The Milwaukee Brewers will face the Los Angeles Angels in a three-game weekend series, beginning Friday. The Brew Crew hopes to flush the disappointing series loss to the San Francisco Giants earlier in the week and complete their West Coast road trip on a high note.
Entering play on Friday, Milwaukee holds a 67-41 record and owns a 5.5-game lead over the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central. The Angels are languishing in last place in the AL West, 13 games out of first place with a 42-67 record.
Here are the probable pitching matchups for the three-game set, a recap of the Brewers’ games against the Giants, and key Angels players with whom Milwaukee will contend.
Friday, July 31, 8:38 pm CST: Shane Drohan (MIL) vs. Ryan Johnson (LAA)
Saturday, August 1, 8:38 pm CST: Robert Gasser (MIL) vs. Jose Soriano (LAA)
Sunday, August 2, 2:15 pm CST: Jacob Misiorowski (MIL) vs. Walbert Urena (LAA)
The Brewers flew to the coast after a successful 7-2 home stand directly after the All-Star break. Unfortunately for Milwaukee, their transportation tribulations on the way to California were a harbinger of the woes on the field.
The Brewers boarded the team’s charter in Milwaukee on Sunday following their win over Colorado. Their plane sat on the tarmac for five hours before liftoff. The entourage did not arrive in San Francisco until the early hours of Monday, and their play on the field resembled a tired group.
The Brewers mustered just three hits off of Giant pitchers en route to a 3-0 loss. The Crew rebounded with a resounding 8-2 triumph on Tuesday behind starter Logan Henderson, who struck out seven over his 5.1 innings while not giving up a run.
The rubber match on Wednesday, however, was disastrous, and Milwaukee fans hope their team has the memory of a goldfish going forward. Trailing just 3-2 entering the bottom of the sixth inning, the Giants exploded for seven runs and put the game on ice. The normally reliable Brewers bullpen gave up 12 earned runs in the game, which included infielder Andrew Vaughn, who surrendered three in his one inning of work.
Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy did not sugarcoat his disappointment in how his team played in the finale.
“We didn’t play defense,” he said. “We gave up too many free bases. We dropped a routine fly ball in center. That doesn’t normally happen. But credit the Giants, they did a great job of putting the ball in play the right way. And then we started to give up free bases, and then free bases led to more runs. We made three errors. Not typical of us.”
The Brewers hope their off day on Thursday will serve as a reset for them, especially when their opponent is mightily struggling.
Since the All-Star Game, the Angels are just 4-8, losing three of the four series they played. In their most recent series, they were swept by the Houston Astros in Anaheim.
Clearly in a rebuilding cycle, the only recognizable name to the casual baseball fan on Los Angeles’ roster is Mike Trout. The future Hall-of-Famer, who is now 34-years-old, is having a respectable season, but his numbers pale in comparison to his past accomplishments. Trout has clubbed 18 homers, but his .244 batting average is 47 points lower than his career average.
Shortstop Zach Neto leads the Halos this season with 19 home runs, and outfielder Jo Adell has knocked in a team-high 62 runs.
One bright spot on the mound for the Angels has been the production of Soriano, Saturday’s scheduled starter. He owns a 9-6 record and a 3.29 ERA, which is good enough to earn a spot in the top-20 among MLB starters. Collectively, the Los Angeles hurlers have a 4.54 ERA, which ranks 24th in the major leagues.
The Angels have recorded just 13 saves in 2026, which is dead last, 30th out of 30 big-league teams.
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If the Brewers want to consider themselves a legitimate World Series contender, these are the types of series they need to win. Despite the disparity in the teams’ records, both teams house major-league talent, and an underdog can rise and shock the better team on paper. The Giants series is Exhibit A for that theory.
The plan is simple. Milwaukee needs to avoid the trappings of Disneyland and the Sunset Strip this weekend if they want to keep pace with the Los Angeles Dodgers and continue its championship aspirations.
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