Photo via Willson Contreras - Instagram
William and Willson Contreras
William and Willson Contreras
When the Brewers and Cardinals renew acquaintances this week, at least two of the players involved will probably be happy to see each other.
Brewers catcher William Contreras can make a strong case to be considered baseball’s best backstop this season but one of the primary contenders for that title is his brother, Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras. Monday’s game will be the 24th time William has played in a game against the Cardinals since joining the Brewers and the brothers have already played against each other 13 times since joining their respective teams, including all three games in their series against each other two weeks ago.
The Brewers are 7-6 in those games, and William is 18-for-52 (a .346 batting average) in games where his brother also plays.
One of William’s relatively rare outs against the Cardinals, however, may have come at a key moment in his brother’s career: The elder Contreras had struggled behind the plate in the early weeks after signing a big free agent contract with the Cardinals and had been moved off the catcher position for nearly two weeks before returning to face the Brewers on May 15, 2023. The Brewers had Willson and pitcher Jack Flaherty on the ropes in the first inning of that game, loading the bases with one out and William due up. The younger Contreras grounded into a double play to end the inning and the Cardinals went on to win the game 18-1.
Sibling Rivalry
While there may still be many more chapters in the Contreras brothers’ MLB story, what they have right now is the most significant sibling rivalry in Brewers history. According to Baseball Almanac there have been 452 pairs or sets of brothers to play Major League Baseball, but surprisingly few of them have been Brewers and even fewer have faced off in a game. Two of the greatest Brewers of all time also had MLB siblings but never faced them: Robin Yount’s older brother Larry was injured warming up for his MLB debut with the Astros in 1971 and never returned to the majors, and Henry Aaron’s younger brother Tommie spent the entirety of his seven year career playing with him for the Braves.
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It’s also possible that two of the best sibling rivalries in Brewers history are yet to develop: Freddy Peralta’s younger brother Luis was traded to the Rockies this season and recently made his MLB debut, and MLB Pipeline ranks Jackson Chourio’s younger brother Jaison as the #4 prospect in the Guardians organization.
While we wait for those rivalries to materialize, however, it’s hard to find cases where one sibling faced another in a Brewer game at all. The closest we’ve come in recent memory was earlier this season when Trevor Megill pitched twice in relief against Tylor Megill’s Mets, but the latter did not appear in either contest. Similarly, Tyler Rogers pitched for the Giants against his brother Taylor’s Brewers in September of 2022, but the Brewers’ Rogers didn’t appear.
Prolific Families
It’s possible the greatest sibling rivalry in Brewers history before the Contreras brothers was also a relatively recent one: Former Brewers infielder Luis Urías played against his brother Ramon in just two games between the Brewers and Orioles during a series in June of 2023. Luis went 0-for-8 across the two contests, while Ramon went 3-for-4 with a double and a home run as the Orioles rallied to beat the Brewers in the second game.
The Hairstons are one of baseball’s most prolific families, with Jerry Hairston Sr. and his brother John appearing in the majors and Jerry Sr.’s sons, Jerry Jr. and Scott also having long big league careers. Jerry Jr. and Scott faced off multiple times across a combined 27 MLB seasons and the Brewers were part of the backdrop for one of them as Jerry, a late season addition to the 2011 Brewers, started in center field and scored a pair of runs while Scott was playing right field for the Mets. It was the only contest in that three-game series where both Hairstons took the field.
Major League Baseball is a sport with plenty of rich family history with lineages like the DiMaggios, Boones and Alous throughout the narrative of the game. For the Brewers, however, games where one brother faces another are a more unusual occurrence than you might expect.
