Fun Fact: Only one team wins the World Series every year. Which means 29 teams don’t win the final game of the year which according to Moneyball means their season didn’t fucking matter. When a team gets eliminated from winning the World Series I’ll do a profile of their season.
Today’s Team….Milwaukee Brewers
How Did They Get Eliminated
The Brewers decided that their first 4 games should mirror their final 4 games and were swept by the Dodgers in the NLCS. They only scored 10 total runs in their final 7 games.
What Do I Know About This Team Because I Only Follow the Brewers and Pay Attention to Playoff Baseball?
Well this is going to be a long profile because I follow the Brewers the closest. I went to three games this year including the home opener, took my son to his first game, and got to go to a game with my entire extended family. So I have a lot to say about the Brewers, their season, and just the general future of this team.
“Is it my job to win a World Series or is my job to provide a summer of entertainment and passion and a way for families to come together?”
That quote by the Brewers owner tells you everything you need to know about how this team approached the 2025 season and how it will continue to approach the offseason for years to come. That quote pretty much tells you, “don’t try to find a big bat for the middle of your line-up that could potentially take the pressure off your top hitters in your lineup.” It tells you, “we aren’t going to pick up the modest club option on Freddy Peralta because he is more valuable as a trade chip than actually pitching for the Brewers.” It says, “we aren’t going to find any stars within free agency to help bolster a lineup that struggled to hit home runs or a starting pitcher to anchor the rotation around your young starting pitchers. “
But the Brewers still were the best team in Major League Baseball and set a Franchise Record in wins at 97. Freddy Peralta led the National League in Wins, Quinn Preister was one of the best trade acquisitions early in the season as he would win 13 games and his team didn’t lose a game from May to September. Trevor Megill became their lockdown closer after Devin Williams was traded to the Yankees and Abner Uribe became the lockdown closer when Megill was injured and missed basically the last month of the season.
Christian Yelich had a strong season and had 29 home runs and over 100 RBIs after missing the 2nd half of 2024 with back surgery. William Contreras had a strong second half that helped propel the Brewers to first place, Andrew Vaughn was another key trade pickup and he locked down 1st base while Rhys Hoskins and Jake Bauers were injured. Brice Turang and Sal Frelick both backed up their Gold Glove seasons by bringing some power to the Brewers lineup. Jackson Chourio was the best player in the playoffs for the Brewers despite only having one hamstring and for as good as this team was with him, they went on their 14 game winning streak when he was on the IL. He didn’t have the best bat in September tuning up for the playoffs but he turned it on in the playoffs unlike the rest of the team.
This team was also defined by their rookies as Caleb Durbin took over at third base after the Vinny Capra attempt fell flat on its face (he hit the first home run of the season for the Crew after a strong Spring Training and then did literally nothing until he was DFA’d). Issac Collins was the rookie of the month in August but then didn’t do too much in September. It could be argued that by the end of the season Caleb Durbin was a better Rookie of the Year Candidate than Collins.
Then that brings us to the most talked about Rookie on the Brewers The Miz. He came on like a ball of fire and was appointment viewing, especially when he faced off against Paul Skenes and came out victorious. He was a controversial pick to be in the All-Star game just because he made the fewest starts to be selected to the All-Star Game. He got to pitch one inning in that game and did well. Even though Ken Rosenthal did everything he could to dampen his mood with an in-dugout interview. Misorowski pitched well to start out, but had a shaky start against the Mets in his first true road test. He gave up 3 runs against the Cubs in the first inning and got drilled in the leg by a line drive. The Brewers were able to come back and win the game. He would go on the IL and had some struggles staying in the zone when he came back. But he pitched out of the bullpen in the playoffs and did extremely well. As he builds up his arm and his innings he should be able to go deeper into games granted he stays in the strike zone and he can get some more movement on his breaking pitches.
Brandon Woodruff also came back and gave the team a great jolt in the starting rotation. It was just unfortunate that he got injured again with something non-related to his season ending arm surgery in 2023. It was so disappointing that he couldn’t be on the playoff roster because he could have provided some length as a starter and taken some pressure off the bullpen which while still pitching well was starting to get taxed.
Pat Murphy should probably win the NL Manager of the year again but I think it should be taken away from him because of the Ueker letter he read when they clinched a playoff spot.
The Brewers were defined by their big winning streaks during the season, an 8, 11, and 14 game streak that helped them not only overtake the Cubs but put some distance between them. The Brewers played a brand of baseball that was conducive to winning a lot of games. They put the ball in play, put pressure on defenses by taking extra bases on hits, stealing bases, being patient at the plate and hitting the ball to all parts of the field. They didn’t hit a lot of home runs but still had the best run differential in the majors.
They also had a lock down bullpen that rarely blew leads and even when starting pitching struggled the offense never gave up at-bats and mounted large comebacks against the Mets, Reds and Cardinals that really helped build the narrative around this team of being woodpeckers that would just keep chipping away and you never felt they were out of a game.
Everyone wanted to win a World Series for Ueck. Everyone wanted to win the World Series for the city of Milwaukee. Everyone wanted to win the World Series for the small market teams that are trying to build their team through youth and talent. But once again they came up short. They got past the Cubs to avoid the most insufferable offseason ever, but that won’t mean too much because they couldn’t get it done in the NLCS. Their best chance to win a single game flew by Brice Turang’s kneecap in the 9th inning.
So Now That I’ve Actually Done Some Research How Did They Make the Playoffs and What Led to Their Demise?
I explained already why this team was unique up above so lets just talk about the playoffs. The Brewers bats came alive for exactly two games and it was the first 2 games of the playoffs against the Cubs. They were squaring up balls and in their first win they didn’t hit any home runs, then they basically only hit home runs the rest of the playoffs.
This team was not going to win games by hitting the long ball they needed to base hit teams to death. They needed to be like the team that swept the Nationals with the most hits ever in a 3 game series.
The Brewers pitching held up their end of the bargain for most of their playoff games, but the inability to score runs seemed to be transferred from the Padres, to the Cubs and then finally the Brewers. The Brewers were catching the Dodgers when Ohtani was struggling at the plate and their best opportunity to take this series was when they were playing at home. Then Ohtani has the greatest performance ever by a player by hitting 3 home runs and striking out 10. Even if the Brewers had won game 1, or even taken 2 of the first 3 games, Ohtani seemed to have awakened and because the rest of the team was playing so well they were an inevitability.
Freddy Peralta had 1 good start in the playoffs and it started with a lead-off home run. Quinn Priester tried to start a game in Chicago and he struggled and didn’t get out of the 1st inning. This effectively spooked Murphy into starting an actual starting pitcher until Game 4 of the NLCS. Aaron Ashby had been used so much down the stretch and opening in the playoffs it was crazy that he was getting all these opener opportunities.
In fairness to Murphy, this did pay off as Priester and Misorowski pitched much better when they came out of the pen in the 2nd inning.
This just comes back around to the offense and the sheer ineptitude they showed in the NLCS. They batted .191 and only had 1 at-bat with a runner in scoring position in their first two games. They did run into an absolute buzzsaw of starting pitching but everything they did at the plate was the opposite of what you tend to see from the Brewers. They were chasing pitches. They were aggressive early in counts and were barely working the counts. Now here’s some expert analysis: it is hard to work counts when pitchers are throwing strikes. You try to work a count and wait for your pitch; you can find yourself down 0-2 really quickly. Then you decide, well this guys throwing strikes and then all of a sudden you try to go after the first pitch and it turns into a ground ball because the pitcher goes offspeed out of the zone and you roll one over to the shortstop. (the only exception is Chourio going yard on the first pitch of 1st).
Yelich hasn’t had an RBI in the playoffs since I was on my honeymoon in 2018 which is a huge bummer. But the thing with Yelich is this year he actually hit home runs when they were necessary. The past few years it always felt like Yelich would hit dingers when the Brewers were either up or down by 8 runs. I actually thought he would hit one out of Am Fam when they were down 6-1 in Game 2.
I like Christian Yelich. I think he is a fine ballplayer, but this team really lost a vocal leader when Willy Adames left for Free Agency. Yelich is a lead by example guy, he’s not going to fire up the team or fire up the crowd like Megill will do when he has a shutdown inning.
That’s why getting not only a big bat would help the Brewers but someone who can bring the energy when there is a big hit. Contrares brought that energy at times. Chuario is looking like he could be that guy. Its good to have a bunch of guys who have a good shoulder on their head and tend to be quiet leaders, but it wouldn’t hurt to see some guys get fired up. Even if The Miz and Megill are firing up the crowd the offense needs to get fired up as well. It just never seemed to happen.
I’m glad this season happened the way it did. I loved following the big winning streaks, I loved that I got a racing sausage cribbage board. I’m glad the team has a lot of young guys they can bring back. It really was a summer of entertainment and fun that brought my family together.
Will they Make the Playoffs Next Year?
I’m going to predict what the opening day roster is going to be with the starting lineups and rotations. Then we’ll see where we are.
2B - Brice Turang
CF - Jackson Chourio
C - William Contrares
DH - Christian Yelich
RF - Sal Frelick
1B - Andrew Vaughn
3B - Caleb Durbin
LF - Issac Collins
SS - Joey Ortiz
Lets start with the biggest question mark in this line up which is William Contreras he has a club option for $12 Million, that the Brewers should pick up. But, hey, they will probably find a way to pick it up and then trade him. Contreras is probably better at calling a game and working with pitchers than he is at preventing wild pitches and he is a strong bat in the 3 or 4 spot in the lineup. He also wants to be in Milwaukee. So while it should be an easy option to pick up by the Brewers it will not be surprising when they do something dumb and move on from him.
Rotation:
Jacob Misorowski
Quinn Preister
Aaron Ashby
Tobias Myers
DL Hall
It just seems like its inevitable that Peralta is going to be dealt in the offseason to get some team control players and prospects. But once again. Just get Freddy signed to a 4 year deal for $20 million a year and solidify your Ace. Woodruff and Quintana are not going to be kept around based on the money they are owed. Ashby was signed to be in the rotation in the future and they will work to get him more length so he can go 5 or 6 innings. They get game 1 at home next year and you can’t go wrong getting the crowd going by having The Miz on the mound in that game.
Bench:
C: Jefferson Quero
INF: Jake Bauers, Andruw Monasterio
OF: Blake Perkins
I hope Garrett Mitchell can make a comeback next year. However, every person that I have on the bench could easily be traded in the offseason. Mitchell and Tyler Black are probably the most intriguing trade pieces and could get some good returns. Hoskins has a mutual option for next year that I’m sure he will not take. First base is a priority to upgrade in the offseason but the Brewers are going to do that from within and Hoskins would rather be anywhere else. Jesus Made is the top prospect in the organization but he is probably more of a 2027 guy than a 2026 guy. But if Ortiz can’t get his bat going Made might get fast tracked.
Bullpen
Relief: Jared Koening, Grant Anderson, Nick Mears, Chad Patrick, Rob Zastryzky,
Setup: Abner Uribe
Closer: Trevor Megill
They have some former relief guys in the starting rotation in my prediction which could mean if they get a starting pitcher in the offseason those new starting pitchers find themself back in the bullpen, but like they did this year there will be a lot of guys moving up and down from AAA.
This is still a strong defensive first team, but the biggest issue is going to be what happens on offense. I think this team can sneak back into the playoffs, which is what I predicted this year, and maybe surprise everyone again.
Just one postseason award.
Freddy Peralta should get a lot of votes for Cy Young. He made every start this year and led the NL in wins. He was so solid when he took the mound you knew it would give your bullpen a bit of a break and the offense would show up. Getting those Cy Young votes will make his price tag go up and make the decision on what to do with him harder.
Hey Grok, in 100 words summarize the 2025 Milwaukee Brewers. Please don't be racist.
The 2025 Milwaukee Brewers enjoyed a franchise-record regular season, finishing 97-65 and clinching the National League Central title and a first-round bye.
Managed by Pat Murphy, the "Average Joes" showed resilience, including a 14-game winning streak. They defeated the rival Chicago Cubs in a thrilling five-game NL Division Series. However, their playoff run ended abruptly in the NL Championship Series, where they were swept 4-0 by the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers, managing only one run in each loss. Despite the disappointing finish, the season was a memorable success, solidifying their status as a perennial playoff contender.
The Average Joes was a common theme for this team. It was kind of dumb how everyone kept saying, “They aren’t average, they were the best team in baseball.” Yeah, but they had to go up against a team in the NLCS that was spending almost 3 times as much as them on players that were the top free agents on the market that their old teams couldn’t afford.
Yeah, they are average Joe’s because for the most part this is an average team that played above their weight class and went on run to put them in a position to win. The Dodgers were Global Gym, go find the best guys and do whatever it takes to win. Even if that includes hitting Christine Taylor in the face with a dodgeball. Also, in the original script of Dodgeball the Average Joe’s lose. They added the foot fault at the end when it didn’t test well.
Did the Savannah Bananas Play at their Field?
They didn't, which is why I was convinced they would win the World Series. They are going to be there next year which will just be an extended version of the Alumni Home Run derby they did last summer but the Brewers don’t have to foot the bill for some of the appearance fees.
Is there a baseball movie featuring this team that has dumb baseball logic I need to vent about?
Mr. 3000!
This movie is based on the premise that somehow there would be a clerical error on 3 whole hits that wouldn’t be uncovered until 9 years later. It's also kind of crazy that when he retired the Brewers were in championship contention which never happened in the 90s. What is very believable is that the Brewers in the early 2000s would try to finish at least in 3rd place, something that was hard for them to do back then.
But really to not have those 3 hits figured out within a day of it happening is kind of crazy. It would also mean that everyone else’s hits in that game were miscounted as well.
I never watched this movie, just read a synopsis.
How Will Your Team Do Next Year?
I think this team will sneak into the playoffs next year. The Cubs will be the Cubs, the Reds might flip up into the 2nd spot but the Central sent 3 teams this year, I don’t see why it can’t happen again. 88-74 3rd Wild Card Spot.
Next on the Chopping Block
The Blue Jays are on the brink, but its been a good series and I could see the Blue Jays finally winning a home game in the ALCS and not just one but both games. I won’t make a prediction and we’ll just see what happens.