MILWAUKEE — When it comes to star power, even the Arizona Diamondbacks acknowledge they are no match for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Milwaukee has two MVP candidates in Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, and pulled the surprise of the offseason when they traded for standout starter Zack Greinke.
The Diamondbacks’ biggest star is Justin Upton — and even he feels as if he and his teammates get lost in the shuffle.
“We’re just a bunch of guys nobody ever heard about,” Upton said. “In Arizona, still, nobody’s heard about us.”
The Diamondbacks might not have the Brewers’ marquee names. But the numbers, and the results, show two teams that are surprisingly similar going into today’s Game 1 of the NL division series.
Milwaukee’s Casey McGehee calls the Diamondbacks “the NL West version of ourselves, kind of.”
And if fans don’t know the Diamondbacks’ players, Braun said they will soon enough.
“It’s not like they don’t have talent,” Braun said. “Justin Upton was an MVP candidate all year. You look at the top of their rotation, Ian Kennedy is going to be in the Cy Young discussion. So it’s no doubt they have plenty of talent and I think they’re playing great baseball. It’s not easy.”
Yovani Gallardo opens for Milwaukee, coming off a three-game stretch when he went 2-0 and had 36 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings. Arizona counters with 21-game winner Kennedy.
