The Milwaukee Brewers will host the San Diego Padres for three games beginning Tuesday evening in Milwaukee, sending two of the National League’s better early-season teams into a series that arrives with both clubs still dealing with injuries. The Brewers were off Monday after sweeping the Yankees, while the Padres came in after a 2-2 split with the Cardinals.
Milwaukee enters at 22-16 and tied with the Cardinals for second place in the NL Central. San Diego is 24-16 and tied atop the NL West with the Dodgers. The standings make this week’s matchup feel more than routine, even in early May, because neither club has spent much time slipping off its pace.
The Brewers have gotten there despite a team batting line of.240/.333/.353, with 26 homers, 195 runs and 40 steals. Brice Turang has been the engine at the top, leading the offense with six homers and eight doubles while hitting.298/.422/.511. William Contreras and Jackson Chourio remain part of the heart of the lineup, and Jake Bauers and Gary Sánchez have also been key contributors, especially for power.
San Diego’s offense has looked different but still productive enough to stay in the race. The Padres are hitting.223/.297/.370 as a team, with 39 homers and 170 runs. Xander Bogaerts leads the club with seven homers. Manny Machado has six homers but is hitting.191/.294/.353, and Fernando Tatis Jr. has yet to homer through 39 games, though he has 15 RBIs, 14 runs scored and 10 steals. Jackson Merrill, Gavin Sheets and Ramón Laureano have also given the Padres important production, while Ty France has appeared in 23 games.
Injuries, though, have shaped the build-up to the series on both sides. Christian Yelich is still waiting to rejoin the Brewers lineup, and Brandon Lockridge injured his right knee on a slide Friday night. Initial X-rays were negative, but he is likely to miss at least a few weeks or a month. Brandon Woodruff is set to resume throwing this week, while Quinn Priester remains out after shoulder soreness during his rehab assignment. Angel Zerpa is done for the season and will have Tommy John surgery, and Rob Zastryzny and Jared Koenig are targeting late May or early June returns.
The Padres have a longer list of absences. Jhony Brito, Joe Musgrove, Nick Pivetta, Bryan Hoeing, Yu Darvish, Germán Márquez, Jake Cronenworth and Luis Campusano are all out, with Brito and Pivetta sidelined until midseason, Musgrove not expected back until the second half, Hoeing and Darvish out for the year, Márquez out until at least June with a forearm injury, Cronenworth in concussion protocol and Campusano out until at least late May after last week’s big toe fracture.
That leaves both teams trying to protect momentum with imperfect rosters. The Brewers have the recent sweep of New York behind them and home field in the series opener. The Padres arrive with a division lead to defend and an offense that has held up better than some of the missing names might suggest, setting up a matchup where depth may matter as much as form.
