Here's what rival execs think of the Brewers, their opponents and more

MILWAUKEE -- It took a simple September headcount in press box dining rooms to know that the postseason was near. That included in Milwaukee, where the frozen custard is the best in baseball and the MLB-leading Brewers will host the Cubs for Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday.

Yes, there is still a place in the game for good, old fashioned advance scouting, and some of those scouts were kind enough to talk to MLB.com throughout the day on Thursday about what they have seen from the Brewers so far, and what they expect in October. The conversations included three pro scouts, two from the NL and one from the AL, who cover rival organizations top to bottom, plus an advance scout from an NL club who focuses on the Major Leagues and an NL special assistant who has been scouting for more than three decades.

All of them have had eyes on the Brewers, the majority of them for years. They agreed to share their opinions in exchange for anonymity.

“It was refreshing to watch them play this year,” said one of the NL scouts, “because they play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”

“It’s fun to see, and I hope it rubs off,” the special assistant said. “If they can make a run in these playoffs, hopefully it starts bleeding over to other clubs. Like, ‘Hey, this works.’”

What do you like best about the 2025 Brewers?
“They take chances on guys who the industry says, ‘No shot.’ Guys who don’t look good in jeans, so to speak. And they say, ‘Do what you do and do it well, and we’ll find out how valuable you are at the Major League level.’ That’s especially true on the pitching side, I think. They’ve got the pixie dust there.” -- NL pro scout

“They’re going to play a sound brand of baseball and it’s going to be more pitching- and defense- and speed-oriented. It’s not innovative, but it is a little out of today’s norm. It’s the old saying: ‘Pressure bursts pipes.’ That’s what they do. I give ‘Murph’ [Brewers manager Pat Murphy] some credit for that, though I don’t know for sure that it’s him. If you open a crack in the door, they’re going to hurt you.” -- NL special assistant

“They’re not going to beat themselves. There was that little slump, whatever you want to call it, down the stretch in September, but I think that’s just a ‘relaxation’ kind of thing, kicking back. I think they are going to bounce right back." -- AL pro scout

“Watching them run bases, watching them play defense, they have an identity. So much of that is lost in today’s baseball. Teams don’t really have identities. The Brewers are, for me, the team that has the most profound identity, and they know what kind of baseball they want to play.” -- NL advance scout

What worries you the most about them?
“They don’t have a ton of thump. You read all these numbers that you have to hit a home run to win [in the postseason], and while I get that, I do think that’s important, I also think there’s a lot of credence to teams that go deep in pitch counts and can grind you down. If they can get to a longer series, I think those kinds of teams have a greater ability to wear down teams. In a short series, I would be a little more concerned about a lack of thump because those series can change on a dime with a couple of homers.” -- NL advance scout

“I question the starting pitching. You saw it with Detroit in Game 1, Tarik Skubal can go out there and just take over. [The Brewers] don’t have that, as much as I like Freddy Peralta and [Quinn] Priester.” -- NL pro scout

“Starting pitching would be my biggest concern as 1A, and 1B would be their bullpen. It’s good, it’s not great. Teams will mix and match more in the playoffs and you may have guys out of order. It will be a whole different concept." -- AL pro scout

“I think it’s that playing in their ballpark is a pro and a con for them because those power alleys are so short, and a lot of the teams in the postseason are dependent on the home run. That would be my concern. In the postseason, mistakes can get hit really hard, and you usually don’t get that ball back.” -- NL pro scout

What matchup are you looking for with the Cubs?
“Besides the managers? Because I think that’s a real thing. I can’t speak to [Milwaukee’s] clubhouse, but I’m sure there’s a part of them that would like to rain on that parade. [Craig Counsell] was Milwaukee’s favorite son for the longest time, and now he’s over at the enemy.” -- NL advance scout

“The Cubs have shown some power, and I think [the Brewers] guys have to zero in on those 2-3-4 hitters. They’re swinging the bat with some confidence.” -- AL pro scout

“I like the youth battle of position players between the Cubs and the Brewers. I remember being blown away by PCA [Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong] when I first saw him, just because of his confidence. I thought he was going to be the next big thing even at that age. Then for the Brewers you have [Jackson] Chourio and [William] Contreras. I think there are a ton of guys in that series who are going to be some of the sport’s future superstars. Now, can the Brewers and Cubs keep them from the coastal teams?” -- NL pro scout

“I’ll create my own little category and say that knowing division matchups and rivalries, I think the concept of familiarity is so important. This is the one issue I have with how the scheduling works, there are too many divisional matchups early in the postseason. You can get trapped into the same regular season bubble. It feels like a regular season series. It scares me how much each team knows each other. There’s going to be nothing that can fool the other team.” -- NL pro scout

How would you use Jacob Misiorowski?
“He’s an enigma for me right now. He’s got such dominant stuff but he’ll have that one inning where it just completely falls apart, and you can’t have that in a playoff scenario. And that’s even harder to bring out of the bullpen because you don’t know what you’re going to get. I think it’s going to be a bulk reliever-type role, like, ‘Get me nine outs. Get me one time through the order if you can.’” -- NL advance scout

“In the situation the Brewers are in, I would use him as a starter. With ‘Woody’ [Brandon Woodruff] potentially out, I think you need guys in a starting role.” -- AL pro scout

“Bullpen in the playoffs. I’ve seen him since A-ball, and you have to say there’s some wildness in there and there’s going to be some walks, but I’ve always seen that guy get back over the plate. I usually don’t like guys out of the bullpen when you don’t know what you’re going to get when they come in. But I’m looking for that one-plus inning guy who can come in and wreak havoc.” -- NL special assistant

“This is a fun one. I think he’s better suited to the ‘pen. I remember watching Minnesota and Houston in the [2023] ALDS and watching the Twins use Chris Paddack in a role that could have a lot of success [for Misiorowski]. He could absolutely be that momentum-swinging, multi-inning guy who could provide some length if your starter is struggling, and you keep it a two-run deficit and gives you from the fourth inning to the seventh for the offense to do something. Or there’s the other side, using him as the late-inning guy pumping [triple digits]. That’s very exciting. The 2016 Andrew Miller model.” -- NL pro scout

How much time does your group discuss, “How do the Brewers keep doing this year after year?”
“I used to follow basketball when I considered it more of a team sport, you know what I mean? And I say the Brewers are like the San Antonio Spurs of MLB. They do well at producing what they need within their system.” -- NL pro scout

“Our organization is always applauding the Brewers for doing this year over year. I think what the Brewers do better than any other organization is this: Some teams have so many one-dimensional guys that just hit home runs. The Brewers are willing to take a chance on Isaac Collins, [Caleb] Durbin. Those guys are baseball players. Other teams, no matter what, they’re trying to take the ball out of the ballpark. The problem is we don’t copycat. I think teams have lost the ability to ‘play to the scoreboard.’” -- AL pro scout

“I think about this a lot. So many teams struggle with finding ways to tap into value with pitchers. That’s so hard to do. But it seems like they never have to worry, bullpen-wise, and I am completely jealous of that." -- NL pro scout

“It’s so crazy, every year the pundits don’t think the Brewers are going to do it, and then they go out and rip off 90 wins. In my circle, they have garnered the respect that you can’t ever count them out. You’re always trying to borrow, steal, whatever you want to call it, some best practices. You try to reverse engineer a little bit, but it’s difficult. … What a good organization should be doing is look at a successful team and say, ‘They have a strength and they play to their strengths.’ We all need to know who we are. To me, that’s where the Brewers have really shined.” -- NL advance scout

“The thing I talk about with my boss is like, ‘This is just good, old-fashioned baseball. Why can’t we do this?’” -- NL special assistant