Insert all the usual caveats here – the calendar still says April, 11 games out of 162 is hardly a significant sample size, division titles are not won in spring, etc.
Still, for sheer eyebrow-raising, expectation-defying starts, it is hard to look past the Milwaukee Brewers. The team expected to be well off the pace in the National League Central, propped up only by the woeful Chicago Cubs, have won eight in a row and are a league-leading 9-2.
Milwaukee, the 2011 NL Central champions, slumped to a 74-88 record and fourth place in their division last season, and were further rocked by star Ryan Braun’s 65-game suspension for getting caught up in Major League Baseball’s Biogenesis investigation.
The return of Braun and the acquisition of free-agent pitcher Matt Garza were expected to help return the Brewers to their usual level at or near 85 wins, but few expected them to race three games clear of the division before the Wrigley Field ivy is in full bloom.
Yet there they are, enjoying their best start since racing out of the gates 13-0 in 1987 and going from strength to strength.
The hitting of Aramis Ramirez, Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Gomez has Milwaukee third in the majors in batting average, with Gomez in particular experiencing a career renaissance after making an inauspicious start in big-league baseball with the New York Mets and later the Brewers.
After managing just two hits in 10 plate appearances during the year’s opening series against the Atlanta Braves, Gomez had 14 hits in 31 appearances, including six extra-base hits, over the next six games.
Milwaukee’s pitching has been even better, posting a league-leading 1.86 earned-run average. Yovani Gallardo pitched a 15 2/3-inning scoreless streak that ended on Saturday, when he allowed two runs to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and closer Francisco Rodriguez looks to be fully recovered from his unfortunate spring run-in with a cactus as he has 11 strikeouts, no runs allowed and four saves in six innings.
Questions remain over just how much staying power the Brewers have. Gomez is bound to cool off eventually, Garza and Ramirez have a reputation for being injury-prone, and the St Louis Cardinals are too good to stay hovering around .500 for much longer. Given his off-season tribulations and subsequent blaming of everyone but himself for his suspension, Braun’s apparent eagerness to make a heel turn will do little but put a target squarely on his back.
Still, Milwaukee certainly look capable of regaining the ground they ceded to St Louis and Pittsburgh in the NL Central.
Wins in April count just as much as those in August and September, and securing a wild-card berth is well within the Brewers’ reach.
pfreelend@thenational.ae
