In what's been an incredible season for the Milwaukee Brewers, there is still room to grow. That's part of what makes this team so exciting as we look to the future, but it's also what holds them back from being the World Series contender their record suggests they should be. So, in spite of holding the second-best record in baseball and being one of two teams with a record above .600, the MLB All-Star Break offers a much-needed reset for the Brew Crew.
Milwaukee dropped four of its last five games, giving up a combined average of 6.6 runs per game. That included a sweep at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park and a tough loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, whom they ultimately beat in four of their five matchups in that series.
The Brewers' pitchers were clearly beginning to lose some steam near the end of that stretch, with ace starter Jacob Misiorowski learning the delicate balance between giving his all on every pitch and conserving his energy for when it matters most down the line. Milwaukee's bullpen got decimated by a Pirates team that was stuck at .500 before sweeping the Brewers, and the batting order was, once again, bitten by its Achilles heel.
What do the Milwaukee Brewers need to adjust coming out of the MLB All-Star break?
First and foremost, health will always be the most important factor. Thankfully, the batting rotation is mostly intact, but there's considerable wear and tear throughout Milwaukee's bullpen — even aside from Misiorowski recovering from a tough week of practice.
Both DL Hall and Joel Kuhnel are on the injured list while Quinn Priester and Brian Fitzpatrick are out for the season. It's unclear if, or when, Brandon Woodruff will be able to return to the lineup, as he battles nagging injuries that continue the trend of the last four years. Meanwhile, rising star Kyle Harrison has been fighting through elbow soreness for weeks now.
The Milwaukee Brewers' front office probably needs to reevaluate the bullpen and find ways to get some more healthy, reliable talent in the door. In the meantime, there's a lot of pressure on the Brewers' remaining starters to use this time off to rest and get themselves prepared for the back half of the season.
For the rest of the team, there is one main objective to hone in on: stop stranding runners on base. Milwaukee has done an excellent job of getting on base, with the third-highest OBP in the MLB at .337. However, they have the third-highest average of runners left on base in the league at 7.51. It was on full display in the Brewers' doubleheader in Pittsburgh, where they lost by a combined two runs in two games because they couldn't quite get their runners home.
This leaves a lot of questions that only GM Matt Arnold and his staff can address, but Manager Pat Murphy is certainly going to try resetting the tone for his team coming out of the MLB All-Star break. Just a few crucial adjustments are all the Brewers need to turn from a great regular-season team with some glaring issues heading into the postseason to a full-blown title contender.
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