The 2023 Milwaukee Brewers were supposed to be good. They sport a wealth of quality starting pitching options around former NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes, a former NL MVP in Christian Yelich, and an Airbender at the back of their bullpen. Seeing them throwing haymakers in the race for the division title as the All Star break looms is in zero ways surprising.
The same cannot be said for the Cincinnati Reds, who have used their rookie rocket fuel to race right past Milwaukee to the top of the division standings despite Joey Votto missing most of the first half and their starting pitching cogs being meatball chuckers, more often than not.