The Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies are playing some afternoon baseball on the MLB schedule on Thursday and the game is live from Miller Park at 2:10 pm ET as David Buchanan and Matt Garza face off in the pitching matchup and the Brew Crew comes in as the NL Central leaders and one of the best teams in baseball in 2014.
The Brewers did not make the playoffs last season and now they are the top division leader in the NL in the best division in baseball. The Cubs are out of it, but the Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds are all in the mix for the division and the wild card with the way they have played recently, meaning the Brewers can't relax at all heading into the All-Star break. Garza has been fantastic and so has Aramis Ramirez and Jonathan Lucroy and that is one reason why the team is in first place.
The Phillies and Brewers are going in totally opposite directions, but the Brew Crew is coming into the game after a loss and they will try and stop the bleeding on Thursday. The game has Garza ahead of an important series with the Cardinals and that will be Yovani Gallardo taking on Joe Kelly for the first game of the series as the two rivals matchup. The Brewers have a nice lead in the central and they can push that even higher over the weekend.
The team comes into the game hitting the ball well and they are ranked sixth in the league in runs and sixth in slugging percentage as well and they are 11th in batting average. The pitching has been very quality and the team is ranked 12th in ERA and fourth in quality starts this year. The Brewers are likely the division winners here with the lead they have and they are now 12 games over .500 with 52 wins on the season.
The Phillies have been terrible and they are ranked 25th in runs and 28th in batting average this season. The team is ranked near the bottom in on base and slugging and they now are just looking to play some respectable baseball the rest of the way. The pitching has been middle of the pack, but it hasn't been enough to compete in the NL and this could be a year when the team sells hard at the trading deadline.
Check here for the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies live coverage from MLB.
