At the moment, the Brewers are still in control of the NL Central. The Cardinals are a few games behind them and within striking distance, but the Brewers, like the Cardinals, have been no stranger to losing streaks in addition to dominant streaks.
The problem I continue to have with the Brewers is, despite their superior managing, superior pitching and superior bullpen in opposition to the Cardinals, the Brewers really don't have a strong core like they used to. Hell, with Yelich only doing so well, they don't really have a great tentpole player right now. And it does help that there's a lot of not-too-showoffish players like Willy Adames, Kolten Wong, Victor Caratini, Hunter Renfroe, Luis Urias and Omar Narvaez just doing their thing, but...how does that compare to a Cardinals lineup where 7 out of 9 guys are hot as hell right now? This is a team that can hit for power, but only Yelich and Andrew McCutchen have over 80 hits. And yes, there's 6 guys with over 10 homers, but a lot of them are kind of one-dimensional hitters. At the very least, Hunter Renfroe, who's a one-dimensional hitter but he's one of the best of them, is doing well right now.
I mean, I don't want to prescribe this team to just leave it to the pitching, because that's what's shutting teams down and winning games, but...I don't know if the lineup's gonna be anywhere near as good as the pitching this year. Corbin Burnes might be up for another Cy Young, that's honestly where we're at. If sportswriters voted properly, he'd be up for his first one, but you know, something about Wheeler not being dominant enough, I dunno. Lauer, Woodruff and Ashby are right there with him. And yes, Hader's been a bit unreliable as of late, but he's still got 28 saves and he's still Josh Hader. Not sure if he's at Chapman 'what the hell do we do with this guy' mode yet.
The Brewers could very well take the division and ride it towards glory, but I'm not seeing the momentum-energy and roster-packing this team had even last year. I assume they're gonna make some deals at the deadline? It'd certainly help to pick some people up, bolster the lineup and outlast the Cardinals. I bet the Cardinals are gonna go for pitching, though, so it's really gonna be who can outmuscle the other, and right now I still think the Cardinals can outhit the Brewers. I'd like to be proven wrong.
Coming Tomorrow- A guy who no-hit my team earlier this year.
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