Milwaukee Brewers: Are The Brewers In Another Collapse?

The Milwaukee Brewers were in first place in the NL Central by 5.5 games at the All Star Break in 2017. They suffered a second half collapse and missed the playoffs. Is the same thing happening again in 2018.

Lately, the Milwaukee Brewers have not been playing good baseball. That much is obvious. The Crew has dropped nine of their last 14 games, including seven of their last 10.

Most of those games were pretty winnable. The first game against the Cardinals was close until Jordan Lyles went out on the mound for a second inning and allowed the Cardinals to extend their lead, putting the game out of reach. The second game against the Cubs would’ve been a big win as well but the Brewers were unable to add on.

The series against the Braves and Padres were the real kickers though. They took only one of the three games against both teams when they should’ve won each series. The final game against the Braves was a slugfest that the Brewers should have won, but a failure to add on with RISP was their downfall. And they should’ve won all three games against the Padres but they found a way to lose those as well.

Now, the Milwaukee Brewers are in danger of falling out of a playoff spot late in the season. Momentum is not on their side. And the recent struggles are reminding many fans of what happened in 2017.

Which Players Are Struggling?

The reason the team is struggling right now is that, individuals who the team depended on for success earlier in the year are all in a funk.

Travis Shaw has one hit in his last 13 at-bats. Christian Yelich is hitting .208 the past week, when prior to that, he was hitting over .400 during a week. Eric Thames hasn’t been able to get much going at the plate. Jonathan Schoop still can’t find his stride in a Brewers uniform. This is the meat of the order that’s struggling.

On the mound, Corbin Burnes hasn’t been pitching well lately, Freddy Peralta continues to struggle, Junior Guerra has been roughed up, and Corey Knebel has imploded. The back end of the bullpen is a mess right now. Knebel is ineffective, Joakim Soria is injured, and so is Matt Albers. That leaves Jeremy Jeffress and Josh Hader to close down the late innings, but they won’t pitch unless the Brewers have the lead.

Are The Brewers Collapsing?

The good news is, this isn’t a collapse. Not yet anyway. Every team goes through a rough stretch or two during the season. They got lucky and won a bunch of games earlier in the season that they really had no business winning. Luck has now swung the other way.

Beyond that, the Brewers have gone through a tough stretch on their schedule facing the Braves, Cubs, and now Cardinals all on the same road trip. After that, the Milwaukee Brewers come home to face the Reds and the Pirates, two teams below them in the NL Central. Bouncing back against those teams at Miller Park is going to get this team out of the funk that they’re in.

Then they face the Reds again on the road, and the Nationals after that. Washington is hovering at .500 and haven’t shown any signs of making a playoff push.

The off days coming up will keep this team fresh and hopefully prevent the bullpen arms from wearing down too much late into September and October. Other teams do not have that luxury.

It’s too early to call this a collapse. They’re struggling right now, no doubt about that. But to call this a collapse and believe the Brewers are going to miss the playoffs is premature.

The race for the NL playoffs is going to be tight in the final six weeks of the season. There’s a lot of good teams, and the Milwaukee Brewers have to make the most of every opportunity if they’re going to make it.