Brewers Can Contend: Three Reasons the Milwaukee Will be There in October

There were certainly question marks heading into the 2021 season, with Yelich"s form coming under scrutiny, as well as how they could adapt to different personnel changes. However, they have found their groove, and have become more consistent with their general play.

This leads us to believe that there are Three Reasons the Brewers Can Contend, and these are:

Brewers Can Contend: Reason One – Their Pitching Staff

There is no denying the quality that the Brewers possess in their pitching staff. The main trio of Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta have been incredible to start the 2021 season.

The pitching staff as a whole average 10.54 strikeouts/9 (1st), as well as allowing just 7.04 hits/9 (3rd). Their main pitching duo though have combined for 13 wins and just 7 losses. Burnes and Woodruff have an ERA of less than 2, (1.97 and 1.42 respectively), whilst Peralta has a healthy 2.25. They have combined for 278 strikeouts in just 199.1 innings, whilst having the reliable Josh Hader coming in from the bullpen with an incredible 14 saves from 14 opportunities.

It is safe to say that despite their early offensive worries, the pitchers have done their job remarkably and carried the team when it has been needed.

Brewers Can Contend: Reason Two – The Offense is Heating Up

Early season problems saw the offense have an abysmal batting average, where the majority of the hitters had below .200. The hitters had a lot to answer for some impressive pitching from Burnes and co. Fast-forward to the start of June, and the offense is heating up. In their last 5 games, they have scored 7 runs three times, whilst a 5-1 victory and a 2-0 shutout also shows their ability to back up their pitchers a bit more.

Earlier in the season, they had the capability of hitting home runs but not consistently enough. In their last 5 games, however, they have hit 16 home runs, taking their average up to 1.3 home runs/game, thus putting them 6th overall in that particular stat.

The likes of Christian Yelich and Daniel Vogelbach were expected to be their home runs getters, but Avisail Garcia has continued his big-hitting form, as well as Luis Urias, Omar Narvaez, Travis Shaw and Tyrone Taylor all having 6 or more home runs at this stage of the season.

Brewers Can Contend: Reason Three – Picking Teams Off

Although teams are judged by how they fare against the best teams in baseball, the Brewers are doing what they need to do by picking off teams with inferior records. The Arizona Diamondbacks series was a prime example. Coming into the series with the Brewers, the D-backs sat at 20-37, and were easily swept aside by the dominating Brewers, thus proving Milwaukee"s ability to take advantage of teams with records worse than themselves.

In the last couple of weeks, they have swept the Nationals (24-32) as well. Although this seems like a minor stat, the Brewers need to keep up this momentum to push themselves further up the standings. They were able to split the series at home to the Padres (36-25), as well as take two of three against the rival Reds (28-29) in Cincinnati. They are starting to show that they can compete against teams with decent records, but also show a more dominant side against those that have records inferior to theirs.

Although the season is a long way away from finishing, the Brewers are starting to show more consistency and put them in a position where they can challenge in the long term. The acquisition of Willy Adames has been a master stroke, and this has enabled guys to showcase their abilities with more freedom.

With the way they are currently playing there wouldn"t be any surprises if the Brewers continue to rise in the standings and prove the point that the Brewers Can Contend!

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