The Brewers have spent most of this season looking like a team with very little interest in slowing down. At 88-54 with 20 games left, Milwaukee owns the best record in baseball and is tracking toward a finish that could top last year’s franchise-best 97 wins, with 100 still very much in play.
That’s happening even though the roster hasn’t been whole. Quinn Priester was lost before the season began, and Brandon Woodruff was knocked out after just nine starts because of a shoulder injury. The Brewers have still managed to separate themselves from the pack, riding a pitching staff that owns a 3.50 ERA, second-best in the majors.
Woodruff’s absence has been especially notable because of how well he was throwing before the injury. The 33-year-old right-hander had a 2.98 ERA and 47 strikeouts when the shoulder issue sidelined him.
He has spent his entire nine-year career in Milwaukee, but durability has been a constant issue. He hasn’t finished a full season since 2022 and did not pitch in 2024.
Now there’s at least a chance he could be back on the mound before this season is over. Woodruff recently started a five-week pitching program, and if everything goes right, he could return this year.
That said, the bigger picture still matters just as much. He is under contract only through this season after taking a $22 million qualifying offer in the offseason, so any late return would carry real weight for what comes next.
As Bleacher Report’s Tim Kelly wrote on Saturday, "Since returning from the shoulder surgery he had in October of 2023, Brandon Woodruff has a 3.11 ERA,". Kelly also noted, "The problem is, he's only made 21 starts, with his latest injury a reoccurrence of pitching shoulder inflammation. The good news for Woodruff is that while he initially appeared headed for another shoulder surgery, he showed enough healing to start throwing again after a month.
"Manager Pat Murphy said on Aug. 22 that 'I think there's a low possibility, but I think there's a possibility,' when asked about whether Woodruff could return in 2026. Even if it's just in a relief role, getting Woodruff back at all would be a boon.
He's spent his entire nine-year career with the Brewers. It would be cool to see him pitch in October for a team with World Series aspirations.
Plus, it would help the 33-year-old ahead of free agency to show that he's healthy heading into the offseason."
For Milwaukee, any version of Woodruff would be welcome. For Woodruff, though, the stakes are even more personal: if he makes it back, he’ll have a chance to remind everyone exactly what kind of pitcher he can still be before free agency arrives. How he comes through the next few weeks of that throwing program will tell the story.
In Other News...
Joey Votto Just Said Something Brewers Fans Will Love
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Votto also singled out the tailgate culture as proof of how deeply the city invests in its team, which is about as high a compliment as a visiting player can pay. He finished by saying he hopes the Brewers can bring home a World Series championship, a sentiment that will sound familiar to anyone who has spent a summer around American Family Field and knows how long that wait has been. [Read more 🡒]
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For Brewers fans, the idea lands in a familiar place, somewhere between nostalgia and debate. The club has kept its bullpen among the games stronger groups even after moving on from several star players in recent years, while Hader continues to pitch at a high level in Houston and remains under contract there through 2028. Whether the conversation ever becomes more than sentiment is the unresolved part, but it is the kind of storyline that never really disappears in Milwaukee. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Quiet Deadline Moves Are Starting To Look Like October Weapons
The Brewers did not make the kind of flashy deadline splash that tends to grab headlines in late July, but their front office has been busy enough. Milwaukee added Dustin May and JoJo Romero from the Cardinals, then brought in veteran reliever Antonio Senzatela from the Rockies, all with an eye toward reinforcing a pitching staff built for the stretch run and, if things go right, October.
Senzatela has already given the Brewers a useful return in relief, and his arrival has helped deepen a bullpen that now ranks third-best in the league by ERA. For a team that has long depended on run prevention to carry it, moves like these can matter just as much as the louder ones, especially once the schedule tightens and every leverage inning starts to look a little bigger. [Read more 🡒]