The Brewers have built a habit of making preseason projections look silly, and now they’ve done it again. Milwaukee locked up the National League Central for the fourth straight season, and no other team in the division has managed that kind of run in the 32-year history of the NL Central.
What makes this stretch even more impressive is how much the roster has changed along the way. Brandon Woodruff and Christian Yelich are the only players who have been on each of these teams, even as the Brewers have reached the postseason eight times in the last nine years. Through all the churn, the front office has stayed active, first with David Stearns in charge and now with Matt Arnold as President of Baseball Operations and General Manager.
The Brewers’ decisions have not always been the most popular ones, especially when they involved moving on from names like Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes, Devin Williams, and Freddy Peralta. But the organization has also shown it will pay to keep the right young players around, with Aaron Ashby, Jackson Chourio, Cooper Pratt, and Luis Lara all signing long-term deals since 2022.
And in a season like this one, the difference between a good roster and a division winner often comes down to a few sharp calls that don’t always get the spotlight.
One of the quiet wins came last offseason with Jake Bauers. Milwaukee non-tendered him in November after the 2024 season, then brought him back on a minor league deal before the 2025 campaign.
He made the club out of camp, chipped in in important spots during the year and again in the 2025 postseason, and that was enough for the Brewers to give him a one-year, $2.7 million contract last offseason. That figure was well above his projected arbitration salary according to MLB Trade Rumors.
It has turned into Milwaukee’s best bargain from last winter. Bauers now leads qualified hitters in the National League with a .394 on-base percentage and also tops the Brewers with a career-best 26 home runs.
He has handled same-handed pitching and settled in as an everyday option at first base or in right field. That kind of production and flexibility has mattered a lot in getting the Brewers to this point.
Another important piece came out of the February trade with the Boston Red Sox. The six-player deal featured Kyle Harrison going to Milwaukee and Caleb Durbin heading to Boston, but Matt Arnold also managed to get Craig Breslow to include Shane Drohan. The 27-year-old lefty had not made his MLB debut yet and looked blocked in Boston because of the Red Sox’ pitching depth.
Drohan has made the most of his opportunity in Milwaukee. The Brewers have used him as a starter, a multi-inning reliever, and even, as he showed last night against the Pirates, in a high-leverage bullpen role.
Through 30 appearances, including 18 starts, he has logged 118.2 innings, which is second-most on the Brewers. His 119 strikeouts are third on the team, and his 1.7 fWAR ranks fifth among rookie pitchers in the National League this season.
Then there’s the move the Brewers never made. Logan Henderson was reportedly the pitcher Milwaukee refused to include in a possible Tarik Skubal package at the trade deadline, and that decision looks better by the week. Henderson has opened his career with 22 straight outings without allowing three or more runs, leaving him one game shy of Zac Gallen’s MLB record.
Since the deadline, Henderson has actually out-pitched Skubal. Over that span, both pitchers have made 11 starts.
Henderson has thrown 65.0 innings with a 2.22 ERA, 73 strikeouts, a .171 opponent batting average, and a 0.71 WHIP. Skubal has gone 71.0 innings with a 2.28 ERA, a .209 opponent batting average, and a 0.96 WHIP.
With Kyle Harrison struggling, Henderson has also moved into the No. 2 role, giving the Brewers another major reason to be glad they held on.
In Other News...
Brewers Turn To One Overlooked Trade Piece For Bullpen Help
The Brewers bullpen shuffle has quickly moved on from the headline part of the trade and toward the quieter one. After sending outfield prospect Jayden Fielder to Houston in the deal for Lance McCullers Jr. and Colton Gordon, Milwaukee has turned to Gordon as the arm it can actually use right now, promoting the left-hander from Triple-A to the major league roster and sending Garrett Stallings back down.
For a staff that can never really have enough usable innings, Gordon is being asked to help fill a practical need rather than a splashy one. McCullers was designated for assignment, leaving the Brewers to lean on the pitcher who came over with less fanfare but now has a clearer path to immediate bullpen work in Milwaukee. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Open A Bullpen Spot As Veteran Lefty Nears Uncertain Return
The Brewers cleared a bullpen opening by designating left-hander Rob Zastryzny for assignment, a roster move that underscores how tight the margins can get in late-season pitching decisions. Zastryzny has spent this season on the injured list with a trapezius strain and has not appeared in the majors in 2024, leaving Milwaukee to make a choice on a pitcher whose status has been uncertain for some time.
Because Zastryzny is out of options, the Brewers could not simply stash him back in the bullpen while they waited for more clarity on his return. Instead, they removed him from the roster, a sign the club is prioritizing immediate flexibility even as one veteran leftys path back to the active roster remains murky. [Read more 🡒]
Cristopher Sanchez Is At The Center Of A Heated Cy Young Debate
The National League Cy Young race has turned into one of those late-season arguments that can split even the most numbers-minded observers, and Jacob Misiorowski has found himself right in the middle of it for the Brewers. ESPN analyst Bradford Doolittles AXE metric has Philadelphias Cristopher Sanchez sitting atop the field, yet Doolittle himself leans toward Misiorowski when weighing the season as a whole.
For Milwaukee, it is the kind of debate worth tracking closely because it speaks to just how dominant Misiorowski has been in his first full run at this level. The statistical comparison with Sanchez has become the centerpiece of the conversation, but the bigger question is whether the Brewers right-hander has done enough beyond the model to make the award feel like his to lose. [Read more 🡒]