Contreras brothers pass NL Central torch

MILWAUKEE -- The National League Central concession speech from Willson Contreras to his younger brother, William, came about a month ago when it was quite clear that the slumping Cardinals -- the reigning division champs from 2022 -- would not catch the eventual champion Brewers.

It was hardly the way the older Contreras thought the season would play out, especially after he left the rival Cubs for an $87.5 million free-agent deal and the Cardinals' long history of success. But when St. Louis started slowly on its way to losing 90 games -- the first time in 33 years the club has reached the 90-loss mark -- Contreras congratulated his younger sibling on the Brewers' successful charge to the division crown.

“We talk all the time, and about a month ago, he felt it and knew that we were on the way to win the division and they were not going to,” said William, who had a 107.4 mph RBI single on Thursday afternoon when the Brewers shut out the Cardinals, 3-0, at American Family Field. “[Willson] told me how happy he was for me. He wanted me to know that the division was in our hands, and he was there to support me. He’s happy that if he couldn’t win it, that we did.”

The Cardinals briefly delayed the Brewers from clinching the NL Central crown in Game 1 of the series with a 4-1 win on Tuesday, but Milwaukee ultimately got to pop its champagne bottles minutes later when the Cubs lost in Atlanta. Wednesday was the one-year anniversary of the Cardinals winning the division crown while in Milwaukee.

Per FanGraphs, St. Louis was the heavy preseason favorite to repeat -- especially after replacing Yadier Molina with the elder Contreras -- but the club never recovered from a 10-24 start. Not only have the Cardinals already clinched a last-place finish for the first time since 1990, but they have spent 142 of 176 days this season in the NL Central cellar.

Manager Oliver Marmol, whose squad traded away two starters and three relievers at the Trade Deadline, said the easiest way for the Cards to close the gap on the Brewers is by aggressively adding elite arms this offseason.

“I think playing [the Brewers] on any given day, their rotation and their back end [of the bullpen] make it difficult to score,” Marmol said. “I thought the Cubs really improved, from their rotation and the pieces they added with [Dansby] Swanson and [Cody] Bellinger having the years that they had. [The Brewers] have homegrown [starting pitchers Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta] in their organization, and it’s going to be expensive to go and get three of those guys. Yes [pitching closes the gap], but it’s not that simple to just go get those kinds of arms.”

The gap, in terms of how much the Contreras brothers got to see one another during the marathon-like MLB season, closed when the Braves traded William to the Brewers and Willson stayed in the division by switching from Chicago to St. Louis.

That also made life a bit easier for their parents, William and Olga Contreras, who recently traveled from their native Venezuela to watch Willson play a few games in St. Louis and William play in Milwaukee. They were also at Busch Stadium on Aug. 29 when Willson homered twice in the Cardinals' 6-5 win over the Padres.

Then, William and Olga were at American Family Field in Milwaukee on Tuesday -- a game that Willson missed while getting his ailing left wrist examined in Arizona. Instead of getting to watch their sons face off again, they got to celebrate William’s Brewers winning a division that Willson’s Cardinals were picked to dominate.

“It was a pretty cool moment for Willson to have our parents there when he had that great game, and it was exciting for our whole family,” William said on Thursday. “It’s exciting now to have my parents here, and they were able to celebrate winning the division with me -- so it’s been great to have them here.”

Willson Contreras, who found out on Wednesday he won’t need surgery on the ailing wrist that ended his season, slumped early on, but rallied to hit .264 with 20 home runs and 67 RBIs in 125 games. He hit .309 with 10 home runs after the All-Star break, allowing him to reach the 20-homer plateau for a third straight season.

William, who has 17 home runs and 77 RBIs, said Willson’s wrist must have been in bad shape for him to miss the final Cardinals-Brewers series.

“He’s a tough guy and wants to play, no matter what’s going on with him,” William said. “He’ll play through injuries. He always wants to be out there helping his team. It’s something that is encouraging for me to see from the other side.”