We've all been focused on what the Pirates are doing. Fair enough. But what the competition has been doing matters a lot, and that has gotten far less attention. Here are the standings at the end of the year. The focus is on the Brewers, so notice how they outperformed the Bucs. They scored a lot more runs and gave up a lot more.

Not surprisingly, the Brewers sought to upgrade their pitching. Surprisingly, the prime strategy for doing so was to add former Pirate pitchers. Mike Gonzalez and Tom Gorzelanny were their two big signings so far. Both are competent, and the Brewers' bullpen was arguably the worst in baseball last year. Mike Axisa's analysis suggests that there are a lot of wild cards in the mix.

The Brewers had a number of major injuries last year, and young players stepped up to keep them in contention. Notable among them were starting pitchers Mike Fiers, Mark Rogers, and Wiley Peralta. All pitched better in Milwaukee than they did in Nashville. Fluke? Hidden nuggets? You tell me.