In 2016 and 2017 Brewer hitters led all of Major League Baseball in strikeouts. In 2016 they struck out 1,543 times. They were forty-three strikeouts ahead of the Padres, who were in second place. Chris Carter and Jonathan Villar were the team leaders in strikeouts. Carter had more than 200 that year. The Milwaukee Brewers had a losing record that year while they were in the beginning to middle stages of a rebuild.
In 2017, Milwaukee Brewer hitters struck out even more than in 2016. They totaled 1,571 strikeouts and were thirty-three strikeouts ahead of the Rays, who were in second place.