Milwaukee Brewers: 2018 Review, How Did They Reach NLCS?
The Milwaukee Brewers exceeded expectations and earned the best record in the National League before making a run all the way to Game 7 of the NLCS in the 2018 MLB Playoffs behind the deft decisions of Manager Craig Counsell.
Milwaukee Brewers General Manager David Stearns should be nicknamed King Midas because everything he touches seems to turn to gold. When Brewers Owner Mark Attanasio hired the Houston Astros former assistant general manager, even he could not have known how efficiently Stearns would turn around the Brewers.
In hindsight, Attanasio recognizes the importance of Counsell and Stearns.
“I did two smart things: I hired Craig Counsell as a manager and I hired David Stearns as a general manager,” Attanasio said. “All the rest is their doing.”
Granted, Stearns was one of the architects of the Astros franchise who went from a 111 loss season to a World Series title. But, the Brewers had miserable organizational depth when Stearns took over during the off-season of 2015.
As GM, Stearns only trade bust was giving away power hitter Kris Davis to Oakland for under-performing Jacob Nottingham. Nottingham was meant to be the catcher of the future but has yet to develop into a quality major league player let alone a star like Davis.
Other than that trade, everything Stearns touched turned to gold.
GM Stearns side-stepped logic when he signed Lorenzo Cain and traded top prospects for Christian Yelich during the 2018 off-season even though the Milwaukee Brewers already had more than enough quality outfielders and could have used a starting pitcher.
But Stearns went with his brain and gut instead of what the fans and experts yelled in his ears. He signed Wade Miley and Jhoulys Cachin to compete for starting pitching roles, and they contributed during the regular season and 2018 MLB Playoffs all the way to the NLCS.
“It feels like it happened pretty fast,” Counsell said. He added later, “David has been nothing short of magnificent here in his first three years.”
Another shrewd Stearns acquisition was Jesus Aguilar who earned his way onto the 25-man roster to start the 2018 season. Before long, Aguilar started getting comparisons to a young David Ortiz and carried the Milwaukee Brewers with tremendous run-producing talent in the middle of their order during the first half of the season.
Milwaukee Brewers Offense Powerful and Deep, But Inconsistent
After Stearns revamped the depth of the organization by trading veterans for prospects, the Milwaukee Brewers took off with a pre-flight in 2017. Milwaukee fell just one game short of the MLB Playoffs that season, but the team played important games together.
The next year, Counsell led the Brewers all the way to NLCS Game 7 of the MLB Playoffs. The Milwaukee Brewers had not made that deep of a postseason run since getting to within a game of winning a World Series back in 1982.
By 2018 Spring Training, Stearns felt like he had a good roster and deep organization.
“I think we’re in a spot where we can consistently compete in this division [NL Central],” he said Saturday morning. “That’s our goal. That’s our expectation. We have to prove that. There are other teams in our division that have proven that over the course of a long time, that they can consistently compete. We have not done that. So this is our opportunity to prove we belong in that conversation.”
Cain and Yelich played well all season long. Yelich played MVP-caliber baseball during the second-half, while it could be argued Cain’s output defending center field and leading off for the Brewers could make him the team MVP. Quality lead-off hitters could be undervalued in this era of higher launch angles and home run happy lineups.
Although Jesus Aguilar hit the cover off the ball during the first half of 2018, his numbers faltered post-All Star Break.
On the other hand, defensive wizard Orlando Arcia struggled at the plate so badly during the first half, he got demoted to the minors.
Arcia, however, returned to the club later in the year and played a key role at the plate during the 2018 MLB Playoffs. Braun also played well later in the year and excelled in the postseason.
Stearns added hitters before the 2018 trade deadline that likely influenced the better play of Braun and Arcia down the stretch because it gave Counsell the ability to use his players more strategically.
Because Stearns did not have to purge his entire system to move the Milwaukee Brewers franchise to within a game of the World Series in 2018, the team is in good position for 2019 and does not have to overpay for anything during the off-season.
Even the pitching staff looks good after young pitchers proved they could handle MLB Playoffs pressure.
Milwaukee Brewers 2018 Pitching Strategy Changes The Game
Fans became irritated at GM Stearns and the Milwaukee Brewers for not acquiring an ace with the money it had and Jimmy Nelson due out until at least the 2018 all-star break.
Not only did Nelson not return the entire season, but step-in top pitcher Chase Anderson gave up way too many home runs to call himself a front-line starter.
Jhoulys Chacin was not known around the league for anything other than that he had a good slider. Stearns brought him in on a 2-year deal that has already been with its weight in Midas’s gold.
Another Stearns 2018 signing, Wade Miley, got injured early in the season. But, he returned with a terrific cutter that helped the Brewers win games up to and into the MLB Playoffs.
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To sum things up, the Milwaukee Brewers had an average pitching staff with no star in the starting rotation.
Even with what looked like a good bullpen, few believed in this Brewers pitching staff to begin the 2018 season after David Stearns failed to acquire more talent at the starting pitcher position during the 2017-18 off-season.
ESPN gave Milwaukee 30-1 odds of winning the World Series, which was even worse than the shot they gave the Minnesota Twins.
However, the Brewers won 96 games during the 2018 Regular Season, which was more than any other team. And, they played tough in the 2018 Playoffs, evident in their march all the way to Game 7 of the NLCS.
The Brewers did not, however use a powerful offense to accomplish their goals. Despite a deep lineup and roster, the offense remained inconsistent.
Milwaukee’s bullpen became their saving grace.
Young lefty Josh Hader won the Trevor Hoffman Award for Best Relief Pitcher for the Brewers. Furthermore, Jeremy Jeffress put up fantastic numbers during the regular season.
And, after a hamstring injury and a stint in the minor leagues, Corey Knebel returned to dominant closer form during the end of the regular season and into the MLB Playoffs.
Also stepping up were three Brewers pitching prospects. Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta, and Corbin Burnes played well during the season and broke out during the 2018 MLB Playoffs.
The three aforementioned young pitchers played so well that Stearns now has a dream of options on what he does or does not need to do during the 2018-19 off-season as far as acquiring a free agent pitcher to lead the rotation.
The 2018 Milwaukee Brewers pitching staff led by Manager Craig Counsell’s usage of them proved that the starters do not have to go as deep into games.
Statistics show that most starters get hit hardest during their third time through the lineup.
Counsell used stats to put his team in the best position to win games. He thought of pitchers as out-getters as opposed to starters, relievers, and closers.
Next. Andrew Miller makes sense for Brewers. dark
He will likely bring that strategy into 2019.