With Spring Training in its final days, the Milwaukee Brewers must make roster decisions.
It's not a deep company secret that the Milwaukee Brewers want to get back to the National League Championship Series in the 2026 MLB season.
They also want to take another big step, getting into the World Series and keeping the Los Angeles Dodgers out of it.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy has been watching his players go through Spring Training workouts and games. He's been making notes on who will be out on the field for Opening Day.
While some players are probably penciled in already, there might be a battle here and there still taking place.
But the Brewers want to equal or better their 97-win regular-season total from 2025. They know that to do so, a healthy, fit, focused group of players need to be on the same page.
So, what does that Opening Day roster look like right now? Brewers beat reporter Adam McCalvy of MLB.com put together a comprehensive list that, right now, looks pretty good.
Imagine Milwaukee fans turning on their TVs or tuning in on their cell phones and hear this lineup take the field.
What does McCalvy predict? Let's run down the players and positions.
- Catcher: William Contreras
- First baseman: Andrew Vaughn
- Second baseman: Brice Turang
- Shortstop: Joey Ortiz
- Third baseman: Luis Rengifo
- Outfielders: Jackson Chourio, Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick, Blake Perkins
- Designated hitter: Christian Yelich
- Bench/utility: Jake Bauers, Gary Sánchez, David Hamilton
- Starting pitchers: Chad Patrick, Brandon Woodruff, Kyle Harrison, Jacob Misiorowski, Aaron Ashby
- Relief pitchers: Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill, Jared Koenig, Angel Zerpa, Grant Anderson, Rob Zastryzny, DL Hall, Easton McGee
- Injured List: Quinn Priester
With a lot of focus on the starting rotation situation, now that Freddy Peralta is no longer around, McCalvy shared some thoughts on it in his story.
"For whatever it’s worth, this is the order they are currently lined up in the spring rotation, which either means a lot or nothing at all: Patrick, Woodruff, Harrison and Misiorowski (who both pitched March 8 against the Mariners) and Ashby," McCalvy wrote.
"But we don’t know where that list starts and ends, so don’t put too much stock into it yet," McCalvy added.
What about Vaughn at first base? McCalvy points out that the Brewers dropped some cash down to keep him around.
"Vaughn’s power tailed off late in the season, but the Brewers invested $7.65 million to bring him back in a right/left tandem with Jake Bauers," McCalvy wrote.
"It won’t be a straight platoon, Murphy has made clear, but Bauers is making a strong case to start against righties with a standout spring," McCalvy continued. "Tiny sample alert: Bauers and Vaughn were a combined 17-for-40 with four doubles and four home runs through March 8."
As Brewers fans can probably tell, this is a pretty stout lineup that could take the field on Opening Day.
Will the Brew Crew's early-season lineup look like this, or will Murphy make a tweak or two as the start of the regular season gets closer?
Well, Brewers fans, you'll just have to wait and see.
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