Brewers have emerged as intriguing World Series longshot

When the dust settled at the end of April, the Milwaukee Brewers were 16-10, two games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals for the NL Central lead. A 2-6 start to May is a bit concerning, but the price might be right to take a swing on the Brewers, who have fallen from +4400 to +2200 to win the 2021 World Series over a three-week span.

Injury bug has bit, but Brewers battle on

When Milwaukee hit their current zenith at 17-10 on May 1, one could have culled together a decent starting nine just from the bodies on their IL.

Multiple players of both major and minor consequence have made trips to the IL for the Brewers this year, including 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich. He came back from a three-week long back injury on May 3, only to return to the IL one day later. Lorenzo Cain and Keston Hiura have also missed time due to injury this year.

At one point, the Brewers lost both their starting catchers from the Opening Day roster, with Omar Narvaez and Manny Pina on the IL at the same time.

The injury bug did not spare Milwaukee’s pitchers either. Corbin Burnes  – who threw his hat into the ring for the NL Cy Young in April – has yet to start in May, as he hit the COVID-19 list.

When Brett Anderson, Zack Godley and Josh Lindblom all hit the IL in one fell swoop, the Brewers became desperate enough to reach out to Jordan Zimmermann and lure him out of retirement.

Milwaukee boasts multitude of elite arms

Even at full strength, the Brewers’ offense is not going to carry this team. They were 27th in runs per game last year (4.02), and are 24th now (3.88) with mostly the same roster. Fortunately, Milwaukee is pitching-rich.

Burnes and Brandon Woodruff make for an imposing one-two punch at the top of the rotation. Depth starters Adrian Houser and Freddy Peralta are on pace for career-years.

The Brewers boast some incredible arms in their bullpen too. Josh Hader (seven saves) is his usual untouchable self, and while Devin Williams (3.86 ERA) hasn’t been as strong as he was last year, other arms have risen to the occasion. That includes J.P. Feyereisen, who’s yet to allow an earned run in 16 innings of work.

Give Brewers a look in NL Central market too 

Milwaukee has caught just as much attention in the NL Central betting as the World Series betting. They’ve fallen from the +225 fourth-choice in mid-April to the +120 second-choice to win their division.

Everyone is still looking up at the St. Louis Cardinals (+110), but it doesn’t look like they’ll run away with the NL Central like many thought before Opening Day.