Can the Brewers Extend Their Lead in the NL Central?
The Milwaukee Brewers are currently in first place in the NL Central Division right now, and they’ll most likely stay at that spot for a while. They are six games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals and six and a half games in front of the Chicago Cubs. Coming off a series win against the Cubs, the Brewers have an easy task ahead of them against the worst team in the league, the Chicago White Sox, in a three-game series. If the sweep happens, the Brewers will be ahead by a margin of eight games on top of the NL Central.
From what many have seen, the reason the Brewers are playing as well as they’ve been playing is because of the maximum effort and performance given by not just a couple of their players, but their entire lineup as a whole. The Brewers offense currently ranks second in the National League in home runs per game, sitting behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins leads the team with nine home runs on the season so far and catcher Gary Sanchez isn’t far behind with six total. Rounding up the whole team, there’s a total of eight Brewers players with five or more home runs on the season including shortstop Willy Adames, catcher William Contreras, left fielder Christian Yelich, and center fielder Blake Perkins.
The last playoff appearance we’ve seen from the Brewers was last year when they lost in two games against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2023 Wild Card Series. In the eight seasons that Craig Counsell has been manager, the Brewers have made the playoffs five out of those eight seasons. Just the fact that Counsell and former ace pitcher Corbin Burnes are now gone, the Brewers are still in top form with all the trade acquisitions they got as well as their bullpen remaining pretty strong. Not only is their offense in top shape, but their defense is top-tier as well. If the Brewers keep hitting like they’ve been doing, I don’t see them dropping out of first in the NL Central for a while.
