Milwaukee Brewers will be without key man in NL Wild Card Series
Brandon Woodruff won’t play in the NL Wild Card Series for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Without their ace pitcher, Brandon Woodruff, the Milwaukee Brewers will have to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Woodruff will miss the Wild Card series due to an injury to his right shoulder, according to manager Craig Counsell.
Woodruff will receive a second opinion, but it’s possible that he won’t be able to play for the duration of the postseason.
Due to the same shoulder injury, Woodruff was sidelined for a period of the season.
In August, he came back and was in charge.
Then, during his most recent start against Miami, the injury returned.
Originally listed as TBD, Game 2’s starter against Arizona was most likely going to be Woodruff.
Given that Woodruff won’t play in Game 1, Corbin Burnes will start, and the Milwaukee Brewers depend on him to play well.
To survive Woodruff’s absence from the Wild Card series, the Crew has the starting pitching.
Additionally, Freddy Peralta has been pitching well in the second half while Wade Miley is a great postseason pitcher.
Just having Woody pitch a series-clinching or postseason-saving Game 2 would have been ideal.
Additionally, it will be harder to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers without him in the starting rotation.
If both teams advance to the National League Championship Series, missing Woodruff makes it much harder to upset the Atlanta Braves.
The Milwaukee Brewers’ best Wild Card matchup is not against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
They have two starting pitchers in Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen who can make Milwaukee’s bats useless while also having a lineup that can grind out runs.
The Brewers’ playoff run will be brief as a result of their offense going missing.
The Crew’s bats should be able to get a jump on Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt in Game 1 if Burnes pitches like a former Cy Young winner.
In September, he had an ERA of 4 points, 32.
The possibility of a World Series for Milwaukee would have been possible if Woodruff had been healthy. It doesn’t necessarily mean that it can’t happen, but the journey there has become much more difficult.
