The Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves definitely did not stand pat on their way to earning postseason berths.
Both made acquisitions during the season that enabled each to win division titles. Now they face each other in the NL Division Series, which begins Friday at American Family Field.
Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns got the ball rolling in April by trading shortstop Orlando Arcia to the Braves for relievers Patrick Weigel and Chad Sobotka.
A month later, Milwaukee acquired slugging shortstop Willy Adames from the Tampa Bay Rays for two relievers. In June, the Los Angeles Angels sent reliever Hunter Strickland to Milwaukee for cash considerations.
Milwaukee also picked up Arizona Diamondbacks switch-hitting infielder Eduardo Escobar at the trade deadline.
It was at the deadline that the Braves remade their roster in the wake of injuries, including a torn ACL suffered by star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. The moves helped the team win the NL East.
The teams split their six regular-season games this season.
“It’s your last competition against some of these guys for the players so you do take information from those games,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “But when you play a team that’s out of your division and haven’t played in a few months, it’s hard to rely on everything you saw there.”
Here are three key matchups in the best-of-five series:
Milwaukee’s offense vs. Atlanta’s starting pitchers
The Brewers averaged 3.5 runs per game while going 4-10 to close out the regular season. That trend follows a season-long norm as Milwaukee went 16-49 when scoring three or fewer runs. It posted a 79-18 record when scoring at least four runs.
The Braves are starting Charlie Morton and Max Fried in Games 1 and 2, respectively. Their pitching styles rely heavily on off-speed and breaking balls, which has been problematic for Milwaukee’s hitters.
The Brewers hit .191 on breaking balls this season, ranking 29th out of 30 MLB clubs, and finished 25th with a .334 slugging percentage on those pitches. Milwaukee’s .334 WOBA against breaking balls (weighted on-base average, which credits hitters for the value of each outcome rather that treating all hits or times on base equally) also ranked 25th.
On average, 29.6% of all pitches thrown by MLB pitchers this season were breaking balls, but Morton threw them 36.6% of the time and Fried went to the breaking ball for 47.4% of his offerings.
Milwaukee’s starting pitchers vs. Atlanta’s offense
Home runs have been the Braves’ calling card since a flurry of deadline deals revamped the team’s outfield. Adam Duval, Eddie Rosario and Jorge Soler have combined to hit 37 home runs since coming to the Braves, who finished second in the NL with 239 home runs and a .435 slugging percentage.
That might seem like a major concern for the Brewers. But their pitching staff allowed just 168 homers, the fifth-fewest among NL teams. Milwaukee also ranked fifth with 90 given up at home.
Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff, Milwaukee’s starters in Games 1 and 2, were among the best at keeping the ball in the park. Burnes led all of baseball with seven home runs allowed and 0.38 per nine innings. Woodruff gave up 18 in all and 0.9 per nine innings, putting him 10th among qualified starters in both categories.
The bullpens
Atlanta’s relief corps finished with a 3.97 ERA, putting them sixth among NL teams and two spots ahead of Milwaukee’s 4.02.
Brewers closer Josh Hader has been spectacular, going 4-2 with a 1.23 ERA and 37 saves in 60 outings with 102 strikeouts over 58⅔ innings. He finished the regular season with 21 scoreless appearances, allowing just seven hits and 10 walks with 37 strikeouts.
The Braves have a strong closer, too, in left-hander Will Smith. The former Brewers reliever made 71 appearances in 2021, going 3-7 with a 3.44 ERA and 37 saves. With six blown saves, Smith hasn’t been as automatic as Hader, who blew just one save all season, but he closed out the year by allowing one run over his final six appearances.
Milwaukee’s bullpen suffered a major hit when set-up man Devin Williams was lost for the season when he broke his hand punching a wall. Counsell, however, has a number of reliable options to fill that spot, including the possibility of moving some of his starters into the bullpen for late-inning, high-leverage situations.
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