Milwaukee Brewers knew they could grab the attention of the nation in the final four games of the first half. They had Chicago Cubs then New York Yankees, the two most public teams in the league at this moment. If Corey Knebel does not give up a three-run homer to Clint Frazier, we’re talking about a sweep and Brewers winning six straight to finish off the first half of the season. Still, they won three of four to finish and have a five and a half game lead in the National League Central.

Players of the Weekend – Jesus Aguliar, Josh Hader, Travis Shaw and Corey Knebel
Aguliar – The man provided most of the offense on Friday with two home runs and seven RBIs including a gamebreaking grand slam. Aguliar is a vital asset off the bench for Brewers. He’s become a feared threat when at the plate especially against left-handers.

Hader – Milwaukee Brewers do not beat New York on Friday if Josh Hader isn’t on the team. He went three innings striking out seven, and we’ll forget that Aaron Judge took him deep. Hader showed a peek into the future of what Brewers have and they are very lucky.

Shaw – The Shawdog came up with a huge day on Sunday with a huge three-run homer in the first inning where he hit it nearly 450 feet. Shaw has been such a welcomed surprise for the team. He drove in another big run in the fifth to give Milwaukee some more room with the lead.

Knebel – With how it ended on Saturday afternoon, Knebel bounced back in a big way on Sunday with 1.1 innings where he struck out Judge, Didi Gregious and Gary Sanchez to finish the game. If Knebel crumbled again, we might have a real issue to finish off the season, but that didn’t happen. Brewers showed their patented resiliency with Knebel doing the damn thing.

Lookahead to Second half – We’ll have more on this as the week goes on, but Brewers will be road warriors for awhile. They start out at home against Philly then head out for a 10-game trip versus Pittsburgh-Philly-Washington. Brewers can have a hot start with six games against Phillies in the first 10 games of the second half. Washington will be a hell of a litmus test.

Charlie.