The five-game series against Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t just go bad for the Milwaukee Brewers. It gave us something we hadn’t seen in more than 50 years.
Milwaukee rolled into Pittsburgh with the National League’s best record. The Brewers lost all five games, something that hadn’t happened to a team in Milwaukee’s position since 1964.
The Pirates swept the Brewers in a 5-game series. It's the first time a league-leading club was swept in a 5-game series since June 1964, when the AL-leading White Sox were swept on the road by the Yankees. pic.twitter.com/N3ErTJmmzf
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 15, 2018
Of course, to cut the Brewers some slack, five-game series are rare. So, it’s uncommon for any team to even have the chance to be swept in a series like that.
But in another way, this actually looks even worse for Milwaukee. When the Chicago White Sox were swept in a five-game series, they were swept by a New York Yankees team that would go on to win the American League Pennant with a 99-63 record. Even with a five-game sweep, the Pirates are still 48-49 and in fourth-place in the National League Central. We never want to overreact too much to one five-game stretch. But this is not a team that Milwaukee should have been swept by.
The good news for the Brewers is that they’re still in decent shape. Granted, they no longer have the NL’s best record and don’t even lead the NL Central anymore. Still, Milwaukee holds the first Wild Card spot in the National League. So, things aren’t bad.
Still, that’s not the kind of series that any team wants on its mind heading into the All-Star break. Though, weirdly, it’s not the only time something like it has happened to Milwaukee this year.