The Milwaukee Brewers' pitching staff has demonstrated its dominance this season, but how does it measure up against other contenders?
Fall is here, and playoff baseball is close behind. For the Milwaukee Brewers, the regular season has been very successful, and now it is nearly time to perform when it matters most.
For the Brewers to win in the playoffs, it will take an all-hands-on-deck effort. If each player does their job to the best of their abilities, then this club can win its first World Series.
There are a lot of reasons why Milwaukee has enjoyed another strong year that is resulting in another trip to the playoffs, and its winning ways can be credited largely to the pitching staff. But where do the Brewers’ arms rank among the other teams that will also be competing for a title?
The evaluation
Recently, The Athletic ranked the pitching staffs for each contending team, and the Brewers’ came in third place behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees.
This is not all that surprising as the latter two teams have multiple elite weapons. On the other hand, Milwaukee has the best pitcher in baseball, Jacob Misiorowski, but the drop in talent after him is more dramatic than in the teams that rank above the Brewers.
Behind Misiorowski, Logan Henderson is listed as the No. 2 starter. Henderson has had a strong year that has seen him post a 10-3 record with a 2.51 ERA across 17 starts and 93.1 innings of work.
From there, The Athletic has Robert Gasser as the third option and Dustin May as the fourth. The problem that is outlined here is that the Brewers do not have a legitimate third option. What’s worse is that it was not always the case this season.
Kyle Harrison’s downfall
In the early months of the season, left-hander Kyle Harrison was pitching at a very high level.
In April and May, the 25-year-old was dominant. In April, he logged a 2.41 ERA and a 2-1 record across four starts, and in May, he notched a 0.96 ERA with a 4-0 record.
But in June, his numbers began going in the wrong direction. Through five starts in June, he was able to go 2-0, but his ERA shot up to 4.62.
In July, Harrison landed on the Injured List due to left forearm tightness. Since returning in August, he has struggled mightily.
Had it not been for the egregious nature of his outings over nearly two months, Harrison would have been considered the No. 2 or No. 3 option in this starting rotation. Now, it is difficult to justify trusting him in a high-leverage playoff position.
Still, the Brewers’ staff is very good. Beyond the starters, relievers such as JoJo Romero, Aaron Ashby, Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill hold down the bullpen, which will also be very important come October.
