Brewers news: Cooper Pratt's big night, Lance McCullers' team debut, best record in baseball

The Milwaukee Brewers and New York Mets squared off in their first matchup of the 2026 season last night, and the first-place Brew Crew coasted to an 8-3 victory. What many were expecting to be a matchup of NL powerhouses before the season began was instead a contest of teams that are now separated by 21.5 games in the standings.

The narratives were not only limited to how the Mets have underperformed and the Brewers have once again disproven preseason projection models, but the two teams' offseason blockbuster was also on the forefront of fans' minds. Freddy Peralta, who was the main piece of that blockbuster, started the game for New York, and his rough first season away from the Brewers continued. Peralta surrendered seven runs in 5.1 innings, raising his season-long ERA above 5.00.

Meanwhile, Peralta was out-dueled by his predecessor Jacob Misiorowski, who has taken over as the Brewers' ace in his stead. However, Miz, who hadn't pitched in a game in nearly two weeks, was limited to just four innings and 65 pitches -- part of the Brewers' plan to limit his workload during the second half of the season.

While Peralta's return and Miz's short start stole the headlines, there were several other stories that emerged from last night's series opener. Let's dive into each of them.

Cooper Pratt crushes first big-league homer off of Freddy Peralta en route to three-hit game

The Brewers got to Peralta early, collecting their first run in just their third at-bat of the game, thanks to an RBI-double from Brice Turang that succeeded a rare four-pitch walk from the free-swinging Jackson Chourio. Milwaukee's offense, however, wasn't content with the two runs they posted in the first frame. Instead, they scored in each of the first three innings of last night's contest.

The Brewers' second-inning offense was provided by rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt, who logged his 28th MLB game last night. Pratt waited back on a slider that Peralta left up in the zone and sent it 393 feet into the Brewers' bullpen past the fence in left-center, giving the 21-year-old his first major-league homer.

However, Pratt wasn't done after crushing a homer in his first at-bat of the game. On another elevated slider from Peralta in the fourth inning, Pratt singled to left field. In the sixth, he turned on an inside fastball and singled to left once again, after which Peralta was pulled from the game. It was the first three-hit game of Pratt's career, and it continues his strong month of July, during which he's slashing .313/.404/.458 with six RBI and just as many walks as strikeouts.

Lance McCullers Jr. covers three innings in encouraging Brewers debut

Following Misiorowski's planned short start, Pat Murphy turned to Craig Yoho for one inning, before handing the ball to recent trade acquisition Lance McCullers Jr. for his Brewers debut. McCullers, who has pitched as a starter for practically his entire major league career, is being eased into his new team by working as a relief pitcher at the beginning of his Brewers tenure.

The 32-year-old McCullers got off to a strong start in his first inning of work, striking out 5x All-Star Francisco Lindor to kick off a clean 10-pitch first frame. McCullers collected two more punch outs in his second frame before running into a little bit of trouble in his third inning last night. After walking Juan Soto, McCullers left a slider over the heart of the plate to third baseman Bo Bichette, who sent a double into the right field corner. Soto advanced to third, but quickly scored on an RBI-groundout from Lindor, before an RBI-single from Jorge Polanco, the result of a poorly located cutter from McCullers, scored Bichette as well.

All in all, it was a three-inning, two-earned run outing for McCullers in which he featured a heavy dose of cutters and changeups. The pitchability he displayed should instill confidence that he can still be a serviceable addition to the Brewers' pitching staff in whatever role he ends up filling, regardless of the fact that he topped out at 91.8 mph last night.

Brewers obtain best record in baseball at the 100-game mark of the season for the second straight year

As a result of their victory over the Mets last night and the Los Angeles Dodgers' loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, the Brewers now hold the best record in all of baseball. With a 63-37 record, the 2026 Brewers have been better than any team in franchise history through the first 100 games of the season.

The fact that the Brewers obtained the best record in baseball at exactly the 100-game mark is significant. As pointed out by the ever-vigilant Hunter Baumgardt of Fox Sports 920, the Brewers first took sole possession of the best record in baseball during the 2025 season at the 100-game mark as well.

It's an incredible, coincidental accomplishment for the Brewers, but the way they went about achieving the best record in baseball in each of the last two seasons was rather different. Whereas in 2025, the Brewers' top spot in the standings was achieved due to an incredible hot stretch that began at the end of May, the 2026 squad has been consistently strong ever since a six-game losing streak back in mid-April.

Once again disproving the preseason projection systems and the pessimistic analysts who seemingly believe Milwaukee's downfall is coming every offseason, the Brewers are racking up wins in 2026 and now sit atop the standings with just two weeks until the midseason trade deadline.

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