The Milwaukee Brewers are defying all kinds of odds this season. Not only are they leading the National League Central Division by 2.5 games (as of this writing), they are doing so with the lowest run differential of any division leader. Indeed, runs have been hard to come by this season for Milwaukee. Despite leading their division, the Brewers rank 26th in MLB with a team OPS of .693.
To give a little perspective, the only teams with a worse OPS are the Cleveland Guardians, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, and Oakland Athletics. Notice, too, that all of the teams below them are in the American League. In other words, the Brewers have the worst OPS in the National League.
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This is not an ideal situation as the end of the regular season approaches. If Milwaukee is able to hold off the surging Chicago Cubs and finicky Cincinnati Reds and make it to the postseason for the fifth time in six years, they will be contending with offenses that have much more prowess than their own.
Of course, few of those teams will have as good of pitching as Milwaukee, but the Brewers’ most recent postseason run in 2021 ended early because they could not score runs. Former Brewers catcher Vinny Rottino appeared on The Mike Heller Show on 97.3 The Game and offered some hopeful words of encouragement for fans that are concerned about the offense.
Vinny Rottino on the Milwaukee Brewers’ Offense: This Is Who They Are
To be fair, the Brewers have been playing pretty good baseball lately. If there was ever a time to start playing the best ball of the season, it is in September. However, there are still concerns regarding the offense. In the games that they have lost lately, the team is averaging less than two runs per game. When they win, they are averaging more than five.
On Tuesday’s show, former Brewers catcher Vinny Rottino was asked if fans should be concerned about the offense as the postseason draws near. Rottino replied:
“Well, Mike, I got to break it to you: this is who they are. We’re into September and they’re telling us who they are. They’ve been telling us who they are this entire season.
“Now, I guess the difference is, and I guess what we are learning since Mark Canha and Carlos Santana joined the team, there’s no real soft spot in the lineup in terms of, you know, empty at-bats. There’s not many eight-pitch innings anymore. There’s not any three-pitch strikeouts up-and-down this lineup anymore, just because of those two guys.
“And that’s tough on pitchers. So what that’s equating to is that they are getting hits with runners in scoring position now. I mean, in their wins, and I guess we haven’t seen it very consistently over the course of the season.
“But in their wins, they’re hitting .385 in these last 19 wins, .385 with runners in scoring position. In their losses, their hitting .136 with runners in scoring position.
“So, and they’re not really scoring runs via the home run this year as much. They’re way down on the list of total home runs. They’re not a home run hitting team. They’re showing us they’re not that. And when they are scoring runs, it’s when they’re getting hits with runners in scoring position.
“There’s more runners on base lately, so there’s more opportunities to make something happen. And they’re doing a much better job as of late since those guys have been acquired… I think this is a recipe that can still win the division and make a run in the playoffs.”
This is certainly a different Brewers team from ones that fans have grown accustomed to in the past. For years, Milwaukee lived and died on the long ball. 200 home runs in a season was not an uncommon occurrence. From 2017-2022, Milwaukee eclipsed 200 long balls five times.
Rottino’s analysis also highlights one thing that is oftentimes forgotten about the front office: while they do not make big splash moves like many fans want them to, many of the moves they do make are exactly what the team needs. Ahead of the trading deadline, fans wanted a big bat to bring a power boost to the offense. What they got was Canha and Santana who, as Rottino indicated, have brought stability to the lineup.
They’re playing good ball right now. The pitching has always been good, and the offense is more consistent. If it keeps trending this way, there will not be a more dangerous team in the postseason than Milwaukee.
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