The Milwaukee Brewers head into Saturday’s National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres as the favorites, and for good reason. They won 103 games, own home-field advantage and will send Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson to the mound in Games 1 and 2, giving them two of the best overall pitchers in the National League to open the series.
But if Milwaukee’s postseason ends earlier than expected, the culprit is easy to spot: not enough thump in the middle of the lineup.
That has been the Brewers’ issue all year, and the numbers back it up. They finished the regular season tied for 28th in the league with 154 home runs in 162 games.
San Diego, by comparison, landed tied for 14th with 183 homers. The Padres also closed the season hot at the plate, tying for sixth in the league in September with 33 home runs in 24 games.
Milwaukee hit 27 in that same stretch, ranking 17th.
That gap matters even more in October, when every pitch and every at-bat carries extra weight. One swing can flip a game, and one big inning can tilt a series.
San Diego already showed that kind of damage in the wild-card round, when it hit four home runs in a two-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs. That total is tied with the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros for the most in the playoffs so far.
The difference is that the Yankees moved on and the Astros did not. Houston’s issue all season was clear: the offense was good, but the pitching was a mess.
San Diego doesn’t have that problem. The Padres can hit for power and bring elite pitching to the table.
That combination is dangerous. Milwaukee, meanwhile, can outpitch just about anybody, but it doesn’t have much game-changing pop.
So yes, the Brewers are the better team on paper and should be treated like the favorite. But if this series goes sideways for them, the reason will likely be the same one that has shadowed them all season: too little power when it matters most.
In Other News...
Padres Owner Just Added Heat To A Rivalry Fans Already Feel
Before the Padres took the field for their wild-card Game 2 against the Cubs, owner Jose E. Feliciano managed to add a little fuel to an already combustible rivalry. In a media session, he took a playful shot at Dodgers owner Mark Walter, joking that Walter "owns a lot of dinosaurs," a nod to the fossil collection displayed in Walters office. The remark spread quickly on social media, the kind of offhand jab that tends to travel fast when San Diego and Los Angeles are involved.
Craig Stammen was asked about the bigger-picture possibility of a playoff meeting with the Dodgers, but he kept the focus where it needed to be. The Padres manager steered the conversation back to the next series and the Milwaukee Brewers, which remains the immediate task in front of the club. Even so, the moment was another reminder that when these two organizations are anywhere near the same October conversation, the edge never stays quiet for long. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Fans Have Heard This Kind Of Manager Backing Before
The Padres have changed managers plenty of times in the last seven seasons, but the common denominator has stayed the same: A.J. Preller. Through four different skippers, San Diego has still managed five postseason trips in that span, and now Craig Stammen is the latest to get the kind of public backing that has accompanied this job before.
Stammen is hardly a stranger to the organization, having spent most of the past decade in different roles around the club, and Prellers support has centered on the traits that matter most in a dugout and clubhouse. Accountability and leadership are the qualities he singled out, the kind of language that suggests the front office sees something sturdier here than the usual short-term vote of confidence. The question, as always in San Diego, is whether this one lasts longer than the others. [Read more 🡒]
Pete Crow-Armstrong Had A Brutal Take On Cubs Wild Card Exit
The Cubs quick exit from the Wild Card round came with the kind of offensive frustration that tends to linger, especially after being swept by the Padres. Chicago never really found a rhythm at the plate in the series, and Pete Crow-Armstrong was part of that struggle, finishing 0-for-7 with four strikeouts and one walk while the bats around him went quiet as well.
Crow-Armstrong didnt try to dress it up afterward, taking a blunt view of his own part in the loss and saying he has to do better in games that matter most. For a Cubs lineup that expected more in October, his self-assessment underscored just how far short they fell against San Diego and how much accountability will hang over the offseason. [Read more 🡒]