Brewers' brutal matchup luck transcends well beyond historic Skubal, Skenes showdowns

The Milwaukee Brewers endured a tough Thursday afternoon matchup against the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, Tarik Skubal, yesterday and nearly came away with a victory. The Brewers, hamstrung by the absences of three of their best hitters, scraped together four runs against the formidable Skubal, and when the book officially closed on the decorated southpaw's sixth outing of the season, Milwaukee held a 4-3 lead.

Unfortunately, the Brewers' bullpen couldn't maintain that narrow margin, and the Detroit Tigers ended up walking away with a win and a series victory thanks to a walk-off homer from first baseman Spencer Torkelson. It was a gutting defeat, not only because the Brewers could already taste their third consecutive series victory, but also because the work they put in against one of the best pitchers in today's game was squandered.

The Brewers' reward for toughing out a matchup against Skubal on Thursday afternoon? A Friday-night matchup with the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes.

That's right, for just the second time in the history of Major League Baseball, a team is facing both reigning Cy Young Award winners on back-to-back days. Ironically, the strange (and frustrating) phenomenon occurred -- for the first time in MLB history -- last year, when the Boston Red Sox faced Skubal and 2024 NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale in back-to-back games. However, Boston at least had a chance to catch their breath with an off-day in between those two contests.

Milwaukee's historic matchups against Skubal and Skenes in consecutive games undoubtedly represent their toughest pitching matchup stretch of the season, but the Brewers have had brutal luck when it comes to opposing starters throughout the 2026 season. Timing is everything in baseball, and when it comes to the schedule, the Brewers haven't been given any favors.

The Brewers have faced 12 All-Star starting pitchers in their first 24 games of the 2026 season

Heading into their Friday-night tilt with Skenes, the Brewers have played 24 games in 2026. In half of those games, the Brewers have matched up with a starting pitcher who has at least one All-Star Game appearance in his career.

On Opening Day, the Brewers faced 2025 All-Star Shane Smith of the Chicago White Sox. They followed that with matchups against Drew Rasmussen and Shane McClanahan of the Tampa Bay Rays, each of whom has appeared in the All-Star Game.

Then the Brewers traveled to Kansas City where they matched up against starters Seth Lugo, a 2024 All-Star, and Kris Bubic, who made the All-Star Game last year. On that same road trip, the Brewers faced Sonny Gray, a two-time All-Star and Cy Young runner-up, and Garrett Crochet, another two-time All-Star who finished second in AL Cy Young voting to Skubal last year. Between Crochet, Skubal, and now Skenes, the Brewers will have faced half of last year's Cy Young Award finalists in the first month of the regular season.

But it doesn't stop there. Ironically, the Brewers didn't face an All-Star starting pitcher in their series against the Washington Nationals, but were swept anyways. The following three games, however, saw the Crew face Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, and Patrick Corbin of the Toronto Blue Jays. Cease has surprisingly never been an All-Star, but has twice finished in the top four in Cy Young voting. Gausman and Corbin are both two-time All-Stars, though the latter is far removed from his All-Star days. In that regard, Cease and Corbin sort of cancel each other out; one is deserving of at least one All-Star appearance and the other hasn't been one since 2018.

That brings us to the Brewers' most recent road trip when they faced two-time All-Star and 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins before heading to Detroit where they matched up against 2025 All-Star Casey Mize and then Skubal.

All in all, that's 12 All-Star starting pitchers that the Brewers have faced in the first four weeks of the regular season. That number rises to 13 if you include tonight's matchup against Skenes, and 14 if you include Pittsburgh's projected starter, Mitch Keller, for Saturday night's game.

It's undoubtedly a frustrating trend, but in another light, it can certainly be spun as something positive. For one, the fact that the Brewers are 13-11, while facing a gauntlet of All-Stars without three of their best hitters, should have fans encouraged about what this team can do when their roster is at full strength and the pitching matchups become easier. Additionally, gaining experience against the best pitchers in the sport is great for the Brewers' young roster, especially given the fact that the team has playoff aspirations and in the postseason, seemingly every opposing pitcher is an All-Star. Regardless, it offers important context to what has been an inconsistent start to the season for the Brew Crew.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow