Brewers, Braves Split in Volatile, Ridiculous Fashion

I'm starting this one with an amusing anecdote because I've gone mad with power.

A couple months ago we were at a Phils game. Wheels was on the mound, it went well. Midway through they did the 'lookalike cam' they've been doing. You see other sports teams, NBA teams mostly, do this, it gets on tiktok or whatever, they have fun with it. The second they put up Matt Strahm as an option for a lookalike I know what's going on. Long hair, gangly and a Phillies hat. Yeah, they see it too. And sure enough, there I am. And it's a compliment, right? The lookalike cam gets people that look like Santa Claus or Walter White, they make a joke out of it. So for me to get put on the tron for looking like a really good reliever, what can I say to that? 'Thanks', I guess. 

Ultimately, if you're gonna get singled out for something silly, it helps when you come out of it with your dignity intact. Which brings me to this series. The Jordan Bowl, round 2. This time, the stakes were slightly higher, as both our teams were circling last and we wanted to come away with something, anything that wasn't a sweep. Well, it wasn't a sweep. But considering all the wild, ridiculous and tragic things that happened over the course of these four games at American Family Field, it came with the emotional response one might associate with getting swept. This was war. Only one blowout, and every other game was close and tense. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

...okay, maybe with some SLIGHT variations, but...we'll get into it:

Game 1: Brewers 13, Braves 3

W: Bailey Falter

L: Jose Quintana

Considering that this was a game where Jordan Borenstein put up a lefty against my lineup of lefty killers, this started a little stronger than you might expect for Atlanta. As Bailey Falter is prone to, he let runs go in the 1st, namely a solo shot from Teoscar Hernandez. So the Braves led early. But once Kevin Pillar started Milwaukee's day with a solo shot of his own, I knew this was gonna be a fun one. 

In all actuality, Jose Quintana was toast from the moment he set foot on that mound. The lefty-killers needed somebody like him to tee off of, and he gave them a lot of material. In the second Pillar struck again with a double, then got waved home by Ramos's RBI single. Then in the fourth, things went crazy: after walking two batters, Quintana gave up a three-run bomb to my nine man, Blake Perkins. Then Pillar got on, stole second and made it home on another Ramos RBI. Then Paredes walked on and Carlos Santana had a 3-run bomb of his own. Seven runs in the fourth, and nine overall, for JQ.

Falter, meanwhile, had one of his best starts of the season, only giving up two more earned runs on a Schwarbomb in the sixth. Falter struck out 7, and allowed 3 runs on 6 hits. Considering that Falter is a rare Brewers starter who'll definitely be returning for 2026, it was a nice sign. The 'pen was clean to preserve his start, too.

And just in case you're wondering, no, the Brewers' offense did not stop there. Michael Lorenzen gave up yet another 3-run homer to Michael Conforto in the 6th, then Adrian Morejon allowed an 8th inning Isaac Paredes RBI. The Brewers managed to score 13 runs, which, if you know this team as well as I do, seems extremely out-of-character. 

Game 2- Braves 4, Brewers 3

W: Seth Lugo

L: Carlos Rodon

SV: Matt Strahm

Making his debut for the Brewers after coming over in a trade with Washington, Carlos Rodon, at the very least, put in a strong, durable performance, going 7 innings, only allowing 3 runs and striking out 7. If the rolls had gone my way, the Brewers would have been able to catch the Braves, but...that didn't happen.

I will give the Braves credit, they started yet another game with a lead thanks to another Teoscar homer, then bunted home a run in the 2nd. This was also another excellent start from staff ace Seth Lugo, going 7 strong with only 2 runs scored on some contact work in the 2nd from real life Brewers teammates Blake Perkins and Jackson Chourio. For six innings, both pitchers kept it a 3-2 game, and both offenses had next-to-nothing to say.

Now, my lineup may have fared slightly better if I didn't keep rolling into injuries. On Jeimer Candelario's first at-bat he gets plunked and has to miss the rest of the series. Then in the 6th, J.P. Crawford strained something on a strikeout and got the dreaded '10 games' roll. Meaning for the second time this season, I was without a sure bet at SS for a sustained period of time. The injury bug caught the other Jordan too, he lost Gary Sanchez for a bit, and had the first of two Jose Altuve ROG plunkings this series [what can I say, I'm still mad at him for the 2017 postseason]. 

The ninth inning is where things got really exciting. So with A.J. Puk up, Jordan pinch-hits Elias Diaz, and he hits a solo shot to make it 4-2 Braves. Then with Strahm, my doppelganger, on the mound, the Brewers got two men on in the bottom of the ninth. I pinch hit Travis D'Arnaud, and I rolled a diamond, meaning 1-13 would end the game with a walkoff. I rolled...an 18. Chourio and Ramos would also not meet the moment, but in much less exciting ways. This was a game I should have won, and I just couldn't get the rolls. 

Game 3- Braves 8, Brewers 5

W: Zach Eflin

L: Graham Ashcraft

SV: Matt Strahm

Forgive me if I'm more succinct than usual for this one, but this game really kicked my ass. Right from the jump. Ashcraft gave up 4 walks and 5 runs in the first, pitched around and tired himself out early. Zach Eflin didn't fare too much better in the first, giving up 5 hits in a row, resulting in 3 runs. All three of them scored thanks to an unforgivable error from Oneil Cruz in CF, as it turned what could have been a routine play into a double for Carlos Santana that he was able to score on.

Santana, for the record, had himself a wild day, going 4-for-5 with FOUR DOUBLES. Two of them were split homer/double rolls that hit the double, but still, a four double game is good no matter who you are. Considering that last time I played Jordan I rolled a snake eyes to get Santana's lead and actually stole a base with him, I think Santana's just destined to do great things whenever we play. 

The ugly bit of business regarding this game is that both my catchers got injured. First Nick Fortes in the third, then Travis d'Arnaud in the ninth. If the game had gone to extras, which, thanks to some contact work from McMahon and Cruz and a homer from Happ, it wasn't in too much danger of doing, I'd have been completely out of big league catching options. But mercifully my last two batters, with runs in scoring position, struck out. 

This one drained me. I'd lost two to a team I could have beaten, in close games that got away from me thanks to rolls that did not come my way. I needed to shift the tides somehow.

Game 4: Brewers 5, Braves 3

W: Anthony Bender

L: Matt Strahm

SV: A.J. Puk

The good news was that I managed to get out of the first inning without letting Jordan score a run. The bad news was that, thanks to the harebrained idea to start Connor Norby at 3rd with his 4e37 defensive rating, I got a guy to 2nd on the first batter of the game. Then two innings later I gave up my third homer to Teoscar Hernandez this series. Things were starting out awfully similarly for the Brewers, and through 3 they could muster nothing against Jack Flaherty, who'd ultimately K 10 Brewers on the day. I only scored two runs with Flaherty on the mound, both with solo home runs from Chourio and Conforto. I nearly worked a triple on a wild 'triple 1-12, out the rest' split on Flaherty's card, but desperate catching call-up Austin Barnes would have to wait to land his first hit of the season.

Even if Flaherty was the pitching star of the day, let me make it clear that Valente Bellozo was no slouch himself. Yes, he gave up three runs, and walked a guy home in the fifth, but he was otherwise pretty strong, especially compared to my usual standard of starting pitching [looking at you, Ashcraft].

This one was tight, close and tense, and was 3-2 favoring the Braves heading into the eighth. Into the bottom of the inning, Flaherty was still out there. Then, after retiring a batter, I rolled that 'triple one to twelve, out the rest' split on Flaherty's time, and this time Barnes got the triple. With the game on the line, Jordan turned to Strahm, who'd done him well in the previous two games. Luis Guillorme, as he's prone to, walked, Jackson Chourio, as he's prone to, struck out, and with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Heliot Ramos, with the left side that any lefty pitcher sees in their nightmares, stepped up. 

....what do YOU think happened? And for those of you who guessed 'strikeout', somehow that didn't happen this time. No, straight homer. Right into the heart of the twos, and right into the heart of the stands. My lookalike got rocked. The game was broken right open, it was now 5-3, and everything had changed. And just to confirm that the rolls were suddenly on my side, the next batter I rolled a ballpark single, which this game was 1-2, and rolled a 2. Somehow it had turned around.

Puk faced the ninth. Jorge Soler walked, Ryan McMahon struck out, Schwarber flied to center but got the runner over, Happ doubled Soler home, and now it was my turn. Top 9, two outs, runner on second, Teoscar Hernandez at the plate. The game had flipped my way so suddenly, and it very well could have flipped back. But ultimately, Hernandez struck out, the game ended, and I could exhale.

I swear, the Brewers-Braves series' are just destined to be this insane. They're all gonna be like this. This one was extra crazy. Like 6 people got hurt. The split rolls were chaotic as hell. Teoscar Hernandez ate the Brewers for breakfast. I outhit Jordan in one game and still lost. Like last time, I was lucky to get out of there with a split. It could have been so much worse. 

I'm now 19-29, and while I don't necessarily think I'll be competing this year, I'm on track to meet my own personal goal [finishing the season with more than 27 wins and thus turning the team around]. We've got a couple weeks before the deadline, and if there's guys on the team that you want to send me an offer for, you know how to reach me. There are cards that I will part with for a decent enough price [mainly DHs that end in 'o'], and there are also cards I'm only parting with if I really think the return will be better than their 2026 card [take a wild guess which starting pitcher I am referring to here]. If anything, I will hear you out, but if I don't NEED to move certain people then I won't.