The Milwaukee Brewers keep turning over their roster, but Brandon Woodruff and Christian Yelich have outlasted almost everyone from the 2018 National League Championship Series team. Eight years later, they’re the only two players left from that group, and that kind of staying power is rare for a small-market club that usually has to keep moving pieces around.
Milwaukee has made room for both veterans because they still matter in ways that go beyond production alone. They’re the club’s highest-paid players by a wide margin, and they’ve been part of the Brewers’ strong 50-31 start to the 2026 season. Their influence isn’t just about what shows up in the box score.
That became especially clear after a rough home series against the Chicago Cubs, when Milwaukee dropped two of three and once again struggled to deliver with runners in scoring position. The Brewers have been dealing with that problem for a while, with several hitters slumping at the same time. Even so, Woodruff and Yelich are sticking with the group around them.
“This is a good team,” Woodruff said (via Adam McCalvy). “A lot of positional guys that were young a couple of years ago are now getting older and understanding themselves really well.
The pitching staff, we’ve got some big-time arms. We’ve played some good baseball.
We’ve got to keep steady, keep staying positive and be consistent. I think we’ll be OK at the end.”
Yelich sounded just as confident: “We’ve been really good at it at times. Right now is one of those times we’re really bad at it. We’ll come through on the other side.”
For Brewers fans, the frustration is obvious. The same offensive issues keep popping up, and the problems this season look a lot like the ones that helped sink them in last year’s postseason. But in a clubhouse with limited veteran presence, Woodruff and Yelich give Milwaukee something important: steadiness.
They’ve seen the highs and the lows in Milwaukee, and they’ve become the kind of voices a young team can lean on when the bats go quiet. That leadership may not always show up in the numbers, but it helps explain why the Brewers have kept them around for so long.
In Other News...
Logan Henderson Just Gave The Brewers Rotation A Much Needed Sign
Logan Hendersons first rehab start for Triple-A Nashville offered the Brewers exactly the kind of early encouragement they were hoping for after his low back strain sidelined him in late May. The right-hander worked three perfect innings, struck out seven and was lifted in the fourth after throwing 50 pitches, a sharp enough outing to suggest his stuff is still playing like it did before the injury interrupted his momentum.
Before getting hurt, Henderson had given Milwaukee a legitimate lift with a 2.74 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 23 innings, and the club has plenty of reason to keep tracking his recovery closely. His fastball was also sitting near his season level, another reassuring sign as he works his way back toward rejoining the rotation picture. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Let Cubs Steal Another Tight One At Home
A tight home series ended the way too many Brewers-Cubs games seem to lately, with Chicago finding just enough at the end to leave Milwaukee wanting more. The Cubs pulled out a 4-3 win in 10 innings in the finale, and the game had the sort of familiar tension that made every pitch feel heavier once the clubs were settled into a one-run battle.
Milwaukee did have its moments, including Gary Sanchez's home run that gave the home side an early spark, but the game tilted in the extra frame when Chicago pieced together a three-run burst. Jacob Webb picked up the win for the Cubs, while Jordan Wicks closed it out for Milwaukee after the Brewers' last chance fell short in a sequence that summed up how close this one stayed right until the end. [Read more 🡒]
One Familiar Arm Changed Everything For The Brewers This Week
The Brewers spent the week moving through six games against the Reds and Cubs, and the difference between a solid stretch and a frustrating one kept coming back to the same place: the mound. Milwaukee went 4-2 overall, with Brandon Woodruffs starts helping stabilize a rotation that needed a lift, while Joel Kuhnel handled the late innings when the Brewers had a lead to protect. Add in timely offense from Jake Bauers, William Contreras and Garrett Mitchell, and it was the kind of trip that hinted at how dangerous this club can be when pitching and bats line up at the same time.
The challenge now is figuring out whether that balance can hold once the schedule gets less forgiving. The Brewers got quality work from multiple arms against two division rivals, including a strong outing from Jacob Misiorowski and another scoreless turn from Woodruff later in the week, but they also saw how quickly a game can slip away when the bullpen has to cover for a starters exit. For a team trying to stack wins, the encouraging part is clear enough. The harder part is whether this week was a glimpse of whats coming, or just the latest reminder that the margin is still thin. [Read more 🡒]