MILWAUKEE -- The busiest man at American Family Field spent Sunday morning juggling final preparations for the MLB Draft, ongoing Trade Deadline talks and the Brewers’ first-half finale against the Nationals.

For general manager Matt Arnold, no matter how the Brewers got to this point, they are right where they want to be.

“If you could sign up to be in first place at the All-Star break,” Arnold said, “I think you’d do it.”

William Contreras, Garrett Mitchell and Willy Adames all homered and Adames tallied four hits and four RBIs in a 9-3 win over the Nationals to avoid a sweep on Sunday afternoon. At 55-42, the Brewers reached the break atop the National League Central standings with a 4 1/2-game cushion from the rest of the field, which starts with the second-place Cardinals.

It’s taken a team effort. Fifty-two players have already been active in at least one game for Milwaukee, with 32 of them throwing a pitch, including 16 different starting pitchers -- one starter shy of the franchise record set by the inaugural 1969 Seattle Pilots team.

Among them are a handful of openers like left-hander Rob Zastryzny, who went four up, four down on only six pitches (six strikes) Sunday before regularly-scheduled starter Colin Rea took over and kept the Nationals at bay for 5 2/3 innings, giving him a 3.77 ERA through 105 frames at the break and, not to be underestimated, a perfect record of being available to pitch.

Offense came from up and down the lineup, including home runs from Contreras, who will be the first Brewers catcher in a decade to start the All-Star Game, and Mitchell, whose two-run homer in the fourth was his first Major League home run since April 5, 2023, before the left shoulder injury that ended last season and the fractured left index finger that delayed his start to this season.

And it came from Adames, who homered in the eighth inning for his fourth hit while making his 101st consecutive start at shortstop, including all 97 Brewers games this season. Adames finished the first half of a contract year with a .760 OPS, 15 home runs and 67 RBIs, all while mentoring 20-year-old rookie Jackson Chourio.

Now, a break.

“I think we were getting to a point where we were kind of needing it,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell was excited to surprise his grandmother in California. Rea was heading home to his farm in Iowa. Adames will vacation in Mexico.

“It’s been a tough stretch lately,” said Adames, referring to the Brewers dropping seven of their past nine games going into Sunday. “That’s baseball. That’s how it’s going to go. Thank God we finished the first half with a win.”

Did he expect the Brewers -- with no Corbin Burnes, no Brandon Woodruff and no Devin Williams -- to finish the first half in first place?

“In the clubhouse, we believed since Day One,” Adames said. “Everybody out there, they didn’t think we were going to be here at this time. But we didn’t think so in Spring Training. We knew we had a pretty good, young group and a hungry group. We were going to compete. That’s what we have been doing all year, and that’s why we are in first place.”

Here’s some proof of that: The Brewers are one of three teams -- with fellow division-leaders in the Phillies and Guardians -- yet to lose more than three games in a row.

“They bounce back quickly because anybody can step up for us,” manager Pat Murphy said. “They respond. That’s part of ‘no retreat,’ you know what I mean? You just keep going. You show up. It can be a little scary at times, like, ‘What if?’

“What if? Who cares? Act in spite of fear. That’s courage, but you keep going. It’s hard, and it doesn’t mean you sleep well, it doesn’t mean it’s easy. You just keep showing up.”

You can expect more inspiration from Murphy in the second half, along with some personnel reinforcements. Williams, the reigning NL Reliever of the Year, is on track to come off the injured list along with “length” arms like Joe Ross and DL Hall and surprising reliever Jared Koenig.

The front office, meanwhile, will continue looking for ways to augment the roster after adding starter Aaron Civale earlier this month.

“In that room, I think they’re looking at each other,” Arnold said. “I think they’re digging deep and asking, ‘How can we be better?’ in a great way, and I think that’s really cool. On our end, we’re looking everywhere to help this team to the extent that we can.”