{"id":150837,"date":"2025-08-16T15:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T15:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/150837\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T15:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T15:38:09","slug":"how-are-the-brewers-this-good-plus-the-ncaa-finally-hits-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/150837\/","title":{"rendered":"How are the Brewers this good? Plus the NCAA finally hits Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pulse Newsletter <\/strong>\ud83d\udce3 | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Good morning! Make your own rules today.<\/p>\n

Potent Brew: The weirdest best team in baseball<\/b><\/p>\n

Six weeks and one day to go in Major League Baseball\u2019s regular season, and a lot of things are not going the way we thought they\u2019d be going. At the top of that list?\u00a0The Brewers<\/a> are the winningest team<\/strong>, and not by a little. Now winners of\u00a013\u00a0in a row after\u00a0a huge comeback<\/a>\u00a0last night in Cincinnati, the Brewers are six wins ahead of MLB<\/a>\u2019s next-closest team, Toronto.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee being competitive isn\u2019t news after\u00a0<\/strong>six postseason appearances in seven years.\u00a0This<\/strong>\u00a0is a bit shocking, though.<\/strong>\u00a0The Brewers saw Willy Adames<\/a> (their second most valuable hitter in 2024) leave in free agency, traded away elite closer Devin Williams<\/a> and did not make anything resembling a splashy offseason addition.<\/p>\n

And yet: A couple of old rookie hitters (28-year-old Isaac Collins<\/a> and 25-year-old Caleb Durbin<\/a>) have generated nearly five WAR, per FanGraphs. White Sox<\/a> washout Andrew Vaughn<\/a> has cosplayed as Aaron Judge<\/a> since becoming a Brewer on June 13.<\/p>\n

The pitching success stories are also plentiful.<\/strong>\u00a0Jacob Misiorowski<\/a> got roughed up yesterday in his return from the injured list, but he\u2019s been a sensation when healthy. Soon-to-be 27-year-old Chad Patrick<\/a> has been the most valuable rookie pitcher in the National League by FanGraphs WAR, and he\u2019s not even in the majors for the moment. After getting a taste of the closer role last year, Trevor Megill<\/a> has been great.\u00a0Helping all of these pitchers: a defense that\u00a0<\/strong>led baseball in fielding run value<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0entering the weekend.<\/p>\n

As a fan of a wildly incompetent NL Central team, I find the Brewers\u2019 ability to find wins in the couch cushions (and deliver free burgers to their fans<\/a>) infuriating. The Cubs<\/a>, now nine back, probably do too.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee is the uplifting surprise right now.\u00a0Here are some that are more downbeat:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n