Is it defensible to refer to the defending National League Central champs as "upstarts?" It is, and such is the state of the expectations -- and the baseball -- in Milwaukee these days. The Brewers on Saturday night in L.

They’ve been torching all comers for the bulk of the last two months, playing 19 games over .500 (31-12) since May 24. Impressively, they managed to shift into an even higher gear heading into the All-Star break, winning their last seven games — three of them against the mighty Dodgers — by a combined score of 40-14.