Milwaukee Brewers fans probably didn’t think the term ‘first place’ would be something they hear this season. Chicago Cubs were fresh off a World Series, and everyone thought they would run it back for another trip. But Brewers started off with a .500 April and now won 10 of their last 12 games including three of four in San Diego then the opener against Chicago to be a stunning seven games over .500. Milwaukee is looking like a real team with real players.

Eric Sogard’s hot start – Remember when I made a note somewhere that ‘I hope Eric Sogard plays well enough to kick Nick Franklin off the team.’ That’s exactly what’s happened. The Scooter with glasses is having a hell of a start to his Brewers career. He had two four-hit games in the first six played with Milwaukee along with two home runs. He’s been a beast.

Doing it without Thames* or Braun – Look I know San Diego is one of the worst teams in baseball, but the fact Milwaukee was able to win three of four without Eric Thames or Ryan Bruan is pretty amazing. That’s so little offense left in that lineup, and they did with big games from Sogard, Jesus Aguliar, Domingo Santana and others. *Thames rejoined the team on Friday with a couple walks and a single. Excited for his matchup against John Lackey on Sunday afternoon.

Corey Knebel continues to deal – You almost sheepishly wonder if Milwaukee has one or two more wins if Knebel was the closer all along. He’s dominating hitters right now. Brewers have a feared closer again, and that usually seems to be a key in their success.

Wily Peralta’s hot start out of the pen – I originally wrote this last night and wondered when it would be Peralta time. Turns out that Craig Counsell believed he could handle a three-run lead, and he did just that. Peralta pitched two clean innings with five strikeouts raising some eyebrows. I don’t want to get too excited, but this is an encouraging start

Next up: Brewers and Cubs will do their best to play tomorrow but the weather looks very nasty. As I write from San Francisco, I hope I’m back in the MKE for it. Chase Anderson goes for Milwaukee who has the most suspicious 2.43 ERA of all-time (Advanced stats, y’all). Jake Arrieta who handled Brewers very early this year goes for Chicago but he’s been quite bad of late. Oh by the way, first place feels great.

Charlie.