Photo Credit: Mike Penney/Flickr
The 2018 Milwaukee Brewers had a lot going for them down the stretch, but at least one of the reasons they were able to clinch their second NL Central championship was a favorable schedule: From August 6 through the end of the regular season they enjoyed nine off days in the season’s final 55 days. Over that same span the Cubs were scheduled to be off just four times, including a stretch from August 21 to September 30 with just one blank date on the calendar.
It may have been small consolation as the Brewers waited out a two hour, 42 minute rain delay in New York on Friday night, but their patience that night will be rewarded again in the months to come. Sunday’s series finale in New York was the Brewers’ 29th contest of the season. Only one National League team (the Dodgers) has played more, and no other NL Central team has gotten more than 27 contests in at this point. The Brewers have already played three more games than the Cubs and Pirates, who are both off again on Monday while the Brewers host the Rockies.
Photo Credit: kke227/Flickr
The Miller Park roof is a big part of why this is happening for the second consecutive year. The Cubs have already had to postpone a game at Wrigley Field and sacrifice a scheduled June 3 off day to make up a contest with the Angels. The Pirates and Reds lost their second scheduled game of the year to rain and will make it up in May. The Brewers, meanwhile, have not been rained out and were also able to play four games in their home opener series while most outdoor ballparks featured a scheduled game, then an off day as a potential rain date.
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The Brewers’ stretch-run schedule advantage extends beyond off days, however: Through their first 29 contests the Brewers have played 23 games against teams with a record above .500, tied for the most of any team in baseball (The Yankees, on the other end of the spectrum, have played just three). They’ve already completed their season series with the 19-11, NL West leading Dodgers and played 10 of their 19 meetings with the Cardinals.
Relative Power Index (better known as RPI) is a ranking system for teams that will likely be more familiar to college basketball fans, but ESPN tracks it for baseball teams. Despite the fact that the Brewers were just a game above .500 at 15-14, on Monday morning they were baseball’s third best team by that measure. That ranking was largely fueled by their .572 opponents’ winning percentage, the best in baseball by 23 points.
The good news for the Brewers is that this specific pendulum will swing back a bit as the season progresses, but the bad news is that it won’t swing as far as one might expect: As of Monday Milwaukee’s average opponent over the season’s final 133 games is just slightly under .500 at a .496 winning percentage. They have 63 games remaining against teams with winning records.
The Brewers will likely finish the season with one of baseball’s toughest schedules due to the imbalance in interleague slates: Four of their six American League opponents (the Twins, Astros, Mariners and Rangers) are winning teams this April, and the A’s and Angels were both projected to be better than they’ve been to date. The Brewers took advantage of this setup in 2018, going 13-7 against a weak AL Central. This year they’ll have to work to overcome it.
Nonetheless, as the Brewers turn the calendar to May they’ll wrap up a stretch where they played more often and against better opponents than any of their NL Central rivals. They’ve successfully weathered a difficult month, and having it behind them early puts them at an advantage for the stretch run.
