One Way Brewers Can Shake Things Up For Playoff Push

When the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season comes to an end, the Milwaukee Brewers will significantly more likely than not hold the No. 1 spot in the National League.

The Brewers entered play on Wednesday with an 89-57 record. The Philadelphia Phillies were the closest team to the Brewers at 85-60 entering play on Wednesday.

Milwaukee has been great overall this season, but even if it can improve down the stretch. The Athletic shared power rankings for MLB and unsurprisingly had the Brewers at No. 1, but The Athletic's Johnny Flores Jr. talked about how the team's "September priority" should be figuring out the bullpen.

What should the Brewers do?

Jul 28, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of a Milwaukee Brewers hat and glove on the bench against the Atlanta Braves in the second inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

"September priority: Figure out the bullpen situation," Flores said. "On Friday, the Brewers placed Nick Mears on the 15-day IL with lower back tightness, marking the fifth reliever to be placed on the IL. Shelby Miller (right UCL) is likely done for the season, while Milwaukee maintains hope that Grant Anderson (right ankle), DL Hall (oblique) and Trevor Megill (right flexor), and Mears can all make it back before October.

"In any case, Milwaukee has the rest of the month to try to solidify the middle and late innings in case not all of the quartet can return. With a 7-1/2 game lead in the NL Central, there’s a bit of leeway for manager Pat Murphy to see who he has to work with, and for Erick Fedde and Tobias Meyers to get more comfortable in their respective transitions. It’s not perfect, but if there’s one team that can make something out of nothing, it’s these Brewers."

For as good as the Brewers have been in general, they have just the 11th-ranked bullpen ERA right now at 3.81. That's at least somewhat surprising seeing as the team in general has outperformed the rest of baseball. Imagine if the Brewers' bullpen was among the top few in the league?

Right now, the Brewers are dealing with injuries left and right, like All-Star closer Trevor Megill. As we get closer to the playoffs, the Brewers may need to get creative if they really want to sort out the issue. One way that has only been speculated about to this point is moving Jacob Misiorowski to the bullpen. The starting rotation is a strength for the club and when the playoffs get here, they will need to tighten it up. Misiorowski would certainly be a good late-inning, flamethrower to bring in. But, again, that's speculation and one person's opinion.

The Brewers need to stay the course right now and lock up the No. 1 seed. After that, get healthy. After that, maybe start to look at ways to give this team as many opportunities as it can in the playoffs. Right now, the bullpen arguably is the team's only weaness and that is just because of injuries. What will they do?

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