After displaying their resourceful supremacy over the Cubs for the last 6½ seasons, the defending National League Central champion Brewers actually did their rivals a favor by not picking up their $5.5 million option on pitcher Colin Rea.
That enabled the Cubs to sign the right-hander for the same amount in January. He now is helping to stabilize their rotation after ace left-hander Justin Steele suffered a season-ending injury.
Not re-signing Rea — as well as not protecting right-hander Shane Smith, who has a 2.30 ERA in five starts for the White Sox as a Rule 5 selection — has tested the Brewers, who have lost four of their last five games entering a stretch of six consecutive games against the Sox and Cubs. In fact, this is one of their biggest challenges since taking control of the NL Central after overcoming a five-game deficit against the Cubs with 25 games to play in 2018. The Brewers took four of six from the Cubs, caught them on the second-to-last day of the regular season and beat them in a tiebreaker at Wrigley Field for the division title.
That was the start of the dominance. They have won four division titles and earned six playoff appearances since 2018, compared to the Cubs’ two playoff appearances and one division title (in the 2020 pandemic-shortened season) during that span.
Now 14-15 and third in the division, the Brewers will try to snap out of their current malaise — which led to manager Pat Murphy conducting a 30-minute meeting after a series loss in San Francisco — starting Tuesday night at Rate Field against the Sox before they return home for three games against the Cubs this weekend. They’re 54-41 against the Cubs since Labor Day 2018, when Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant attempted an ill-fated double play instead of throwing home to prevent the winning run from scoring.
“I think it kind of created the culture here — like, it was the beginning of that,” designated hitter Christian Yelich, the longest-tenured Brewer, said this month.
The Brewers have traded some of their top players (Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes, Devin Williams) or let them go to free agency (Willy Adames). But they’ve compensated by maximizing their thrifty free-agent signings (Rea, Rhys Hoskins) and developing homegrown talent (Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, Brice Turang).
They’ve also absorbed the departures of general manager David Sterns and manager Craig Counsell with in-house replacements Matt Arnold and Murphy, respectively.
“It takes the right guys and the right people on the coaching staff and in the front office and ownership,” Yelich said. “It doesn’t happen right away, but I think 2018 was kind of the start of that, and then it’s kind of developed and just becomes the team’s identity after awhile.”
While Cubs fans aimed high for Sandy Alcantara after Steele’s injury, the Brewers have resorted to Jose Quintana, journeyman Chad Patrick and 2018 first-round draft pick Quinn Priester. Quintana, 36, a former Sox and Cubs pitcher who didn’t sign as a free agent until March 5, is 4-0 with an 1.14 ERA in four starts. Patrick hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of his first five starts. And Priester, a Cary-Grove High standout, has posted a 1.93 ERA in his first three starts since joining the Brewers — his third team — in a trade from the Red Sox on April 7.
“It’s a credit to our front office that they come up with these guys,” Murphy said a day after Quintana threw seven scoreless innings against the Diamondbacks in his debut on April 11. “The fact that Quintana was even available startles me, but he’s not one of these guys that lights up the boards when it comes to the metrics that they like to look at. He lights up the board for me when it comes to pitching and being a winning pitcher.”
The Brewers didn’t panic after allowing 47 runs over four games at Yankee Stadium to open the season, giving Quintana ample time to prepare.
“It helped because [catcher] William [Contreras] and I got on the same page right away,” Quintana said.
The glow of the Brewers’ 2018 division title was supposed to be short-lived after highly respected pitching coach (and former Cubs minor-league pitching coordinator) Derek Johnson left to join the Reds. But unheralded Chris Hook was promoted from the minors, and for six-plus years he has found ways to maximize the talents of an array of pitchers and unearth tools for others to implement.
“Hooky is the best,” said Rea, who set career highs in wins (12), starts (27) and innings (167‰) for the Brewers last season. “From Day 1, he treated me like I had been working with him forever. His work ethic is incredible, and he cares for everyone. He had his guys come through the system, but he gives everyone the same amount of attention.”
The Brewers scouted Rea at a workout in Scottsdale, Arizona, after he pitched in Japan in 2022. They sold him on how they could apply data to his repertoire.
“It does help [that] we’ve had just enough success where people come over and say, ‘Hey, what can you do for me?’ ” Hook said. “I think sometimes you don’t have that everywhere. And fortunately enough, we’ve built that reputation that we think we can get you better. And fortunately enough, most have gotten better.
“It never ends. Who is the next guy? How can we help the next guy?”
After Counsell’s departure to the Cubs, Murphy was the ideal replacement, given his ability to handle youth after 22 years at Arizona State and Notre Dame and the Brewers’ influx of young talent, led by the phenom outfielder Chourio.
“I’d be very careful on throwing labels on a 21-year-old kid,” Murphy said of Chourio. “The attraction to do it is obvious, because he is so likable, and he has incredible ability. But like any other good player in this game . . . all these players that have struggled mightily, he’s got a lot to go through. He’s got a lot to learn.”
Murphy hasn’t played favorites, pulling third baseman Caleb Durbin and Frelick for fundamental blunders in the middle of an eventual loss at St. Louis on Saturday.
Despite finishing 10 games behind the Brewers in 2024, the Cubs were anointed by a consensus to win their first division title since 2020 this year. That hasn’t served as a rallying cry for the Brewers, who simply harp on fundamentals from the minors to big-league spring training
“And a lot of that comes from Murph,” Yelich said. “This is the standard, and if you don’t want to do it, he’s not going to put up with it, no matter who you are. And we practice it, we drill it, we see it visually, and then go work on it. That starts in spring training, and once the season starts, we’re going to try to make the plays we need to make to win.
“It’s a lost art in baseball a little bit now. Do you know how to win the game? It sounds weird, but when the game’s tied in the sixth, do you know how to win? Who’s going to make the plays and the pitches and execute to win?”