Over the last nine years, Milwaukee Brewers fans have witnessed more success in this span of history than ever before. Two trips to the National League Championship Series and seven playoff appearances, which is nearly double the number of appearances in the previous 48 years (1981, 1982, 2008, 2011). Throughout the success, you can point to one player who may have drawn the most attention, but none of it would’ve been possible if it weren’t for the success of the infamous pitching lab.
Though the season is young, this year’s pitching staff is on pace to be the best in franchise history, as they currently have a 3.32 team ERA, which is the lowest by 0.06. This is impressive, all things considered, as the lowest ERA the Brewers have ever posted as a team was in 1971, a year in which they lost 92 games. The rotation that year consisted of Marty Pattin, Bill Parsons, Skip Lockwood, Lew Krausse, and Jim Slaton.
To qualify as a pitching lab success, it takes a level of consistent success over a long period of time. But where the Brewers have made a lot of noise with their success are the guys maybe not everyone has heard of when they enter the league. This year’s frontrunners are guys like Coleman Crow, who was drafted in the 28th round by the Los Angeles Angels in 2019, and Shane Drohan, who was drafted in the fifth round of the 2020 draft by the Boston Red Sox.
The pitching lab has made a name for itself over the last nine years, and over that span, six teams have moved into the top 15 best pitching staffs in franchise history. Let’s review and analyze some of the staffs that have helped the Brewers be as dominant as they have been over this span.
Let’s start at the beginning, when we saw our first edition of what was many more dominant pitching staffs to come. The magical year that was 2018. The first playoff appearance in seven years, the first division title in seven years, and of course, falling a game shy of the World Series.
The 2018 season feels like one of the last years where we saw consistent starters every five days, or in this year’s case, six days. It was the first season of Freddy Peralta, who we saw post a 4.25 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 16 games. Remember when Brent Suter was still a starter? Well, that was that year as well. We also saw the addition of veteran pitchers like Wade Miley and Jhoulys Chacín, who all had a bit of a second life with Milwaukee. Chacín led the league in starts with 35 that year, ending with a 3.50 ERA. To put the cherry on top, Gio González came in via a trade with the Washington Nationals and had a stellar 2.13 ERA in five starts with the Brewers.
As we move on, we do have to skip a couple of years, as the 2019 and 2020 seasons were among the worst eras in pitching lab history, despite having standout players like Josh Hader and Devin Williams in the back end of the bullpens.
Once the COVID-19 pandemic had died down, and baseball was able to go back into full swing, so was the Brewers’ pitching lab. The 2021 season showcased one of the all-time staffs in franchise history. Perhaps the peak of the Brewers’ rotation, but better yet, players who came out and became fan favorites. After having a great beginning of his career in San Francisco, Hunter Strickland had struggled at stops with five different clubs until he got to Milwaukee. All of a sudden, he looked like his mid-2010s self again. Strickland finished with the second-lowest ERA in the bullpen, just behind Hader, with a 1.73 ERA in 35 games. The other surprise arm was Jake Cousins, who had two great seasons as a Brewer. Over 30 games (30 innings), he turned in 44 strikeouts with a 2.70 ERA to help solidify one of the best bullpens in baseball.
The 2023 season was one filled with a bunch of ups and downs in terms of pitching. A lot of the surprise arms came out of the bullpen that year. Craig Counsell was able to deploy Devin Williams, Bryse Wilson, Joel Payamps, or Hoby Milner at any time — all of whom finished the season with an ERA below 2.60. It was also the current setup man/closer Abner Uribe’s rookie season, as he looked like another successful product of the pitching lab. With Brandon Woodruff battling an injury that season, they had a hole to fill in the starting rotation, which they filled with Julio Teherán. The two-time All-Star had not played a full season in Major League Baseball since 2019, bouncing around the league, dealing with injuries himself, and even spending a season in Mexico. Teherán was arguably one of the biggest surprises of the 2023 season as he pitched in 14 games, finishing with a 4.40 ERA.
In 2024, the Brewers’ pitching staff took a bit of a step back compared to years past, though it was still one of the better pitching staffs in baseball. It was the first season without Corbin Burnes, and Woodruff was out for the season. Tobias Myers, who had bounced around from farm system to farm system via the trade, had finally found a home in Milwaukee. His rookie season featured 25 starts with 138 innings pitched and 127 strikeouts. The tandem of Jared Koenig and Bryan Hudson held down the bullpen that season, as both posted ERAs below 2.50. The first year of Pat Murphy was a promising one, but one that ultimately ended with fans’ heads in their hands, and a ton of turnover in the pitching department.
Last but certainly not least, 2025 was home to one of the best pitching staffs the city of Milwaukee has ever seen. It felt like almost everyone who had pitched was a product of the pitching lab. The rotation that was frontlined by Peralta had other arms such as Quinn Priester, José Quintana, Chad Patrick, and the debut of Jacob Misiorowski. Priester, who was a first-round draft pick in 2019 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, never panned out, despite only having appeared in 21 games for the Bucs. Much like many guys have, he showed up in Milwaukee and dominated. Pitching in 29 games, he had a 3.32 ERA and struck out the second-most batters in the rotation. And for the bullpen, Nick Mears, the man who appeared in 63 games out of the bullpen. After being acquired at the trade deadline in 2024, Mears became one of the most reliable middle-inning arms of the season, finishing with a 3.49 ERA.
As we have hit the quarter mark of the 2026 season, it’s already shaping up to be another phenomenal season on the mound. The Brewers have showcased the depth and the dominance of the pitching staff, all the way down to Triple-A. This year has the potential to be the perfect mix of offense and defense, to potentially get it to peak all at the right time.
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