Game Thread #112: Milwaukee Brewers (67-44) @ Atlanta Braves (47-63)

Brewers continue NL East trip in Atlanta

Fresh off their demolition of the Washington Nationals over the weekend, the Milwaukee Brewers will continue their (almost) East Coast swing tonight in Atlanta with the first of three games against the Braves.

After the Brewers’ thorough undoing of the Nationals, they’re really starting to look like what the stats say they are at this moment: the best team in baseball. Milwaukee’s 38-14 scoreline over the weekend vaulted them to the top of the league in terms of run differential,* and they continue to hold the best record in the league at 67-44, two games in front of the division rival Cubs.

*For those that follow the comments, I noted this in last night’s recap but found it interesting so I’ll share it here, too: the Brewers have twice led the majors in run differential. Once was in 1982, when they won the American League and played in their only World Series. The other, surprisingly, was in 1992, when they went 92-70 but missed the playoffs.

In the opposite dugout, the Braves are decidedly not the best team in baseball. Atlanta’s mysterious two-year swoon continues to puzzle; a team that looked like a World Series favorite heading into last year has instead been mired in mediocrity — or worse — while several star players have underwhelmed. Injuries are also a big part of this story and continue to be: players currently on the IL include 2023 MVP Ronald Acuña Jr., 2024 Cy Young winner Chris Sale, 2021 and 2023 Silver Slugger Austin Riley, and starting pitchers Reynaldo López (who had a 1.99 ERA in 2024), AJ Smith-Shawver, Spencer Schwellenbach, and Grant Holmes. The combination of injuries and relatively bad years from Riley, Ozzie Albies, Michael Harris II, and every shortstop they’ve tried have this talented but disappointing team at 16 games below .500 and ahead of only the Nationals in the NL East.

Kicking off the series on the mound in Atlanta will be Quinn Priester for Milwaukee. He just continues to have a solid season; he didn’t have his best stuff his last time out against the Cubs last Tuesday, but he managed to limit Chicago to two runs in 5 ²⁄₃ innings and came away with a win in a big 9-3 victory. Priester faced Atlanta in these clubs’ first series this season, on June 10, and pitched well: one run on seven hits and no walks with seven strikeouts in six innings in a 4-1 Brewer victory (their only one in that three-game set).

Atlanta will start newcomer Erick Fedde, who was acquired for a player-to-be-named-later or cash considerations from the St. Louis Cardinals on July 27. After an excellent 2024 season in which he was one of the major prizes of that season’s trade deadline, Fedde struggled badly in 2025 with the Cardinals before getting shipped out for basically nothing. In 20 starts with St. Louis this year, Fedde was 3-10 with a 5.22 ERA and 5.10 FIP, and his one start with Atlanta since the trade didn’t go well either, a game in which he allowed four runs in 4 ²⁄₃ innings to the Royals (who have struggled to score for most of the season).

Finally, a quick reminder: all SB Nation sites are getting a new look and a new login system tonight, of which you’ve surely been reminded several times. This should go smoothly, but we’ll be unable to make new posts between roughly 4 p.m. today (Monday) and 8 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday). Thus, tonight’s game recap won’t show up until tomorrow morning.

First pitch tonight is at 6:15 p.m. (though keep an eye on the forecasted rain) on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network.

The Brewers had not posted a lineup before we needed to make this post because of tonight’s migration; check the comments for updates.