The Milwaukee Brewers are a rebuilding team, but they certainly aren't playing like one.
Here we are, on June 13th, and the Brew Crew has a 1.5-game lead in the National League Central over the Chicago Cubs, who are currently struggling and back under .500 once again. Just like we all thought it would pan out back on Opening Day, right?
You gotta love baseball.
Sure, Eric Thames grabbed all the headlines for his insane month of April, but he's come crashing back down to reality since. Guys like Travis Shaw, Domingo Santana, and Hernan Perez have also been carrying the offense, and the recent call-up of Lewis Brinson adds even more excitement to an offense that ain't half bad.
On the pitcher's mound, Jimmy Nelson and Chase Anderson are doing a good job in fortifying the rotation, while Corey Knebel is doing his thing at the end of games.
Our metrics only give them a 19.0% chance to make the postseason at the moment, but it sure doesn't seem like they'll be going quietly into the night just because everyone thought the Cubs were supposed to run away with the division.
Who else has seen their stock rise or fall over the last week?
Unlike some other power rankings around the interwebs, ours here at numberFire aren't influenced by hype or the latest narratives. We put faith into our algorithms and use nERD to see which team is the best, which is a metric that represents runs scored above or below a league-average team per game.
Our rankings will include each team's nERD, their current record and playoff odds, along with how much their spot has changed over the past seven days.