Milwaukee Brewers: Ranking the Scheduled 2020 Opponents

9. Detroit Tigers

Key Additions: P Ivan Nova, 1B C.J. Cron, 2B Jonathan Schoop

The good news for the Tigers is that they got one heck of a future star when they drafted Spencer Torkelson with the first overall pick in the 2020 draft. The bad news is that this year will be yet another rebuilding year for fans.

The Tigers were 26th in the majors in batting average in 2019, 29th in home runs, and 28th in team ERA. None of their offseason moves push the needle that much closer to respectability, so they should be good for easy wins again this year, at least until their young talent they’ve been collecting is MLB-ready.

8. Pittsburgh Pirates

Key Additions: P Derek Holland

The Pirates still have talented youngsters such as Josh Bell and Bryan Reynolds who will only continue to get better over time. The problem is that they didn’t really do anything in the offseason to improve the team and even traded away arguably their best player in Starling Marte last winter as well.

Transition is the name of the game for the Pittsburgh franchise as they replaced both manager Clint Hurdle and GM Neal Huntington last fall. Like the Tigers, they find themselves in rebuilding mode and will likely occupy the bottom of the NL Central in 2020.

7. Kansas City Royals

Key Additions: 3B Maikel Franco, P Trevor Rosenthal, P Greg Holland

Though the Royals have put up more of a fight than teams like the Tigers and Pirates lately, they find themselves in a similar situation to Pittsburgh. They have some good, young talent like Whit Merrifield, Hunter Dozier, and Salvador Perez and are just waiting for some of the other prospects to catch up.

Rosenthal looked good in the spring and could be a sneaky good add if he looks more like the 2014-2015 version of himself, as could Franco if he ever figures out how to be a more well-rounded player. If some of the younger players take some steps forward as well, Kansas City could be more challenging of a matchup than expected. But it’s more likely they need at least another year, probably more, before truly being able to compete.

6. Chicago White Sox

Key Additions: C Yasmani Grandal, P Dallas Keuchel, P Gio Gonzalez, DH Edwin Encarnacion, P Steve Cishek, OF Nomar Mazara

The Sox were busy over the offseason, among other things adding two beloved Brewers contributors from the 2019 season in Grandal and Gonzalez. Grandal and Encarnacion in particular will look to improve a Chicago offense that finished 24th in OPS and runs scored and 25th in homers in 2019.

The White Sox have a great mix of top free agent signings to go with former top prospects like Lucas Giolito, Yoan Moncada, and Eloy Jimenez who may be ready to take another big step forward. Add them to talented mainstays such as Jose Abreu and Tim Anderson and the Southsiders could break out in a big way in 2020. I’ll need to see it first to believe it, though.

5. Cincinnati Reds

Key Additions: 2B Mike Moustakas, P Trevor Bauer, OF Nicholas Castellanos, SS Freddy Galvis

The Reds made a bunch of moves last year in an attempt to put themselves in better position to contend in the NL Central, but all it got them was a sub-.500 record and a fourth-place finish in the division. So of course, they doubled down and went with the same strategy for 2020.

While their pitching greatly improved from 2018 to 2019 (24th in MLB to 8th), offense was the issue as they scored were just 25th in the majors in runs scored last year. Moustakas and Castellanos should help in that sense. But last year’s moves didn’t vault them into contention right away like may expected, so like the White Sox, I’ll need to see results before I see them in the upper tier of teams in the division.

4. Cleveland Indians

Key Additions: 2B Cesar Hernandez, OF Franmil Reyes, OF Domingo Santana

The Indians were in the fight for the final Wild Card spot until the final week of the season in 2019 and will be expected to fight with the Twins for the AL Central crown once again this year. Stud pitchers Shane Bieber and Mike Clevinger return to lead a pitching staff that finished 4th in ERA in the majors last year. Thus, unsurprisingly, the major additions were on offense to try and help sluggers Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor keep pace with the potent Twins attack.

An interesting story line to watch will be what happens with oft-mentioned trade target Lindor. This year’s trade deadline is on August 31st, meaning teams will have to determine early whether they still have a shot at the 2020 playoffs. If Cleveland somehow stumbles out of the gate, unlikely but possible, they could cut bait with Lindor and write off 2020 altogether.

3. Chicago Cubs

Key Additions: 2B Jason Kipnis, IF/OF Hernan Perez, OF Steven Souza Jr., P Jeremy Jeffress

The Cubs are a tough one to peg. On one hand, they made few moves of any significant impact over the offseason and largely return the same team that finished third in the NL Central in 2019 and missed the playoffs. On the other hand, it can’t be denied how much talent Chicago has on its roster as well as the fact that they were in contention all year last year before their September swoon.

The Cubs started to get banged up toward the end of 2019, which partly explains their late-season slump. If everyone stays healthy, will they look more like the team from the first five months of the season? Odds point to yes and there should be little doubt that they will be back in the mix of teams at the top of the NL Central. New manager David Ross could play a big part in the Cubs turnaround as well.

2. St. Louis Cardinals

Key Additions: P Kwang-Hyun Kim, IF Brad Miller, OF Austin Dean

The Cardinals are another team who didn’t make many high-profile moves in the offseason. But when you’re coming off a 90-win season and a division championship, there usually isn’t a ton that needs to be improved from the previous season.

St. Louis returns all the most effective pitchers from a staff that was fifth in the majors in ERA in 2019. Add Brewers killers like Paul Goldschmidt and Yadier Molina to the other solid bats on the team’s offense and there’s no reason to think that the NL Central shouldn’t be the Cardinals’ to lose.

1. Minnesota Twins

Key Additions: 3B Josh Donaldson, P Kenta Maeda, P Homer Bailey, P Rich Hill, P Tyler Clippard

The “Bomba Squad” was the only team on this list to crack the 100-win mark in 2019 and if 2020 were a full season, they’d probably do it again this year too. They return almost all of their big bats from a team that set a new MLB single-season team record in home runs, so of course they added the bat of Donaldson this offseason just for good measure.

While Minnesota’s pitching wasn’t terrible in 2019 (9th in MLB with a 4.18 ERA), it wasn’t on the same impressive level as their offense, which explains why most of their offseason adds were in the rotation and bullpen. With those pieces now in place, the Twins should be challenging for one of the best records in the league by season’s end.

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The 2020 Brewers schedule should be released sometime this week. That’s just one more step closer to finally seeing regular season Brewers baseball again, even if it’s only against these nine teams.