The Milwaukee Brewers have spent the first half of 2026 doing something no team in franchise history had done before the All-Star break: piling up a 59-37 record and a .615 winning percentage, both the best marks the club has ever posted at this point in a season. They also hit several win milestones faster than any Brewers team before them, which makes this the organization’s strongest first half by the standings.
That doesn’t mean the first 90 games or so were spotless. Milwaukee still went through a six-game losing streak in April, and the club also headed into the break after being swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Even with the record-setting start, there’s a sense that this roster can still get better, whether that comes from more out of players who underwhelmed early or from an addition before the August 3 trade deadline.
Some Brewers have already gone well beyond expectations. Others have not. Here are three of the biggest pleasant surprises and two of the biggest disappointments from Milwaukee’s first half.
Jake Bauers has been the loudest breakout in the group. Jake “Rake” Bauers has played his way into a platoon with Andrew Vaughn, and he’s also found extra at-bats by filling in at a corner outfield spot at times.
At the break, he leads the Brewers with 18 home runs and sits second on the team with 59 RBI. His 142 wRC+ is the fourth-best mark among qualified first basemen in Major League Baseball and tops in the National League.
For a player Milwaukee brought back on a one-year deal at last year’s non-tender trade deadline, that looks like a sharp front-office call.
Garrett Mitchell has also delivered exactly what the Brewers needed in center field, and he’s done it while staying on the field. In 86 games, Mitchell is hitting .274/.362/.459 with eight home runs, 20 doubles, 44 RBI and six stolen bases.
His 128 wRC+ ranks fourth among qualified major league center fielders, and his 2.0 fWAR is seventh at the position. He’s also given Milwaukee strong defense, with three outs above average, and Pat Murphy made the center field pecking order clear when Mitchell replaced Minor League Gold Glover Luis Lara in center after Lara’s MLB debut.
On the mound, Kyle Harrison has been a major win for Milwaukee after arriving in an offseason trade. The left-hander came into the year with ERAs of 4.15, 4.56 and 4.04 in his first three big league seasons, but he reached the break with a 3.01 ERA and 101 strikeouts over 83.2 innings.
That surge has mattered for a staff that has had to get by without 2025 breakout starter Quinn Priester and with only limited starts from Brandon Woodruff. Harrison has joined Jacob Misiorowski to give the Brewers a dangerous one-two punch at the top of the rotation.
Not everything broke Milwaukee’s way, though. Luis Rengifo was one of the team’s few free-agent additions last offseason and opened the year as the primary third baseman, with hopes that he would bounce back after a 75 OPS+ season in 2026.
Instead, his time with the Brewers turned into a career-worst offensive stretch before he was designated for assignment in early June. In 211 plate appearances, the switch-hitter posted a .251 slugging percentage and did not hit a home run.
Milwaukee wasn’t asking him to be a middle-of-the-order bat, but it did expect league-average production from the $3.5 million signing. He never gave them that, and now he’s trying to reestablish himself with the San Diego Padres.
Christian Yelich is the other name on the wrong side of the ledger. Just a year after a 29-homer, 103-RBI season, the veteran has not matched that level in the first half of 2026.
He has six home runs and 31 RBI in 62 games after missing about a month with a groin injury in April and May. Yelich gave the offense a quick boost when he returned in mid-May, but the production has faded since then.
Since June 1, he is slashing .230/.329/.331 with an 88 wRC+ and a 28.4% strikeout rate. At his current pace, he’d finish around 10 home runs and 52 RBI, though Yelich’s track record says a turnaround can come fast.
In Other News...
Brewers Just Got Another Big Reminder They Nailed The Andrew Vaughn Trade
More than a year after Milwaukee sent Aaron Civale to the White Sox for Andrew Vaughn, the trade keeps looking better for the Brewers. Vaughn has settled in at first base and given the lineup the kind of steady production the club was hoping for, with his offensive work showing both consistency and real value in the middle of the order.
Civale, meanwhile, has kept trending the other way, which only sharpens the contrast in what was once a straightforward swap. Milwaukee does not need a reminder that Vaughn has been the more dependable piece, but the latest turn in Civales career makes the return look even stronger and leaves the Brewers with another example of a deal that has aged well in their favor. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Just Got A Costly New Reality On Jacob Misiorowski
Chase Burns new deal in Cincinnati has quietly changed the conversation for Milwaukee, because it gives the Brewers a fresh measuring stick if they want to lock up Jacob Misiorowski. The right-hander has been one of the most electric arms in the game this season, and his emergence has only sharpened the question of how aggressive the Brewers will need to be to keep him in place long term.
Misiorowskis rise has put him in a different class of extension candidate, and the timing matters because the market for young pitchers keeps moving. Milwaukee has not yet gotten into extension talks with him, but the Burns contract makes clear that any serious effort to buy out Misiorowskis future is going to come with a hefty price tag and a lot more urgency than it might have just a few weeks ago. [Read more 🡒]
Aaron Civale's Exit From Milwaukee Keeps Looking Worse
Aaron Civales path since asking out of Milwaukee last June has only gotten bumpier. The right-hander was designated for assignment by the Athletics after 16 appearances and a 5.82 ERA, another rough stop for a pitcher who once looked like a useful rotation piece and has instead spent the last year bouncing from one roster crunch to the next.
The latest move also brings back an uncomfortable pattern for the Brewers to watch from afar. Civale was DFAd by the White Sox last summer after the trade out of Milwaukee, and this is the third time in a little over a year that he has landed in DFA limbo, a striking turn for a veteran who has already worn six big league uniforms in eight seasons. [Read more 🡒]