The Milwaukee Brewers are coming off a three-game sweep of the New York Mets on opening weekend. They will host the Minnesota Twins for a quick two-game series before the Seattle Mariners come to town. The Minnesota Twins opened the year against the Kansas City Royals winning the series two games to one. The Brewers will try to keep the momentum going, while the Twins pitching staff tries to quiet the bats from the hot Brewers team.
Milwaukee Brewers (3-0) vs Minnesota Twins (2-1)
Game One: Jakob Junis (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs Louie Varland (0-0, 0.00 ERA) 4:10 PM
Jakob Junis will make his regular-season debut for the Brewers after spending last year pitching for the San Fransico Giants. Last year he made four starts for the Giants, before being moved to a multi-inning relief pitcher where he shined last season for the Giants. He appeared in 40 games total, with a 4-3 record, and a 3.87 ERA over 86 innings of work. He earned one save last year, struck out 96, walked only 21, and had a WHIP of 1.29 on the year. He did a much better job with his control last year along with an increase in velocity helped him be a success in the Giants bullpen. The one pitch he leaned heavily on last year was his slider which generated over a 14% Swing and miss rate last year. Louie Varland pitched in 17 games last year for the Twins 10 of those were games he started. He recorded a 4-3 record, with a 4.63 ERA over 68 innings pitched. He struck out 71, walked 17, and had a 1.22 WHIP on the year. The 26-year-old will look to get off to a hot start in his first start of the year in Milwaukee.
Game Two: Joe Ross (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs Chris Paddack (0-0, 0.00 ERA) 1:10 PM
Joe Ross last pitched in a regular season major league game back in 2021 when he was with the Washington Nationals. He spent time in the minors ever since. This spring he pitched in four games, starting one, with a 1-1 record, and a 4.50 ERA over 12 innings worked. In those 12 innings, he struck out 17, walked seven, and had a 1.58 WHIP this spring. Ross will have his chance to be the fifth starter for this Brewers team, but unless he comes out the gates hot, will most likely lose the spot to veteran Wade Miley upon his return from the IL. Chris Paddack is a seasoned veteran who holds the fifth rotation spot for the Minnesota Twins currently. Paddack returned last year late from Tommy John surgery pitching in two games with a 1-0 record and had a 5.40 ERA over five innings of work. This spring Paddock started four games going 0-2 with a 4.73 ERA over 13.1 innings. He walked three, struck out 10, and had a 1.58 WHIP this spring.
Current Team Leaders:
Brewers:
AVG: Christian Yelich (.455)
HR: Christian Yelich (1)
RBI: Rhys Hoskins (4)
IP: Freddy Peralta (6)
ERA: Bryan Hudson (0.00)
K: Freddy Peralta (8)
Twins:
AVG: Byron Buxton (.300)
HR: Royce Lewis (1)
RBI: Byron Buxton (3)
IP: Pablo Lopez (7)
ERA: Pablo Lopez (1.29)
K: Pablo Lopez (7)
What to watch for:
Well the Twins will be without upcoming superstar Royce Lewis this series due to a quad issue, but the team does currently have a healthy Bryan Buxton and for me, he is the batter I have my eyes on this series. He has speed and power which makes him a pain to pitch too. The Brewers have an exciting young core with Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, Sal Frelick, and William Contreras. The team has solid veterans contributing right now as well with Yelich, Rhys Hoskins, and Willy Adames so offensively they have what they need to compete. Rhys Hoskins fits so well with this team providing solid defense at first and the right-handed power in the meat of the order. If Adames can limit his swing and misses he can certainly have a nice bounce-back year. I look for the Brewers to put up plenty of runs in this short two-game series against the Twins. In the Wednesday game, they should have no trouble dealing with Chris Paddack being able to put up a solid 5-6 runs on the veteran in my opinion. The game of the series I am most interested in is the matchup between Jakob Junis and Louis Varland, I want to see if Junis can carry over success from last season with the Giants to a regular rotation spot. I also think Varland is a pitcher with great potential and am interested to see how he attacks this Brewers lineup.
Wrap up:
This is a short two-game set for the two teams but should have plenty of action. The Brewers luck out and miss Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez this series so I think they overpower the Twins pitching and take the W in both games. I like their bullpen and lineup depth better than I do the Twins right now with the injuries they are dealing with. Look for Milwaukee to continue their hot streak and go to 5-0 on the year with the Twins falling to 2-3.
