Backend of the Brewers Bullpen Set to be Just as Scary as Ever in 2024

Two things have been a staple of the Milwaukee Brewers' run of success that began in the 2018 season: a strong starting rotation and a backend of the bullpen that will give opposing batters nightmares.

It's hard to say at this point whether the starting rotation will be sure to continue that trend. Brandon Woodruff is gone via a non-tender in November and wasn't likely to pitch in 2024 anyway while Corbin Burnes seems like he'll be around for one more year, but the trade rumors swirling around him prevent that from being a certainty.

The bullpen, however, is in no such trouble. The key contributors from last year's group that was second in MLB in bullpen ERA (3.40) return for the 2024 season. And if the backend in particular is structured the right way, they could be as dominant of a unit as fans have seen in recent years.

The backend of the Brewers bullpen is set to be just as scary as ever in 2024.

Early on in the 2023 season, Milwaukee went with a combo for the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings that brought in some promising early returns. That was to utilize new Brewers Elvis Peguero and Joel Payamps in the 7th and 8th innings, respectively, and then to obviously deploy new full-time closer, and 2023 NL Reliever of the Year, Devin Williams in the 9th.

About halfway through the season, they decided to throw young flamethrower Abner Uribe into the mix as well. And while Peguero saw some brief struggles in the middle of the season and Payamps did at the end as well, overall that group was successful much more often than not.

With a little bit of optimization for 2024, it's possible the backend of the bullpen could reach even bigger heights. The one part that should stay the same, of course, is Williams continuing to serve as the team's closer as he killed it in his first full year in the role in 2023.

For the setup man role, Abner Uribe should be the man for the job. The 23-year-old has future closer potential and kicked his first partial MLB season off with a 1.76 ERA and striking out 30.7% of batters faced in 32 games. He also may be taking over the closer's role for Williams in a couple years anyway so start getting him acclimated to the big pressure situations now.

As for the seventh inning, it would be hard to go wrong with either Payamps or Peguero. But let's go with the veteran Payamps, who had a more consistent 2023 season than his teammate. Of course, these roles aren't completely set in stone as players need rest here and there so Peguero would be able to fill in as needed.

What's even scarier is that the bridge to the final three innings is no cakewalk for opposing teams either. Add Bryse Wilson and Hoby Milner, who had great 2023 seasons of their own, to this mix and you have a group of six relievers who could rival that of any team in the league.

There is still a lot of uncertainty in the Brewers roster heading into 2024 at this current moment. One certainty, though, is that Milwaukee's opponents will have headaches in the final innings of games once again next season.