3 ways the 2024 Brewers are similar to the 2018 playoff team

The Milwaukee Brewers are off to a hot start yet again in 2024. There has been a model of consistency recently in Milwaukee, as the Brewers have now made the playoffs five of the last six years.

This past week, former NL MVP and leader of the 2018 Brewers had a message regarding winning, saying “When you have more guys on your team that want to win, care about the right stuff and are willing to run through a wall for each other... over the course of six months, you're gonna be alright.”

With all of the regular season success, you'd expect results in the postseason, but that hasn't been the case for Milwaukee. Matter of fact, it's been tough sledding for the Brewers ever since the 2018 playoffs. The Brewers hold a record of 1-8 in the playoffs after reaching the NLCS six years ago.

It feels like every year the Brewers offense falls apart come October. Before the 2024 season, the Brewers addressed this problem and could potentially have found some offensive rhythm sustainable through October. On top of that, they've discovered some elite back-end bullpen talent. Here are three ways this 2024 roster is comparable to the 2018 playoff roster.

1. MVP candidate leading the offense

Christian Yelich had a phenomenal regular season as he slashed .326/.402/.598 and added 36 homers with a league leading 1.000 OPS. The Brewers relied heavily on their MVP candidate throughout the 2018 playoffs. Yelich delivered in many ways even while going cold at the plate. He maintained an OBP of .383, and plated a team leading 7 runs scored. After Yelich's fall off from one of the best players in baseball, the Brewers have yet to see another MVP candidate until now. William Contreras in 2024 is putting up earily similar production to that of Yelich in 2018. Through his first 53 games, Contreras is slashing .330/.402/.524. And the best part of Contreras' game is that he leads the MLB in runs scored, with 44 so far. Contreras has the ability to produce runs at an elite level, which is something the Brewers have been in desperate need of come October in recent years. Having a player like this in the lineup is an advantage, and almost becomes a necessity if you want to win ball games late in the season.

2. Offensive production as a team is up

One of the major reasons the Brewers continue to fall short in the playoffs is the lack of run production. They have scored just 16 runs over their last 8 playoff games. In the regular season, it feels like they have been able to grind out at bats and dominate with pitching. But, in 2024 this team is flipped back around more similar to 2018. The Brewers have turned into hitting machines, as they are 2nd in the NL in Batting Average (BA) and Slugging (SLG), while sitting 3rd in On Base Percentage (OBP) and On Base Plus Slugging (OPS). Just last year, the Brewers ranked 9th in OBP, 12th in BA, and 14th in SLG and OPS. As a team we've seen production skyrocket offensively, which has helped them establish a 4.5 game lead in the division. Even though it's still early in the season, all of this is a positive sign for Milwaukee as they've been struggling offensively since what feels like 2018. The offensive numbers from 2024 compared to their 2018 campaign are even more promising. In 2018, the Brewers National League ranks were 3rd in SLG, 4th in OPS, 6th in OBP, and 7th in BA. We've seen the importance of offensive production in the postseason year after year and this Brewers team might be able to surprise some people with their bats.

3. Elite relief pitching

If before the season started, you had asked Brewers fans about the back end of the bullpen, they'd have been lying to say they were confident. When their all-star closer, Devin Williams, hit the IL with back soreness, the bullpen took a hit. But despite injuries, year after year they continue to produce. With an unstable starting rotation, the bullpen has been taxed with eating a ton of high leverage innings early on in the season. The Brewers have had 11 different starting pitchers, which is tied for the most in baseball. And yet the bullpen continues to produce results. In high-leverage situations, they can go to Trevor Megill, Bryan Hudson, Elvis Peguero, Joel Payamps, or even Hoby Milner. They are hopeful that Abner Uribe can return from AAA soon, and Devin Williams should be back at the end of July. The last time a bullpen has looked this deep was in the 2018 playoffs. The Brewers relied on the likes of Corey Knebel, Josh Hader, Jeremy Jeffress, with a young Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes just starting to emerge. There are a couple young Brewers pitching prospects with the potential to emerge as Burnes and Woodruff did in the postseason. Tobias Myers and Robert Gasser have both already been called upon in the rotation, and both have looked solid through a couple starts. This Brewers team has a very similar configuration to that of the 2018 team and it should be fun to watch these young pitchers continue to develop.

The Brewers are off to a hot start and the season is still very early. A lot can change from now until October, but the Brewers are looking strong and have shown the ability to play good baseball in 2024. This team is well built and looks very similar to the 2018 NLCS team in a lot of ways.