A Tip of the Hat to the Milwaukee Brewers

It should come as no surprise to my faithful readers that I do not like the Milwaukee Brewers. Indeed, when it comes to baseball, I do not like any team not named the St. Louis Cardinals. I will not here rehash the psychological complexity of growing up in New Jersey as a Cardinals fan, nor attempt to explain why I have remained loyal to a midwestern team located in a city to which I have no personal or familial connection. But resolute and loyal I have remained for six decades of my life, including the past three seasons when the Cardinals have been, at best, mediocre, and more often deeply disappointing. The current version of the Cardinals does not resemble in any manner the Cardinals of my youth, the Cardinals of Gibson, Brock, and Cepeda in the 1960s, nor the speedy and scrappy Cardinals of the 1980s, and certainly not the teams that produced over two decades of mostly first-rate baseball starting in 2000.

My love of the Cardinals generally precludes me from praising another team. It is a defect in character, I know, but ask any passionate fan to look objectively at the opposition and you will get disgruntled mumbling in return. So, it is with trepidation that I tip my hat to the Milwaukee Brewers.

As I write, there are five days remaining in the 2025 season, and the Brewers have the best record in all of baseball. Yes, better than the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League, and far better than the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees or any team trying to distinguish itself in the American League. The common denominator for each of those teams is a massive payroll. Those teams pay their players, especially a few select superstars, big-time money. The Brewers, on the other hand, have the 23^rd lowest payroll in the major leagues. The Brewers’ payroll is almost $200 million less than the New York Mets ($323 million), who are hanging by a very thin thread in the Wild Card pennant chase, holding a one game lead over the Reds and Diamondbacks with four games to play. Only seven teams have a lower payroll than the Brewers. Heck, the Brewers spend less money on their players than the Colorado Rockies, who have the worst record in the major leagues and will be lucky to win 45 games all season.

Outside of Milwaukee, most people – even earnest baseball fans – cannot name three players on the Brewers. Go ahead, try it. This is a team without superstars. The Dodgers have Ohtani, Freeman, and Betts. In fact, they have an entire roster of All-Star caliber players. The Phillies have Harper, Schwarber, and Turner. They play with bravado and confidence and bring a dangerous combination of sluggers and crafty pitchers that fill the opposition with anxiety and dread.

The Brewers? Their top players are guys with names like Turang (is that a soft drink?), Chourio (bless you), Frelick (who?), and Yelich (is he still playing?). I only know of William Contreras because his brother Willson plays for the Cardinals. Their third baseman is Caleb Durbin (enough said). One of their best starting pitchers is Quinn Priester, who I might have told you until a few weeks ago was most likely the name of a Catholic seminary student. I mean, this is an entire roster of “players to be named later.”

Since 2017, the Brewers have consistently finished at or near the top of their division. Only the Dodgers, Yankees, and Astros have won more games than the Brewers in that time. And yet, they are never mentioned by the professional baseball analysts and reporters as a team to watch during pre-season predictions. No one takes them seriously. This season was no different, with most analysts predicting the Cubs to win the NL Central. Yet here we are. The Brewers have won more games than any other team in baseball as the Cubs sit quietly in second place, 6.5 games back.

How do the Brewers do it? By playing solid, fundamental baseball. They do not swing at pitches outside the strike zone (only four teams have struck out fewer times than the Brewers) and they get on base (only five teams have more walks than the Brewers). They play superb defense, run the bases well, are almost always in the game and find a variety of ways to win. They make contact, steal bases, advance the runners, and play small ball while also hitting home runs. Although they will not outslug anyone (they rank 20^th in total home runs), they have one of the best-ranked offenses in the major leagues, as only two teams in baseball have scored more runs than the Brewers. At the same time, they have the second-lowest team earned run average in the major leagues.

As the manager of the Durham Bulls said in one of my all-time favorite movies, baseball “is a simple game. You throw the ball. You hit the ball. You catch the ball. You got it?” The Brewers score a lot of runs without giving up a lot of runs. That’s a pretty good combination. And they do it without much chest pumping and flamboyance.

Baseball is a wonderful game in part because it is so difficult. The more I watch baseball, the more I am convinced that hitting major league pitching is the most demanding thing to do in sports. As Willie Stargell said about hitting, "They give you a round bat, and they throw you a round ball, and then they tell you to hit it square." Hank Aaron, one of the greatest hitters of all time, said “it took me seventeen years to get 3,000 hits in baseball, and I did it in one afternoon on the golf course." The Brewers hit the ball well up and down their lineup. Sal Frelick (.291, 12 HRs), Brice Turang (.284, 18 HRs), Jackson Chourio (.270, 20 HRs), Christian Yelich (.266, 29 HRs, 102 RBIs), William Contreras (.262, 17 HRs), and Chad Durbin (.262, 11 HRs) provide a steady drumbeat of offense without much fanfare. None of these guys knock your socks off but what the Brewers lack in superstars and MVP candidates, they make up for with their competent work ethic and blue-collar consistency. It is frustratingly impressive.

The Brewers do not sign expensive free agents. Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto did not even talk with the Brewers when contemplating where to sign in the offseason. As certain as death and taxes, you can take it to the bank that upcoming free agents Kyle Schwarber and Kyle Tucker will not be signing with Milwaukee in the offseason. The Brewers not only have one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, but they also play in the smallest television market in North America. From a marketing perspective, Milwaukee is the opposite of New York and Los Angeles, and you can be certain the executives at Fox Sports and ESPN desperately do not want the Brewers to advance in the playoffs.

The Brewers succeed with a combination of home-grown, young talent from a first-rate farm system, quality minor league instruction and player development, and smart trades, often taking a chance on players that other teams have passed on. Turang and Frelick were first-round draft picks in 2018 and 2021, respectively. Starting pitcher Jacob Misiorowski (how do you spell that?), who routinely hits over 100 mph on his fastball and combines it with ridiculous breaking stuff, was a second-round pick in the Brewers 2022 draft. Contreras (C), Durbin (3B), Priester (RHP), and Chad Patrick (RHP) were each acquired through under-the-radar trades.

Taking an early lead against the Brewers does not mean much. The Brewers have come from behind to win thirty-eight times this season, including five times in the ninth inning. And once the Brewers grab a lead, they are difficult to score against. They have one of the best bullpens in the game and consistently shut down opponents in the late innings. And they have done it with pitchers named Trevor McGill (30 saves, 2.54 ERA), Abner Uribe (1.72), Jared Koenig (6-1, 2.95), and Aaron Ashby (2.24). See what I mean?

Their starting pitching is solid, too, but like everything else about this team, there is no one who causes opponents’ knees to shake. Freddy Peralta (17-6, 2.68) is their ace, but does anyone even mention his name when people talk about the most dominant starting pitchers in the game? The 24-year-old Quinn Priester (13-2, 3.25), who the Brewers acquired from the Red Sox in the offseason, is turning into one of the top pitching talents in the league. Their pitcher with the third most wins (11) is 36-year-old journeyman Jose Quintana, who played for seven other major league clubs before the Brewers acquired him at the start of the 2025 season. No one else has more than seven wins.

Pat Murphy, Manager of the Milwaukee Brewers

Pat Murphy, the Brewers’ likeable manager, spent the first 25 years of his coaching career at the college level, including seven years as head coach for the University of Notre Dame baseball team and fifteen years at Arizona State University. The Brewers took a chance on Murphy, promoting him from bench coach to manager after Craig Counsell, one of the best managers in baseball, left Milwaukee for the Chicago Cubs after the 2023 season. Murphy is a man who loves to joke around and tease his players. It is his way of showing he cares and helps keep the players relaxed in what can be a pressure-filled game. Entering the 2024 season, most baseball analysts predicted the Brewers to finish near the bottom of the NL Central due to Murphy’s lack of managerial experience and the loss of key players from the Brewers’ roster. Ho hum. The Brewers won 93 games in 2024, fourth-most in baseball, and Murphy won NL Manager of the Year honors. So much for predictions.

I do not know how the postseason will work out for the Brewers. Not surprisingly, most analysts predict they will not advance far and almost no one thinks they will win the World Series. It may be that most people still think of Milwaukee as the setting for Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. Ever since millions of Americans watched friends and roommates Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney work as bottle-cappers in the fictitious Shotz Brewery of the late 1950s, the city of Milwaukee is mostly an afterthought. It is after all, only the 40^th largest metropolitan area in the country, which means there are more than a dozen metropolitan areas larger than Milwaukee that do not have a major league team. But anyone who takes them for granted may come to regret it.

I hope the Cardinals front office is taking notice. They are in a needed rebuild period with a new president of baseball operations (Chaim Bloom) taking over this offseason. They would do well to emulate the organizational strengths of the Milwaukee Brewers, their skillful style of play, efficient use of payroll, smart player and instructional development, and a belief that they can win against anyone and prevail in an uphill battle against the odds makers and fancy teams with the big money superstars. The descendants of Laverne and Shirley, Richie Cunningham, and the Fonz will be rooting for them, as will an enthusiastic fan base of a small market city with a rich history. So, here is a reluctant appreciation of the Milwaukee Baseball Club, a tip of the hat from a Cardinals fan wishing you well, even if I cannot cheer with any degree of enthusiasm. Take it while you can, because next season, and every season thereafter, I will be back to disliking you.