Padres vs Brewers Series Preview

The Padres start a 3 game set against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night. The boys are coming off of the most exciting series split most fans have ever seen. The 2 9th inning comebacks were simply incredible.

The 1st place Brewers come in as one of the luckier teams in the league. They currently hold a 1 game lead over the Cubs, but have relied heavily on offensive fire power. Of course, they’re being carried by perennial MVP candidate Christian Yelich.

Pitching match ups

Jhoulys Chacin 3-7 5.74 ERA vs. Joey Lucchesi 5-4 4.11 ERA

Brandon Woodruff 8-1 3.87 ERA vs. *Logan Allen called up, announced as Tuesday starter*

Zach Davies 7-1 2.60 ERA vs. Matt Strahm 2-6 4.66 ERA

Hitters to watch

Hubter Renfroe 9/30 5 HR 8 RBI .300 BA last 7 games

Fernando Tatis Jr 13/32 1 HR 5 RBI 1 SB .406 BA last 7 games

Christian Yelich 12/32 3 HR 5 RBI .387 BA last 7 games

Mike Moustakas 10/29 3 HR 5 RBI .345 BA last 7 games

What to expect:

The Padres are coming off of a historic series against the Rockies. They scored 44 runs, and had 2 large comebacks. That being said, they split the series because they gave up 48 runs. There are major concerns with the pitching staff right now. Lucchesi has been the most consistent starter all year, so the team is counting on him to go deep in Monday’s game. We will either get a spot start or a bullpen game on Tuesday. Given how over worked the bullpen is (in some ways because of bullpen games, but mostly because of terrible starting pitching in Colorado) I would bet on a Pedro Avila or Logan Allen spot start. Most of the elite pitching depth is below AA. Strahm got shelled in his first game back off the IL. It’s reasonable to expect a bounce back start. Hunter Renfroe is on a historic tear. He may break Ken Caminitis 1st half home run record. He’s tied for 2nd in the majors with 23. Fernando Tatis Jr continues to rake, so it’ll be interesting to see how both he and the rest of the team hit back home.

The Brewers are an interesting team. They’re 6th in the NL in runs per game, but they’re 2nd only to the Padres in Strikeouts. They’ve been winning by being 4th in OBP and mashing an NL high 125 homers. Christian Yelich is undoubtedly the best player in the game right now, so it’ll be fun to watch him. They’re pitching hasn’t been much better than the Padres. They’re 10th in the NL in ERA(Padres are 12th) and are top 5 in Walks and Home Runs given up. Their bullpen is below average, although nowhere near as bad as the Padres.

Point?

These 2 teams are actually evenly matched. The Brewers are the “worst” 1st place team in the Majors if there is such a thing. The key for the Padres will be getting depth out of their starters. At this point, games are only 8 innings. Kirby Yates has been lights out all year. If they can start getting 6-7 innings, they’ll match up well against anyone.