Brandon Woodruff’s return is no sure thing, but the latest sign out of Milwaukee is a good one.
The Brewers right-hander is moving deeper into a five-week throwing program, with MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reporting Monday that Woodruff will begin his third week on Wednesday. That’s a notable step for a pitcher who, not long ago, seemed headed for another long absence.
Back in July, Woodruff injured his shoulder again and the outlook looked grim. He had already missed the 2024 season after suffering an anterior shoulder capsule injury in 2023, and this latest setback raised the possibility that surgery would once again shut him down for an extended stretch. Woodruff returned in 2025 and pitched in 12 games before getting hurt again.
The picture changed in late August. Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel spoke with Woodruff and reported that surgery ultimately was not needed. Instead, Woodruff was scheduled to begin a throwing progression shortly afterward.
Now he’s in the middle of that process, and the calendar is starting to matter. If Woodruff begins Week 3 on Wednesday, Week 4 would land around Sep. 16 and Week 5 around Sep.
- The regular season ends Sep.
That leaves Milwaukee with only a small window to work with, even as the Brewers remain positioned to make the postseason. If they finish with the No. 1 seed, they would get a bye in the first round before meeting a Wild Card team in the National League Division Series. If they end up at No. 2, they would face either a Wild Card team or the No. 3 division winner.
For now, the big takeaway is simple: Woodruff didn’t need surgery. That alone changes the long-term outlook, because it means he won’t miss the 2027 season barring another injury.
When he went down in July, there was real concern that Brewers fans might have already seen the last of him. That doesn’t appear to be the case, and it may not even be true for 2026.
In Other News...
Bucks Enter A Bleak New Era With Everything On Their Young Core
The Bucks are heading toward a very different kind of season in 2026-27, one defined less by star power than by how quickly a younger roster can take shape after the franchise moved on from Giannis Antetokounmpo. In that kind of reset, the attention naturally shifts to the players who have to grow up fast, and no name looms larger in those projections than Kel'el Ware, a talent who could go from promising piece to the kind of player around whom a new identity starts to form.
Ousmane Dieng also looms as a possible part of that next group, with a path to winning a starting job if the Bucks lean into development as much as they lean into survival. The bigger picture remains blunt: this is being framed as a bottom-of-the-division team, one expected to land last in the Central with a record not far from what it posted the previous season, which leaves plenty of questions about how much progress the young core can actually make. [Read more 🡒]
Myles Turner Gives The Bucks Stability They Desperately Need
Myles Turner is settling in as exactly the kind of presence the Bucks needed heading into the season. Expected to remain in Milwaukee, he arrives with a clear role as the starting center and brings value beyond the box score, giving the team a stabilizing force on the floor and a veteran voice around the locker room as the franchise tries to keep its focus on winning now.
There is still some uncertainty attached to Turners long-term fit, and that could be revisited as the season unfolds. For the moment, though, the Bucks are leaning into what he offers right away - chemistry, leadership and help in player development - while trying to stay competitive without the benefit of a high draft pick to lean on later. [Read more 🡒]
Bucks May Have Finally Found Their Middleton Replacement
The Bucks have spent more than a year trying to patch the scoring hole left when Khris Middleton moved on, and the search has pushed them to look beyond a direct one-for-one replacement. Jaime Jaquez Jr. gives them a different kind of answer on the wing, one built less on Middletons shot-making profile and more on efficiency, physical play and steady all-around production. He arrives as a new option for a team that has been looking for another dependable source of offense to ease the burden on its core.
Jaquezs case is rooted in what he already showed last season, when he averaged 15.4 points, five rebounds and 4.7 assists off the bench. For Milwaukee, that kind of production matters because it suggests he can do more than just occupy a role, and there is already a path for him to push toward the starting small forward job. The real question now is how quickly he can translate that bench success into a larger responsibility and whether the Bucks will decide he is the best fit to help fill a vacancy they have been trying to solve for quite some time. [Read more 🡒]