Brewers fans have come to expect exciting Septembers in the Craig Counsell era, and this September has been no different. As of this post, the Brewers own the best record in baseball this month at 17-4 to go along with the best staff ERA at 2.81. They have won 4 in a row, 15 of their last 17, and are 19-5 dating back to a series win against the Cubs on Labor Day weekend. In fact, their last series loss was the series prior to that against the Cardinals in late August. This magical September also follows a 19-7 final month last year, and a 15-12 month of September 2017, which doesn't sound too impressive but when you consider that they went 14-8 following the season ending injury to Jimmy Nelson and were not even expected to compete that year, it's quite remarkable. The 2017 season is worth bringing up because the Crew is going through a similar devastating injury this year with their reigning MVP Christian Yelich. They have been playing their hearts out and are 11-2 since he went down 2 weeks ago, in Miami of all places.
This team is really exciting to watch right now, and when you think about where they have come since Opening Day, it's really unbelieveable they are even in this position. This team has played all year with a completely decimated and underperforming pitching staff, pieced together by sheer will and saavy deals. Corey Knebel, Jeremy Jeffress, Brent Suter, and Bobby Wahl have all missed significant chunks if not all of the season. Jeffress, Jhoulys Chacin, and Jacob Barnes are three major pieces from last year that have been released. The year started with the aforementioned Chacin, Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes, and Zach Davies in the rotation. Of those 5, only Davies has really been consistently good all year. Peralta and Burnes were demoted to the bullpen and even AAA for stints very early, and Woodruff had an outstanding first half before missing the last 2 months with injury. The lineup has had its share of adversity as well, with Jesus Aguilar being released and Travis Shaw hitting well below .200 for most of the year, with a couple of stints in the minors. Lorenzo Cain has been beat up the entire season. And of course the Yelich injury. To take a team that everybody had counted out when they were only a game over .500 in August to 86-70 with a week to play, it says a lot about the clubhouse culture that Counsell puts forth. It's nice to know as a fan that, regardless of how the team is doing in the standings, there is going to be an exciting and competitive product on the field in the final month of the season. It will certainly be interesting to see how things change next year when expanded rosters go down to 28 guys.
The magic number to make the playoffs currently sits at 3. It would take a pretty epic collapse at this point to not make the playoffs, which is weird even to type out. The Brewres are currently tied with the Nationals for the top playoff spot and 3 back of the Cardinals for the division. It will be weird to root for the Cubs this weekend against the Cardinals, but I'll do my best.
STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 9/23/19:
Brewers 86-70, -3.0, -- WC, Magic Number 3; 3 @ Reds, 3 @ Rockies
Twins 96-60, +4.0, Magic Number 3; 3 @ Tigers, 3 @ Royals
2019 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 8
Peter - 22
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.
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