PHOENIX -- “We’ll see how it goes,” Christian Yelich said a few hours before unofficially beginning the defense of his National League MVP Award.

He smiled and added, “Probably not great, but you’ve got to start somewhere.”

Yelich and Lorenzo Cain, the 1-2 punch for the 2018 NL Central champion Brewers, began their second season together on Thursday against the Giants at American Family Fields of Phoenix. It was a typical Spring Training debut. Cain punched a single to right field, worked a walk and ranged a long way in center field to catch a pair of flyouts. Yelich grounded out twice. Then they called it a day.

The Brewers will find a comfortable routine for that duo and their other outfielder, Ryan Braun, who won’t even begin playing Cactus League games until next week. All three are well-established, with Yelich coming off a runaway victory over runners-up Javier Báez of the Cubs and Nolan Arenado of the Rockies in NL MVP balloting, while Cain finished seventh in the voting.

“Just get ready,” said Yelich when asked if he had any specific spring priorities in mind. “Obviously, you want to make it through healthy, first and foremost. Second is to get back all your ‘feels’, your timings, get back into baseball shape so you feel like you’re ready to go.

“I don’t know, every year is different. Sometimes it comes back fast. Like, the first game or two, you feel ready to go. Sometimes it takes two weeks.”

Last spring, his first with the Brewers after the team acquired him from Miami and signed Cain as a free agent on the same day three weeks before the start of camp, things happened to come quickly for Yelich. But he remembers other years with the Marlins in which he wondered if that good feeling would ever come.

“Really, it’s like one swing or one game where I’m like, ‘All right, I feel back,’” Yelich said. “That’s basically the whole goal of Spring Training. I either do really well in Spring Training or really bad. Like, I’ll either hit .150 or .350.”

He hit .326 with 36 home runs and 110 RBIs last season to become the first league batting champion and the fifth league MVP in Brewers history, and teamed with Cain as the NL’s most valuable position player duo at a combined 13.3 fWAR.

“He's in his prime. I think he can go out there and do the same thing,” said Cain. “I don't see why not. He has the swing for it and he's entering the prime of his career. I think he'll go out there and put up solid numbers again, if not repeat. I'm just going to try to get on as much as possible so he can drive me in.”

Cain said he’ll aim for 50-60 spring at-bats with a focus on continuing to adapt to the leadoff spot. Cain emphasized on-base percentage when the Brewers started batting him there last year and produced a .395 on-base percentage that was 32 points higher than his previous best. His 71 walks were also a career high.

Entering his age-33 season, the second of a five-year deal, Cain would gladly replicate 2018.

“I'll take a repeat of last year, for sure,” he said. “Another year of hitting .300, that's always a goal. It makes me feel good as a hitter. I've done it a few times. Hitting .300 and improving my on-base percentage is something I focus on a lot because I'm the leadoff guy now. I moved [my OBP] up a lot. I focused on getting on base any way possible. My walks improved last year. I'm trying to stay on top of that. I've never been a guy who's walked a lot, so I definitely want to come out again this year, walk, get on base a lot, steal bases and play solid defense.”

Cain’s smooth defense was on display from the very first inning, when he fooled Brewers starter Freddy Peralta by looking up at Brandon Belt’s two-out fly ball as if it were a long homer. Peralta said he bought it, and was relieved when Cain instead trotted into position to make the inning-ending catch.

“Guys always get upset,” Cain said. “I'm just gauging the fence. It's spring, it's early for me, so I was just gauging where the fence is before looking back and focusing on the ball. [Peralta] looked good. He pitched great."

As Cain and Yelich hit the field for the first time, Opening Day was precisely four weeks away.

“It will come fast, though,” Yelich said.