snell, third baseman Matt Chapman, and outfielder Cody Bellinger -- signed before pitchers and catchers reported for camp . . . Montgomery signed a one-year deal worth $25 million (with a player option for next year) just before Opening Day. He subsequently made his debut on April 19, recording quality starts in his first two appearances. That stretch, however, abbreviated, may represent the highlight of his year, given he's notched two quality starts since. Montgomery missed most of July with a knee injury, making it all the more notable that he's seen his ERA increase with each month, no matter how many appearances he's made within that span: from 2.77 through April to 5.89 through May, from 6.44 through June to 6.51 in July. His ERA currently sits at 6.44 as he shifts to relief, making it more likely than not that he will snap the streak with August.”
Jon Becker, FanGraphs: “Jordan Montgomery has been bad in his first season with the Diamondbacks. A 6.44 ERA is bad, a 5.23 xERA is bad, a 15.5% strikeout rate is bad, a .377 wOBA allowed is bad. We all know these things . . . So I’m not going to spend too much time belaboring that point. But Montgomery’s badness has cascading effects beyond just how long to stick with him in the rotation or if he’ll even be on the playoff roster the Diamondbacks almost certainly will be constructing . . . Montgomery’s 2025 is now in his hands. The (player) option value began at $20 million, when Montgomery made his 10th start, and then went up to $22.5 million upon his 18th start. It will reach its maximum value of $25 million with four more starts. Since Montgomery is very much in the ‘he would probably have to take a one-year pillow contract’ territory, I’d be absolutely shocked if he didn’t take the $25 million payday. The best he can hope for now is that next year, after getting a normal offseason and a full spring training, he pitches more like he did when he dominated during the 2023 postseason, so that his value rebounds when he becomes free agent again after the 2025 season.â€
Joel Sherman, New York Post: “I am pro-player, so if Corbin Burnes, Max Fried and Blake Snell — the likely top three starters in free agency — go out and kill it financially, all good. I expect they all will do well. It is just not what I believe is sound within this version of the game. The best position players are proving so much more worth the large investments. Aaron Judge, who received the biggest free-agent deal after the 2022 season, and Shohei Ohtani, who received the biggest free-agent deal last offseason and is currently just a hitter, are probably the MVP frontrunners. Big free-agent deals for, say, Bryce Harper and Corey Seager are aging well. Of course, there is a long way to go. But, in general the six-plus-year mega-deals are so much better investments on hitters with lots of prime left, especially in an era of decreased offense. But what about starting pitching when part of the reason for decreased offense is the race to get one fire-breathing reliever into the game after another? Starters are being asked to do less and are getting hurt more. It would suggest a durable, high-end starter such as Burnes is worth more than ever, especially since he is completing just his age-29 campaign. And I would expect he will be treated great in the marketplace. But would you bet on any starter to stay healthy for a period of, say, six or more years? How do you cook that into a contract? You might get fortunate like Washington did with a seven-year, $210 million deal for Max Scherzer or strike disaster like Washington did with Stephen Strasburg’s seven-year, $245 million pact or Patrick Corbin’s six-year, $140 million accord.â€
Bradford Doolittle, : “If we didn't already know that Shohei Ohtani was the most unique player in baseball history, the 2024 season has proved that beyond all doubt. And he didn't have to throw a pitch to do it. Ohtani became the sixth member of the 40/40 club Friday, hammering both his 40th dinger and swiping his 40th bag in the same game at Dodger Stadium against the Rays. That dry description hardly does justice to the moment. Ohtani beat the Tampa Bay Rays with a first-pitch, game-ending grand slam, his 40th homer, after stealing his 40th base earlier in the game. It was the first game-ending blast of his nonpareil career. That Ohtani made yet more baseball history with so much flair is hardly a surprise. What's the bigger surprise is how quickly Ohtani got there -- 126 games, 21 faster than any of the existing quintet already in the club.”
Russell Dorsey, Yahoo! Sports: “Ohtani is likely headed to his third MVP and would become the first player to win the award exclusively as a designated hitter. He’d also become the second player in MLB history to win an MVP in both the American and National leagues, joining Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, who did it with the Cincinnati Reds in 1961 and the Baltimore Orioles in 1966.There was as much hype and anticipation for Ohtani this season as any player in baseball history after he signed a record 10-year, $700 million with the Dodgers in the offseason. But he’s done something that seemed impossible even for him. He exceeded those expectations. And he’s done all this while recovering from major elbow surgery and is nearing a return to the mound.â€
Bob Nightengale, USA Today: “MLB managers, who continue to be grossly underpaid, couldn’t help but gasp this past week when Tennessee coach Tony Vitello received a five-year extension paying him $3 million a year while Texas coach Jim Schlossnagle will be paid $2.68 million a year in the final five years of his seven-year contract. There are only six managers in baseball making as much as Vitello: Craig Counsell of the Chicago Cubs, Alex Cora of the Boston Red Sox, Bob Melvin of the San Francisco Giants, Bruce Bochy of the Texas Rangers, Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Davey Martinez of the Washington Nationals.â€
MEGAPHONE
“I had a Zoom call with (the Boston Red Sox during free agency). That's really all I know. It went good. I don't know. Obviously Boras kind of butchered it, so I'm just trying to move on from the offseason and try to forget it.â€
Jordan Montgomery, wondering what went wrong with his free agent contract talks.