The Milwaukee Brewers lost the architect of their successful 2015-2023 period, David Stearns.
They also lost their longtime manager, Craig Counsell.
They decided to trade their ace, Corbin Burnes, and they also lost Brandon Woodruff to injury.
On top of this, they have seen nearly all of their division rivals get some much-needed reinforcements.
Still, the Brewers look like they will be competitive at the very least.
On Friday, they earned a hard-fought victory against the New York Mets at Citi Field, thanks in large part to impressive displays by Freddy Peralta and the bullpen.
Milwaukee limited New York to one run and one hit.
Both happened on the same play: a Starling Marte home run.
Aside from that?
Nothing.
They broke a cool Opening Day record thanks to their dominance.
“1 hit is the fewest the Brewers have allowed on Opening Day in franchise history. Prior fewest: 2, in 2007,” MLB stats expert Sarah Langs tweeted.
1 hit is the fewest the Brewers have allowed on Opening Day in franchise history
prior fewest: 2, in 2007 https://t.co/O8dnrvFClN
On that 2007 Opening Day, Ben Sheets threw a complete game and conceded just two hits and one run against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Peralta alone tossed six one-run innings with the aforementioned home run allowed, and one walk.
He struck out eight.
When he left, the Brewers bullpen finished the job.
Trevor Megill, Joel Payamps, and Abner Uribe each threw a scoreless frame to preserve the win.
None of them allowed a hit, so Marte’s long drive was everything the Mets had to show on Friday.
The season will be hard for the Brewers, but it would be a mistake to rule them out of the NL Central race when they clearly still have a very talented team.