With the calendar turning to September, are Milwaukee Brewers fans watching a postseason preview in October? Major League Baseball pollsters think so.
Despite going 9-10 in their last 19 games, the Brewers still unanimously sit in the top spot in weekly MLB power rankings. Their opponent this week, the Philadelphia Phillies, are ranked second.
Although three other teams, including the Phillies, have hit the 80-victory mark, the Brewers have a 4.5-game lead over Philadelphia for the best record in baseball before the teams play the middle game of a three-game series Sept. 3 at American Family Field.
While some writers point out the Brewers have cooled off, winning just one of their last four series, they took two of three games in Toronto last weekend against the Blue Jays, another team with 80 wins.
Though their division lead is down to five games, the Brewers’ magic number to clinch the National League’s first playoff spot is at nine. That’s any combination of Brewers wins and losses by the San Francisco Giants or the Cincinnati Reds, the first teams on the outside of the National League playoff picture.
And, though the Brewers dropped the opening game in the Philadelphia series, the Brewers are 9-1 against the Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers this season. and a stellar 15-4 against division-leading teams across MLB. With their 19-game-in-18-days stretch behind them, their schedule is about to become more favorable, with just one series left against a current postseason team after Thursday’s game with the Phillies.
Here’s a roundup of reasons why power rankings think the Brewers deserve to stick as the top MLB team:
When you play this well for this long, you need players to outplay expectations and Brewers rookie outfielder Isaac Collins certainly has done that, writes Levi Weaver:
“Collins isn’t just a good story, having a breakout rookie season at 28 years old. He also leads all NL rookies in WAR, with 2.6, and has been a key cog for a Brewers team that has been this season’s biggest surprise. … For Collins, his biggest competition is probably Braves catcher Drake Baldwin (2.5 fWAR), and I do wonder if having two other reasonable ROY candidates (Chad Patrick, Caleb Durbin) on his team will impact his vote totals. So you have choices, if you want ‘em. In fact, the real answer might be Pat Murphy, repeating as NL Manager of the Year.”
Many question if the Brewers can generate enough power in the playoffs, but Joel Reuter notes that they”re getting’ve gotten unexpected pop from the top of the order while another essential piece of the lineup was missing:
“The Brewers went 21-9 in August, and their lead in the NL Central standings swelled from one game to 6.5 games over the Cubs in the process. Brice Turang (28 G, .343/.398/.694, 17 XBH, 10 HR) just had the best offensive month of his career. He is now rejoined atop the lineup by Jackson Chourio, who went 6-for-9 with two doubles and one home run in his first two games back after missing a month with a hamstring injury.”
The Brewers still deserve to look down on the rest of the league, says Matt Snyder, but their grip on No. 1 isn’t as tight as it appeared to be two weeks ago:
“The Brewers have been here at the top for over a month. They were on the verge of maybe possibly losing this top spot after dropping seven of 11, but then they went into Toronto (where the Blue Jays were 44-22 before the series) and won two of three. Still, their hold on this spot isn’t as strong as it was a few weeks ago. If we equated their lead here to a game score, they were winning by 10 runs two weeks ago and now are winning by about three runs.”
Sure, the 19-game gauntlet may not have gone according to plan, but Will Leitch points out that the Brewers are really the only team that has a legitimate shot at triple-digit victories.
“Can the Brewers get to 100 wins? They’re in excellent position to have the best winning percentage in franchise history. (Their franchise record for victories is 96, done twice.).”
“The Brewers have been treading water a bit in recent weeks (9-10 in their last 19 games), but they still own the best record in the majors. We’re looking at a potential playoff preview this week, with the Phillies taking an entertaining series opener on Monday.”
Tuesday was the Brewers’ first night off in almost since Aug. 14 so, as Gabe Lacques notes, fans shouldn’t be concerned, or should they?
“Have lost nine of their last 15. Just a blip, right?”
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