Previewing a Wild Card Battle Against the Diamondbacks

After locking down the National League Central title, the No. 3 seeded Brewers will begin their postseason run by hosting a best-of-three Wild Card Series against the No. 6 seeded Arizona Diamondbacks.

The action starts on Tuesday, with the entire series taking place on consecutive nights at American Family Field.

While the Diamondbacks took the season series against the Brewers four games to two, Milwaukee will look to shut them down when it matters most.

Here’s what to expect as the Crew takes on the Diamondbacks in the Wild Card Series.

Pitching Matchup

Starters for game one have officially been announced, and it’ll be Corbin Burnes getting the ball for the Brewers. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks will start 24-year-old rookie Brandon Pfaadt for the first game of the series.

Pfaadt posted a 3-9 record in 19 appearances this season (18 starts), along with a 5.72 ERA and 1.41 WHIP. However, Pfaadt has been respectable as of late; two of his previous three starts have been scoreless outings. Burnes, on the other hand, has returned to Cy Young form throughout September, as he logged a stellar 2.51 ERA for the month.

Both offenses will have their hands full for the remainder of the series, even with Brandon Woodruff unavailable. Freddy Peralta will pick up a start for Milwaukee, while Arizona is expected to roll out their own aces in Zac Gallen (3.47 ERA) and Merrill Kelly (3.29 ERA) for game two and a potential game three, respectively.

Gallen and Kelly have both been at their best against the Brewers this season. Gallen has a 0.64 ERA in two starts against Milwaukee and Kelly has a 2.77 ERA across his two starts versus the Crew in 2023. Thus, jumping out to a 1-0 series lead will be key for the Brewers.

Offensive Comparison

At the plate, the series will feature two clubs who have experienced different trajectories throughout the second half of the season.

Led by Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte, Arizona began the year red-hot offensively, but their bats came back down to earth as the season played out. Carroll and Marte remain their biggest threats (120 wRC+ and 122 wRC+, respectively), but the team posted a wRC+ of just 90 since the beginning of August.

Arizona does boast the biggest power bat in the series in Christian Walker, a righty who slugged 33 homers this season.

It’s been a different story for the Brewers. While the team is built on run prevention, the offense did their part in the second half with a wRC+ of 97 and some standout performances from William Contreras, who slashed .318/.391/.489 since August 1, and Tyrone Taylor, who leads the team with a .545 SLG% in that same time frame.

The offense is coming to life at the right time, and the Brewers are entering this one much hotter at the plate. The Diamondbacks have failed to score more than one run in a game in each of their previous four contests, a cold stretch that may come back to haunt them against an elite Brewers pitching staff.

Bullpen Battle

Both teams will feature a pair of premier starting pitchers. Both teams have similar offenses in terms of run production. However, Milwaukee’s bullpen takes the cake in this series.

Milwaukee’s relievers logged a 3.40 ERA this season, good for second in all of the Majors. Contributions have come from everywhere, too. The thing about this bullpen is that it is deep.

Hoby Milner hasn’t allowed an earned run since August 15. Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill have been largely unstoppable down the stretch, and a healthy Devin Williams is one of the top closers in the Postseason. That combination could spell trouble for a struggling Diamondbacks offense.

Arizona doesn’t boast the same type of firepower out of the bullpen, but they do have two standout arms in Paul Sewald and Kevin Ginkel. Sewald recorded the seventh-most saves in MLB this season while Ginkel posted a 0.98 WHIP in 65.1 innings.