00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Great.
00:02As we continue on, let's talk some Brewers baseball.
00:05Jeff Levering from the Brewers Broadcast Network joins us now.
00:08And, of course, you can follow him all season long.
00:11And it's been a great season, by the way, for the Milwaukee Brewers.
00:13They win their fourth straight game against the Atlanta Braves.
00:17I mean, it just, you know, Jeff, I mean, I kid a lot here on the show with everybody that, like, you know,
00:22the front of the jersey just is all that matters in Milwaukee.
00:24The back of the jersey and the name, like, they just keep putting guys in there,
00:27and it just doesn't seem to matter.
00:28They lose Churio, lose Mizrowski, you know, just guys go down.
00:33It doesn't, I mean, look, it does matter.
00:34I get it.
00:35It does matter.
00:36But I think it just speaks to more of the way that the organization is run,
00:39that they can just keep filling in names to fill in while other guys are either leaving for a free agency or trade or injured.
00:46No doubt, Greg.
00:48It's plug and play, right?
00:49It feels like it's been that way for the last 10 years.
00:51Free agents leave, people are traded, and it's just the next man up.
00:56I think the Brewers have been as good as anybody in Major League Baseball getting the most out of their talent, right?
01:02I mean, you look at the Brewers' bullpen right now, and everybody back there has essentially been designated for assignment at some point in their career.
01:09So they have something to prove.
01:10So it's the all-DFA squad back there, and then you've got a bunch of little scrappy players that are refusing to strike out.
01:18They score a ton of runs.
01:20They play the game the right way.
01:21They're in every single ballgame.
01:23Just a fun brand of baseball, and it's turning into winning baseball.
01:27I think this is such a long stretch since the middle of May that you can't call it a fluke anymore.
01:32This is who the Brewers are.
01:34Yep, several games now above the Cubs here.
01:37Cubs are going to have to make up some ground.
01:39Of course, the Reds are still in this thing, and we anticipate the Cardinals probably going the other way at some point.
01:44Credit to them for staying in it, and the Pirates, you know, waiting for next season.
01:48So let's get into really some of the big success stories for the Brewers this season.
01:52It has to start, of course, as always, with the pitching, and everybody knows all about Jacob Mizorowski, who's currently on the IEL.
01:58So before I turn it over to you, I do want an update on him.
02:00But Freddy Peralta has been fantastic.
02:03Quinn Priester, since being acquired, has also been great.
02:06Chad Patrick, a surprise.
02:08And Jose Quintana is just being generally who he has been over the courts of several years.
02:12So let's start off with the update on Mizorowski, if you don't mind, and then take it from there on the pitch.
02:17Yeah, the Miz is going to be fine.
02:19He took a comebacker in his last appearance against the Cubs and has a bruise on his shin, but just wasn't recovering the way that he wanted to recover.
02:26So the Brewers were in an innings crunch to begin with.
02:31With him, because he's already at a career high in terms of innings, so they want to make sure he's back down just a bit.
02:36But he'll be fine.
02:37He'll take the minimum, stay on the injured list, and be back for a stretch where the Brewers are going to play 19 games in 18 days, starting the midpoint of August.
02:45But one guy who's not even on that list for you is Brandon Woodruff.
02:48And this great stretch for the Brewers really started when he came back.
02:52The Brewers have only lost four games total since Brandon Woodruff returned to the roster.
02:57I think it's like an 18-4 record in their last 22 since Brandon Woodruff came back.
03:03The starting pitching has been excellent.
03:05Remember, in the beginning of the season, they had to go out and get a guy like Quinn Priester.
03:08They had to go get Jose Quintana in the middle of spring training because their starters were going down left and right.
03:16Now they've built the stockpile of arms, and they're going to end up being just fine in terms of Chad Patrick's in the minor leagues.
03:22You bring a guy like Logan Henderson back up, and he's doing great.
03:26He pitched a couple days ago in Washington.
03:28There is a surplus of arms in the Brewers organization.
03:31And for the last seven weeks of this season going into the playoffs, they're going to be just fine with their innings.
03:37Yeah, and the team is built for the postseason with the pitching.
03:40I guess what I would ask you, Jeff, is at the deadline with what the club did, do you feel like they did enough offensively to hang?
03:49Of course, I saw them play against Miami, who was simply on an incredible run here, which is true.
03:55But it does seem to me that's going to be the question.
03:57If Milwaukee does make the postseason, how far they can go is going to have to be scoring eventually four or five runs.
04:03Although they did score like 20 the other day.
04:05I saw that, but consistently.
04:08Yeah, 38 runs over the weekend at Washington, D.C. on 56 hits.
04:11They did just fine, but that's against the Nationals.
04:13That's not against a Cubs pitching staff.
04:16That's not against a Mets pitching staff and a revamp bullpen.
04:19So the biggest question going into the trade deadline was the lack of power.
04:24And I think the Brewers have done a good job of finding some offense with the power here recently.
04:30I think they've got nine homers in the last four ballgames.
04:33So having some guys pop some homers, the revelation that is Andrew Vaughn has really helped over at first base.
04:40Christian Yelich is over 20 homers.
04:42They'll get Jackson Churio back hopefully pretty soon with his hamstring issue.
04:45But they're finding ways to create offense.
04:49The biggest thing for the Brewers is that they are dynamic offensively.
04:53They will run the bases.
04:55They will just wear you down until a pitching staff or a defense essentially just lays down and gives up.
05:01And that's what it feels like when the Brewers play against teams.
05:04That this pitching staff gets frustrated.
05:07The defense gets frustrated.
05:08Then they make mistakes.
05:09And the Brewers take advantage of all of those mistakes.
05:12You don't necessarily have to hit home runs during the regular season.
05:15You're going to have to find some ways to pop some homers in the playoffs, though.
05:19So, you know, I always like asking folks like you, Jeff, because you see the entire league.
05:24And, you know, you certainly haven't seen everyone yet.
05:27I know you will in August and September here as we close it out.
05:29But, you know, having watched the Brewers every day, to me, they look like a team that's going to be in the postseason, that's going to fight.
05:36When you see the rest of the league, who would you identify as some of the contenders in the National League?
05:43Because it just seems so bunched up record-wise.
05:45Like, even the Dodgers.
05:46Like, every team is kind of two, three games either ahead or behind one another.
05:50Yeah, the National League, I think the balance of power in Major League Baseball is definitely tilting towards the National League and has been for a couple of years.
06:01But for me, when you look at some of the guys and some of the teams that the Brewers are going to have to try and get themselves through, it's the Padres.
06:09I think the Mets are a better team.
06:11I think the Phillies are certainly a better team with the addition of Durant at the back end of their bullpen.
06:15When the Phillies totally revamped, or I should say the Mets totally revamped their entire bullpen, the Brewers are going to see the Mets this weekend in Milwaukee.
06:24It's going to be a great series, and I can't wait to see what it's going to be like the first time the Mets come back onto that field since the wildcard round of last year.
06:33Devastating loss, of course, in the playoffs for the Brewers.
06:36But I think that those are two teams, especially in the East, that are going to give some teams some problems.
06:41I think the Marlins are going to give some teams some problems over the last seven weeks of the season.
06:45The way that their pitching staff is, and the way they play defense, their pesky offense, I think they're a team that people are going to have to pay attention to.
06:52And, of course, San Diego and L.A., too, out on the West Coast.
06:55Those are two really good teams.
06:57The Brewers have one more series of Padres out in San Diego at the end of September.
07:01That's going to be a must-watch, must-listen baseball.
07:04Yeah, there's no question.
07:06So you gave us an update on Mizorowski.
07:08I forgot to ask you, because I know a lot of folks are probably watching and wondering on Jackson Churio, who is, to me, one of the players in all of baseball, not just the National League.
07:18It's a little bit of a longer timeline on him.
07:20Am I correct by saying that?
07:22Yeah, ever so slightly.
07:24They initially thought it was going to be spasms, and he might be back in there in a couple of days.
07:28But they decided to just let themselves get through it, make sure that he is totally through it so it doesn't vamp back up.
07:36And those soft tissue injuries, and Churio's never been hurt.
07:39He's 21 years old.
07:40So to have a guy like that who's never felt a sensation like he felt in the back of his hamstring, give him the time to rest.
07:48Now is the time to do it.
07:49You don't want to have something like that going on in September.
07:52So Churio should be okay.
07:54They're thinking in minimum stay, did get a PRP injection in his hamstring.
07:58So that's just settling down right now.
08:01But he should be okay when the Brewers get back home and be reevaluated and go from there.
08:06All right.
08:06Well, Jeff, enjoy the rest of the run here for the Milwaukee Brewers.
08:10I know that we'll be catching you on the broadcast here through September.
08:13And then, naturally, I would expect the Brewers to make another charge in the postseason.
08:17We'll see if they can pull it all together offensively and pitching as well.
08:20Thanks so much for coming on the show.
08:21Really appreciate it.
08:22You got it, Craig.
08:24Here's the hope.
08:24And thanks so much for having me.
08:26All right, Jeff Levering.
08:27Always a pleasure to have him on our show.
08:29And I mean, the one thing that he did say, which is really true, like you think about how much we talked about Devin Williams for the Yankees the last week or so.
08:38You think about how often we're alluding to Josh Hader.
08:43I mean, both of those guys made up the eighth and ninth inning at the highest levels in all of baseball, maybe the very best in baseball on the Brewers.
08:52Neither of them are there.
08:54And it doesn't even matter.
08:55The Brewers just keep rolling on.
08:58And a lot of other pitchers that they have, they just do a great job.
09:01I give them so much credit.
Comments