No team has won more games so far this season in Major League Baseball than the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers.
Their 6-0 shutout of the Seattle Mariners Monday night marked their 11th-straight victory, two shy of the longest winning streak in franchise history.
WISN-TV sports director Dario Melendez said the team started the season slow due to injuries, but since they’ve been healthy, the Brewers have been among the best of the best.
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He joined WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” to discuss the historic season so far, the emergence of rookie pitcher Jacob Misiorowski and what may be in store for the postseason.
The following was edited for clarity and brevity.
Kate Archer Kent: How dominant have the Milwaukee Brewers been coming into and out of the All-Star break?
Dario Melendez: When late May hit, this became the best team in baseball, and it really just correlates with them getting healthier. This team was off to a rough start because they weren’t healthy.
(Manager) Pat Murphy did such a good job just keeping the team afloat and pushing all the right buttons, benching guys when needed, calling guys out when needing to, but also giving them that fatherly pat on the shoulder, that: “Everything’s gonna be OK. Let’s just take it day by day and get to this point in the season where we’re gonna start getting guys back.” And now they’ve just taken off.
KAK: What kind of a revelation has rookie pitcher Jacob Misiorowski been for this team?
DM: Jacob Misiorowski came from a small junior college out in Missouri. He’s 120 pounds soaking wet out of the shower. He’s taller than anything, but, man, they have figured out a way to harness his leverage that his lanky body can generate, and throw 100-plus miles an hour almost every pitch.
He’s 6-foot-7, and by the time he throws the ball, he’s already closer to you than most pitchers, because he’s just so long. And he’s a good kid.
KAK: Do you think the Brewers will be buyers at the MLB Trade Deadline to put them over the top?
DM: Matt Arnold, their GM, is in a great position to go out and see what other players are on the trade market right now. The Brewers are in a very good position, but they could definitely use some added pieces, maybe a big time bat. There’s a guy out in Arizona, Eugenio Suárez, who would fit perfectly with this team. He plays third base. He has 20-plus home runs already this season. He knows the NL Central because he used to play for the Reds.
KAK: What do you see as the biggest key for the Brewers to make some real noise in the postseason this year?
DM: The philosophy that the Brewers have always had is: We’re not going to break the bank right now and mortgage our future away to make a big push.
Right now, they’re set up to be a postseason contender for the next several years. If you look year-after-year, the best team doesn’t usually win the World Series. It’s the hottest team. So Matt Arnold’s philosophy is: Let’s play some really good baseball. Let’s get to the postseason and see what happens.
But the biggest thing the Brewers are going to have to do is just keep stockpiling wins. I know that sounds obvious, right? But they have the 10th hardest schedule coming into the second half, while the Cubs have a much easier schedule in the second half. So it’s playing your brand of baseball, which is good defense and good pitching.
When you play the Cubs — which they have two series against coming up in the final half — you have to win those series. You have to win head-to-head. You can’t let the Cubs put distance between you, because those head-to-head games against the team that’s ahead of you almost count as two games, because you get a game up and then you drop them a game.
