Brewers' "Uecker Magic" Ends in Deflating NLCS Sweep

(image credit: OnMilwaukee.com)

Another MLB season is in the books, and another year has been shed off my life watching another heartbreaking Brewers playoff exit.  I honestly don't even want to write a reflection this year, so I'm going to keep this one brief.  The pain is still fresh from the loss (especially since the Dodgers won again) and each year gets harder than the next to reflect on.  I was literally texting friends just a couple of weeks ago about World Series travel plans, so this year hurt for sure.  I also don't really want to be writing this because you can just go back in the blog and read last year's reflection which was almost identical to 2025.  A team that was not expected to even be competitive, let alone have the best record in baseball and 4 wins away from the World Series, made for another season that was both surprising and disappointing at the same time.  Another year of an elite coaching staff, stellar defense littered with Gold Glove nominees, and another year that we successfully piecemealed a rotation together.  And another year of the same offseason holes to fill.  If you replace Garrett Mitchell in my 2024 post with Caleb Durbin, it was a remarkably similar season ending in the same result.  Barring an unexpected fire sale or a large influx of cash from ownership, I expect 2026 to be another year of growth for the young players, another offseason of difficult trade decisions, and more of the same of the 2024 and 2025 seasons.  Hopefully next year, we can squeeze that last bit of "Uecker Magic" out of the tube, and finally make it to The Dance.  The exciting thing to watch for next year will be that - you would think - as an organization we will finally garner some respect nationally after two very prosperous seasons, and the NL Central is rapidly improving around us, so it will be fun to watch how the team steps up to that challenge of higher perceived expectations.

Erik and I already have a general framework for next year's trip, so stay tuned this winter for an announcement on that.  Until then, stay warm, and dream about the 2026 Caribbean Series coming up in a long, dark 87 days.

FINAL 2025 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 10

Peter - 31

2025 MLB Postseason

It's a wrap on the 2025 regular season, and the playoffs begin tomorrow with a week of quadruple headers - a big reason I am a huge fan of the expanded playoff format.  The other reason I am a big fan of the expanded field is that it creates drama for pretty much the entire month of September because there are so many more teams with a chance to snag one of those 3 Wild Cards in each league.  If this were 4 years ago, the Tigers would been sent home, and the baseball world would have been denied seeing likely Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal pitch in the postseason, and we also would have seen the NL playoffs largely decided over a month ago.  Because of the 6-team field, we got to see a remarkable comeback for the Guardians to overtake Detroit to win their 3rd AL Central title in the last 4 years, only for the two of them to be matched up against each other in the first round.  Cleveland channeled the 2024 Tigers to give them a taste of their own medicine, erasing a 15 1/2 game deficit, the largest in MLB history.  The 6-team field also let us witness another catastrophic Mets implosion, which allowed the Terry Francona-led Reds to sneak into the playoffs for the first time in a full season since 2013, despite having a sub-.500 record in August and September.  As a Brewers fan who was completely devastated by the Mets defeating us in the playoffs last year, I am immensely enjoying bathing in the schadenfreude of their misery.  Pete Alonso announced he was opting out of his contract for next year less than an hour after their season ended, which is just very on brand for the Mets.  The Blue Jays had the 2nd best record in all of baseball after Memorial Day (#1 was the Brewers), and the Mariners had a stretch of 17 wins in 18 games en route to their first division title since Ichiro's rookie season in 2001.  The Cubs finally decided to be decent this year, and the entire country outside of Texas is rejoicing for the Astros missing the playoffs.  And, of course, we can't put a bow on the 2025 season without mentioning the 97-win Brewers.  They locked up their 4th division title in the last 5 years, and their 7th postseason berth in the last 8 years, while also breaking the franchise record for wins in a season.  This team's preseason projected win total was 80, and they were once again counted out by everybody to not even have a chance to sniff the playoffs, and Pat Murphy and Crew yet again proved everybody wrong.  He should be a lock to repeat as NL Manager of the Year.  I know I say this every year, but this feels like a year the Brewers can make a deep run, if they can just get everyone healthy in time for Saturday following their well-earned first round bye.

I picked the Dodgers and the Rangers to go to the World Series before the season.  Obviously I was way off with the Rangers, but it's hard to bet against the Dodgers with that lineup and their postseason acumen.  I would also like to note that I picked the A's to beat the over of 71 wins and they did so by a healthy margin, finishing up with a record of 76-86.  So I'll have a nice chunk of change this fall to either celebrate with, or console me, depending on how far the Brewers go.  Either way, beer will be involved.

PLAYOFFS START 9/30/25
NL Wild Card Round - #3 Dodgers host #6 Reds, #4 Cubs host #5 Padres
NLDS - #1 Brewers v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Phillies v. 3/6 Winner

AL Wild Card Round - #3 Guardians host #6 Tigers, #4 Yankees host #5 Red Sox
ALDS - #1 Blue Jays v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Mariners v. 3/6 Winner

World Series Prediction: Brewers defeat Yankees in 7
Rooting for: Brewers v. Blue Jays

Preseason Predictions:
#1 Phillies
#2 Dodgers
#3 Brewers
#4 Braves
#5 Diamondbacks
#6 Reds

#1 Red Sox
#2 Rangers
#3 Royals
#4 Yankees
#5 Rays
#6 Mariners

Preseason World Series Prediction: Dodgers defeat Rangers

FINAL STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 9/29/25:

Brewers 97-65, +5.0, 1st NL Central; NLDS v. 4/5 Winner

Twins 70-92, -18.0, 4th AL Central; eliminated

Athletics 76-86, -14.0, 4th AL West; eliminated

2025 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 10

Peter - 31

Another Disappointing Playoff Exit for the Rox

All photos of Northwoods League Great Plains West Playoffs available on Flickr.

The St. Cloud Rox squandered another phenomenal regular season with a heartbreaking first round playoff loss at the hands of the Mankato Moondoogs this past week.  The key to winning in baseball - more than just about any sport due to the number of games - is less about your overall season record and more about how well you're playing going into the postseason, so the Rox second-best record of 47-22 was almost meaningless when you consider that they ended the season losing two consecutive games to their first round opponent, the Moondogs.  They would also go on to lose Game 1 of the 3-game set in Mankato, and things were looking grim as the first round is almost always a sweep in this league.  However, they did at least manage to win one game before their eventual downfall, which was the game I happened to go to.  Their 4-0 victory was a game completely dictated by starting pitching, as most playoff games tend to be.  The Rox starter Hunter Day pitched one of the best games of his life, tossing 7 innings of shutout ball with 7 strikeouts and over 100 pitches.  The Moondogs starter Braden Grimm basically singlehandedly lost the game more so than the Rox earned the win.  After getting the first out of the 2nd on a fly out, he went on to walk 4 consecutive batters to hand the Rox their first run, then give up a run-scoring sac fly, and then the Rox managed to steal one more run quite literally on a nifty double-steal play they've been running all season.  The inning would end with St. Cloud leading 3-0 on no hits, and for a long time it was looking like they would win this game while also getting no hit.  However, as soon as Wild Thing came out of the game in the 6th, the Rox would immediately notch their first hit to avoid this odd feat.  The Rox did everything they could to lose this game, as their shortstop almost had more errors (3) than the team had hits (4).  Ben Smith picked a great time for his first save of the season with 2 lockdown innings to close the game.  As I eluded to, this valiant effort was sadly all for naught, as St. Cloud would go on to get smoked 10-4 in Game 3.

This has been a really fun team to watch the last couple of years and it was disappointing to see them lose again, but this is one of the best supported teams in all the Northwoods League, and it was awesome to be a part of it in a playoff atmosphere this year.  The Green Bay Rockers would go on to win their 2nd Summer Collegiate World Series in 3 years (they still call it this even though it is now only one game), and in doing so maintained a streak of all Great Lakes Division teams winning the league since the realignment in 2019.  Megan and I are considering changing up our ticket package next year as we are just not huge fans of Joe Faber Field, but we'll still for sure be out to see this exciting team at some point in 2026.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 8/18/25:

Brewers 78-45, +8.0, -- WC; 5 @ Cubs, 3 v. Giants, 4 v. Diamondbacks, 3 @ Blue Jays

Twins 58-66, -14.0, -9.0 WC; 3 v. Athletics, 3 @ White Sox, 3 @ Blue Jays, 3 v. Padres

Athletics 56-70, -14.0, -12.0 WC; 3 @ Twins, 3 @ Mariners, 3 v. Tigers, 3 v. Rangers

2025 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 8
Peter - 28

Another Similar Offseason for the Brewers

If you asked two separate Brewers fans to reflect on the 2024 season, and one person referred to it as a surprising success, and the other referred to it as a disappointing failure, they'd both be correct.  The Brewers were written off and cast aside by just about every publication and pundit in the baseball industry before Spring Training even began, and even I had my doubts.  I thought that they'd be better than projected, but certainly not a playoff team on paper.  They had a new manager, they had a lineup comprised mostly of 1st and 2nd year players and one notable veteran reclamation project in Rhys Hoskins, and it was difficult to fathom how a rotation that lost 6 starters to either injury or trade (Burnes, Woodruff, Lauer, Miley, Houser, Teheran) would even be able to cobble together enough innings to get through a season, let alone be productive.  So the fact that this team managed to win 93 games and basically coast through the division for almost the entire season was nothing short of miraculous.  Brice Turang shunned off a sophomore slump and took a major step forward to become a potent leadoff man who was 3rd in baseball in steals and led all defenders at any position in defensive runs saved, which garnered him his first Gold Glove yesterday.  Outfielders Sal Frelick (another Gold Glove winner), Blake Perkins (Gold Glove finalist), and Garrett Mitchell seemingly took turns making highlight reel plays in the outfield on a nightly basis and helped make run prevention a key component to the team's success.  Newcomer Joey Ortiz, who was the major piece of the Corbin Burnes trade with Baltimore, was a big part of that defense as well, and should slide into shortstop nicely next year when Willy Adames is almost certainly gone.  Two of the most encouraging signs for 2025 and beyond were that William Contreras continues to be the best catcher in the game, and Christian Yelich returned to his near-MVP form before a back injury ended his season.  Put all of those things together, and you can't help but say that a 6th playoff appearance in 7 years was an unmitigated success.  It's approaching the point where it's expected for the Brewers to make the playoffs and the word "dynasty" would not be a stretch, and I never thought I would be saying that in my lifetime.  

However, with continued success comes greater expectations, and another first-round exit in the playoffs also makes this season extremely disappointing and a failure to take that next step.  Yes, the playoffs are largely a crapshoot, especially given the 12-team format now.  Any given team can win on any given day and even the best teams only win 55-60% of the time, which is what makes baseball so great.  The Yankees certainly would not have won as many championships as they have if they had to play 4 rounds of playoffs in the 1930s.  But you take enough shots and you expect to eventually make one, and that just hasn't happened for the Brewers for whatever reason.  They certainly had the offense and bullpen and defense this year to put the pieces together, and it just didn't happen.  One of the greatest closers in Brewers history gave up a homer on his signature pitch, to a guy who had not homered off of a changeup nor to the opposite field all year, and sometimes that just happens in baseball.  It was gut-wrenching, and it took me a good week to get over the loss, and each year gets harder to take when we don't advance.  But I also can't help but be proud of this team, and I try not to take it for granted that I am a fan of a team that has been pretty much continuously competitive over the last 8 or 9 years.

I mentioned Willy Adames earlier, and he is just one of the many looming hot stove questions this team always seems to have.  Hoskins picked up his option so that clears up first base a little, but besides Adames' inevitable departure, the biggest story will be whether or not Devin Williams is traded.  The team recently declined his $10.5M option, but he is still arbitration eligible for one more season, and he would likely be coveted by a lot of teams.  What we would get in return for a 30-year old reliever who recently had back surgery remains to be seen.  The Brewers unfortunately for whatever reason seem to have a little bit of a sleazy track record lately for how they're treating their outgoing players - Cain, Burnes, Hader, Colin Rea, and now Williams as recent examples - and are very focused on the bottom line.  Which a small market team should always be, but not at the expense of a healthy clubhouse or reputation.  Bullpen pieces are a dime a dozen these days, but how hard we go after another infield bat and some starting pitching will be interesting.

Welp, another season in the books, and I'm happy to report that I crossed the "30 games attended" threshold for the first time since I became a parent.  Time to catch up on my TV shows for a few months and brush up on my Spanish on the Dominican League broadcasts.  Other than that, stay tuned for Tour 2025 news, and only 108 short days until Spring Training!

FINAL 2024 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 7
Peter - 32

2024 MLB Postseason

The 2024 season featured 6 division winners that were all largely decided by August 1st, but the final two wild card spots in each league were thrilling to the very last pitch of the season - a season that was extended by an extra day with an epic Mets-Braves winner-take-all doubleheader.  All is right with the world as the huge-payroll Yankees, Padres, and Mets are all returning to the postseason this year.  Once again, the Brewers won the NL Central despite being written off by every baseball analyst in the country - just as they were last year - and this will be their 6th postseason in the last 7 years, including 4 division titles in that stretch.  The Crew has the 6th most wins in all of baseball since the start of their run of success in 2017, so it really makes me wonder when they'll start to be taken seriously.  Even I wrote them off in Spring Training this year, and I hope I can eat my own words as I watch them hoist the World Series trophy in a month.  With repeated success comes expectations, and the years of just being happy with making the postseason are long gone.  There's no reason to think this team can't make a deep run in a softer playoff field than I can remember in recent years.  Almost every team in the playoffs, especially in the American League, has either limped in, or has a ton of injuries, or some discernable flaw, and no team won 100 games.  The two possible exceptions to the "soft" playoff field are the Brewers' first round opponent of the Mets, and the Detroit Tigers.  Both teams came out of nowhere to snag the final wild card spots in their respective leagues, and the Tigers were even sellers at the trade deadline.  They overcame a 10-game deficit in the final 6 weeks of the season, becoming the first team in MLB history to overcome a double-digit deficit that late in the season.  This historic stretch can be greatly attributed to the embarrassing collapse of the Twins, who went an abysmal 13-27 in their final 40 games.  A similar collapse also occurred in the AL West, where the Astros started the year just 7-19 and were below .500 at the All-Star Break before erasing a 10-game deficit to surpass the Mariners in route to yet another division title.  You can't put a bow on the 2024 regular season without mentioning two things - Shohei Ohtani and the Chicago White Sox.  Shohei created his own category of player by achieving the first 50/50 season of all time, and might very well become the first full-time DH to win an MVP award.  Shockingly, in his 7th MLB season, this will be his first time in the playoffs.  And the lowly White Sox went 41-121, thus surpassing the 1962 Mets with the most losses in a season in the Modern Era.  I'm not sure why everyone in baseball is so shocked that the AL Central - widely considered the worst division in baseball - fielded 3 playoff teams when each of them got to play the White Sox 13 times.

I picked the Braves and Orioles to go to the World Series before the season, and while technically that's still a possibility, I'm not feeling super confident about either of those teams right now.  It took the O's sweeping the Twins over the weekend just for me to push on my preseason bet over 91 wins.  Here's hoping the Crew plays deep into October so that I can make it back for a playoff game.  There are a lot of really intriguing matchups in the Wild Card round, and I can't wait for it to start in just 3 short hours.

PLAYOFFS START 10/1/24
NL Wild Card Round - #3 Brewers host #6 Mets, #4 Padres host #5 Braves
NLDS - #1 Dodgers v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Phillies v. 3/6 Winner

AL Wild Card Round - #3 Astros host #6 Tigers, #4 Orioles host #5 Royals
ALDS - #1 Yankees v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Guardians v. 3/6 Winner

World Series Prediction: Phillies defeat Astros in 7
Rooting for: Brewers v. Orioles

Preseason Predictions:
#1 Braves
#2 Dodgers
#3 Cubs
#4 Phillies
#5 Padres
#6 Reds

#1 Orioles
#2 Astros
#3 Twins
#4 Yankees
#5 Blue Jays
#6 Rangers

Preseason World Series Prediction: Braves defeat Orioles

FINAL STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 10/1/24:
Brewers 93-69, +10.0, 1st NL Central; NL WC v. Mets
Twins 82-80, -10.5, 4th AL Central; eliminated
Orioles 91-71, -3.0, 2nd AL East; AL WC v. Royals

2024 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 7
Peter - 32

Rox Win Great Plains West, Lose in Division Championship

(photo courtesy of Rox website)

The St. Cloud Rox had a phenomenal season in our first as partial season ticket holders, coming on strong late in the season to win the second half of the Great Plains West division, with an overall record of 43-26.  They made it out of the first round of the 8-team playoff field with a victory in the best-of-3 series against nearby rival Willmar, and in doing so, became the first team in Northwoods League history to come back to win a 3-game playoff series after dropping the first game at home.  The magic would end in the second round, losing a winner-take-all game to the LaCrosse Loggers by a score of 8-1 in the Great Plains Championship.  This season was a continuation of a particularly prolific period in franchise history.  Since 2015 (ironically the year of my first St. Cloud game), the Rox have earned playoff births in 8 of the 9 non-COVID seasons, 4 division championships, the best overall league record in 2021, and one Northwoods League Championship back in 2017.  Ben Higdon, a Junior from Southern Miss, led the team in batting average, RBI, walks, and games played, was second in homeruns with 11, and was also named a mid-season All-Star.  Among pitchers with at least 1 start, Dallin Harrison (San Diego) led the team in ERA and wins, Piercen McElyea (Tarleton State) led the team with 52 strikeouts, and Kaden Pfeffer (SCSU) led the team with 52 innings pitched.

The Rox went 5-2 in the seven games of our ticket package and 26-9 overall at home this season, including a remarkable 18-3 home record in the second half.  They were such a fun team to watch, particularly offensively, and I cannot wait to return to Joe Faber Field next year!

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 8/23/24:

Brewers 73-54, +10.0; 3 @ Athletics, 3 v. Giants, 4 @ Reds, 3 v. Cardinals

Twins 71-56, -2.0, -- WC; 3 v. Cardinals, 3 v. Braves, 3 v. Blue Jays, 4 @ Rays

Orioles 74-55, -1.5, +2.0 WC; 4 v. Astros, 3 @ Dodgers, 3 @ Rockies, 3 v. White Sox

2024 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 7

Peter - 29

2023 MLB Postseason

Unlike last year's playoff field that was one of the more predictable in recent memory, the 2023 season featured a flurry of twists and unlikely stories.  The top 3 payrolls in baseball - Yankees, Padres, and Mets - not only missed the playoffs, but were largely embarrassing for a good chunk of the year.  The Yankees were ravaged by injuries and really started to show their age, and Aaron Boone is probably cussing out an umpire somewhere as I write this.  The Padres were in the top 6 in just about every NL pitching and hitting category and still somehow needed until the final inning of the final game to even make it above .500.  And the Mets were, well, the Mets.  The Houston Astros swept the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend and the Texas Rangers lost 3 of 4 to the Seattle Mariners, which propelled Houston to its 6th division title in the last 7 years.  Despite getting swept, the D-Backs still snuck in as the #6 seed due to the Chicago Cubs' complete collapse over the final week.  The Miami Marlins made the playoffs for the first time in a full season since they won it all in 2003.  The Orioles went from losing 110 games just two years ago to winning 101 games as the best team in the American League (with the 3rd lowest payroll).  The Atlanta Braves shattered all sorts of offensive records on route to a 103-win season, including Ronald Acuna's 40-70 feat that might have all but cemented his MVP award.  And against all odds and seemingly every baseball pundit's preseason pick, the Brewers won the NL Central and will be in their 5th postseason in the last 6 years, which was only made sweeter by the Cardinals coming in dead last.

I picked the Yankees and Padres to go to the World Series, so that's about all you need to know on how well I predicted the postseason this year.  I'm super excited to go to a Twins playoff game on Wednesday in my first year as a Minnesota resident, and I hope to witness history as they have not won a single postseason game since 2004 (and yes I mean GAME not series).

PLAYOFFS START 10/3/23
NL Wild Card Round - #3 Brewers host #6 Diamondbacks, #4 Phillies host #5 Marlins
NLDS - #1 Braves v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Dodgers v. 3/6 Winner

AL Wild Card Round - #3 Twins host #6 Blue Jays, #4 Rays host #5 Rangers
ALDS - #1 Orioles v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Astros v. 3/6 Winner

World Series Prediction: Brewers defeat Astros in 6
Rooting for: Brewers v. Twins

Preseason Predictions:
#1 Braves
#2 Dodgers
#3 Brewers
#4 Mets
#5 Phillies
#6 Padres

#1 Yankees
#2 Astros
#3 Guardians
#4 Blue Jays
#5 Rays
#6 Mariners

Preseason World Series Prediction: Yankees defeat Padres

FINAL STANDINGS AND SERIES:

Brewers 92-70, +9.0, 1st NL Central; NL WC v. Diamondbacks

Twins 87-75, +9.0, 1st AL Central; AL WC v. Blue Jays

2023 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 4

Peter - 21

2022 MLB Postseason

I'd be remiss if I did not end this season with the mention of Aaron Judge hitting his 62nd homerun in the 2nd to last regular season game, and thus breaking the longstanding American League record set by Roger Maris in 1961 (oddly 61 years later).  This has been the big story for much of the 2nd half of the season and has re-stirred the debate of who the "true" homerun king is.  Many (including Roger Maris Jr.) will now say that it is Aaron Judge since he did it "cleanly," but that is a slippery slope and the numbers don't lie - 62 is less than 73.  Regardless if you believe in math or create your own set of records, it's an accomplishment worth celebrating in a historic season, during a time when pitchers are becoming more and more dominant.  It was exciting to follow a homerun chase again and brought back a lot of memories of the 1998 season for me.

The Yankees are one of the postseason field of 12 this year, and Judge's homerun chase has largely overshadowed how the team limped into the playoffs and almost blew a 15-game division lead.  Outside of the AL Central, and the Mariners ending the longest playoff drought in all of professional sports, the rest of this year's postseason field was mostly chalk and I picked 8 of the 12 teams correctly.  Sadly this did not include the Brewers, who missed the postseason for the first time since 2017, and actually played their first regular season games in which they were eliminated from playoff contention since Craig Counsell's first full season 6 years ago.

PLAYOFFS START 10/7/22
NL Wild Card Round - #3 Cardinals host #6 Phillies, #4 Mets host #5 Padres
NLDS - #1 Dodgers v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Braves v. 3/6 Winner

AL Wild Card Round - #3 Guardians host #6 Rays, #4 Blue Jays host #5 Mariners
ALDS - #1 Astros v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Yankees v. 3/6 Winner

World Series Prediction: Astros defeat Braves in 7
Rooting for:  Mets v. Blue Jays

Preseason Predictions
#1 Dodgers
#2 Braves
#3 Brewers
#4 Phillies
#5 Mets
#6 Cardinals

#1 Blue Jays
#2 White Sox
#3 Astros
#4 Rays
#5 Tigers
#6 Angels

Dodgers defeat Blue Jays in 5

FINAL STANDINGS AND SERIES:

Brewers 86-, 2nd NL Central; eliminated

Twins 78-84, 3rd AL Central; eliminated

FINAL 2022 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 5

Peter - 18

Brewers Disappoint in Playoffs

The 2021 Brewers went into the postseason with high hopes of a legitimate World Series run, but instead continued a disturbing (or comforting, depending on how you look at it) trend that dates all the way back to their first franchise postseason appearance in 1981.  In that season and every postseason appearance thereafter - 1982, 2008, 2011, 2018, 2019, 2020, and this year - the Brewers have been ousted by a team that made it all the way to the World Series, with 6 of those 8 teams actually winning it.  The Brewers lost 3 games to 1 to the world champion Atlanta Braves in the NLDS in what amounted to a dismal hitting performance.  While it is true that pitching and defense wins championships - something that the Brewers had in spades this year - you do still have to score some runs.  Scoring 6 runs in 4 games and getting shut out in 2 of them isn't going to get it done.  The Crew managed to get the bats hot enough from the day they traded for Willy Adames in May and well into September to make it all the way from 29th in the league in hitting into the top 10, but in the last few weeks of the season, a team-wide slump reared its ugly head and that unfortunately carried into the postseason.  Many people will make a big deal out of the fact that the Brewers clinched a postseason spot so early that they essentially had nothing to play for the last couple weeks of the season, and while that is true, I personally don't see that having any relation to their poor hitting down the stretch.  I think that we overachieved offensively for a large part of the season, and in the end, having a sub-par Yelich once again and notably missing the bats of the retired Ryan Braun and marooned Keston Hiura proved to be too much to overcome.  Baseball is a unique sport in that the best team on paper or in the standings is never a lock to win.  Any given team can win on any given day in a long season, and the playoffs are all about who goes in hot and who goes in cold, and the 2021 postseason was a perfect example of that with the Brewers flopping and the team with the worst record in the playoff field going all the way.

This team will be in an interesting position going into the offseason as they do have a glaring problem to fix in their offense, but not necessarily a lot of holes to fill to fix that problem.  By and large, the Brewers will be returning a sizeable chunk of their 40-man roster, barring any trades or releases.  The only notable positional player that will most certainly not be back is mid-season acquisition Eduardo Escobar.  Manny Pina's contract is also up, but he is likely 3rd in line for catching duties now behind incoming Mario Feliciano, so they may choose to let him walk especially with Luke Maile also on the roster.  The question becomes where to plug in bats, and the answer on the surface is simply that the bats we have need to be better, or at least more consistent.  I don't think it's a stretch to say that even a league-average Keston Hiura and a Christian Yelich that remotely approached his 2018-19 form would have accounted for another 5-7 wins and would have dramatically changed the outlook of the NLDS.  Lorenzo Cain was hurt for much of the year and is also entering his age 36 season.  Omar Narvaez started hot and made the All-Star team but cooled considerably after the break.  Jackie Bradley was never more than a superb defender and contributed next to nothing offensively.  A lot of the stat lines at the end of the year may look decent, but this team also still struck out a ton, which speaks more to our offensive strategy as a whole.  The firing of hitting coach Andy Haines could be a precursor to a change in approach next season.  It will be interesting to say the least on how this team spends its money this offseason, particularly with a lot of our arbitration-eligible players due substantial raises.  The biggest potential move is something I have been clamoring for for 2 years - trading Josh Hader while his value is high.  He could net 2-3 blue chip prospects who are ready to play in the big leagues, and it is getting to the point where it does not make sense to pay a reliever that much money with our payroll.  I could also see a scenario where we pick up Avisail Garcia's option and then trade him to free up salary space, but it would be hard for Brewers fans to stomach losing our best hitter from this season.  I don't envy the job that David Stearns and Matt Arnold have to do this year, particularly with the looming CBA expiration, but one thing the past 5 years has taught us is to trust in the process and know that they will make every attempt to be competitive.

As we wrap up the 2021 season, although it wasn't the ending Brewers fans hoped for, I reflect on it with gratitude.  I don't take for granted that we've made the playoffs 4 straight years and I'm very proud of this organization for that and to call myself a fan.  I'm very surprised and humbled that I was able to make it to 10 ballgames this year when 8 months ago it was looking more like zero.  I'm very grateful I got to see Erik this year and go on a ball trip.  But mostly, I am happy that my family and I continue to navigate this pandemic safely, and I'm excited for what 2022 will bring, including hopefully a trip to the new Rangers ballpark that will be 3 years in the making.

FINAL 2021 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 0

Peter - 10

2021 MLB Postseason

Wisconsin sports fans have been pretty spoiled to have a football team that is expected to complete for the playoffs every year for past 3 decades or so.  I never thought there would be a time in my life when I could say the same about the Brewers, but I think they might be approaching that territory.  The Crew secured a postseason spot for the 4th consecutive season, and have now been competitive every year under David Stearns and Craig Counsell after their first full season.  Here is a fun bar trivia fact that I guarantee nobody outside of Milwaukee will get correct: the Brewers are 2nd only to the Dodgers in total wins in the NL over the past 5 seasons with 395.  Unlike some past years when I was just happy with making the playoffs or maybe just getting out of the first round, this year I legitimately think the Brewers have a chance to win it all, and I'm super pumped for the postseason!

Excluding the Brewers and Covid, there have been a lot of other memorable storylines of the 2021 season.  The early hubbub was the ball tackiness issue which I touched on a few months ago.  Pitch spin rates were at an all-time high and MLB came down hard by banning literally all foreign substances outside of rosin.  The fact that we have not heard much about this since the first few weeks of the ban means that either pitches have adjusted and made a lot of stink over nothing, or more likely, they found some way around the system.  This will be an interesting issue leading into the CBA negotiations this winter.  Shohei Ohtani put up a historic season the likes of which we may never see again - 9 wins, 3.18 ERA, and a 10.8 K/9 rate on the mound, and 46 homers and 100 RBI with the bat.  If he doesn't run away with the MVP then there is something horribly wrong.  Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Marcus Semien broke homerun records for a historically prolific Blue Jays offense.  On the other side of the coin, the Mariners somehow won 90 games despite a -51 run differential.  Sadly, neither of those two teams made the playoffs.  We had 3 100-win teams (two in the same division!) and 4 100-loss teams which I'm sure has rarely if ever been done in the same season, and just further emphasizes a disparity in team salary that needs to also get addressed in the CBA.  Max Scherzer also became just the 19th pitcher ever to record 3,000 career strikeouts and further cemented his hall-of-fame candidacy, and has a good chance of joining Rick Sutcliffe as the only pitcher to win the Cy Young Award after being traded midseason.

This year was not one of my better ones on the predictions front, but if the Brewers win it all I won't really care.

PLAYOFFS START 10/5/21
NL Wild Card - #4 Dodgers v. #5 Cardinals
NLDS - #1 Giants v. WC Winner
#2 Brewers v. #3 Braves

AL Wild Card - #4 Red Sox v. #5 Yankees
ALDS - #1 Rays v. WC Winner
#2 Astros v. #3 White Sox

World Series Prediction: Brewers defeat Rays in 7
Rooting for:  Brewers v. White Sox

Preseason Predictions
#1 Dodgers
#2 Brewers
#3 Mets
#4 Padres
#5 Braves

#1 Yankees
#2 White Sox
#3 Athletics
#4 Blue Jays
#5 Angels

Padres defeat Yankees in 6

FINAL STANDINGS AND SERIES:

Brewers 95-67, 1st NL Central; NLDS v. Braves

Twins 73-89, last NL Central; eliminated

2021 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 0

Peter - 9

2020 MLB Postseason

When the 2020 season schedule was finally announced and along with it an expansion to 16 of 30 teams advancing to the playoffs, I remember my immediate reaction was that it was likely a sub-.500 team would make the postseason this year.  Sure enough, the Astros and Brewers both made the field of 16 with 29-31 records, and in this oddest of years they will always be remembered as the worst teams to make the playoffs of all-time.  That being said, it is 2020 and anything can happen.  Even a team like the Brewers - who had one of their 5 worst offensive seasons in club history, did not have a winning record for one day all season, and who has one healthy competent starter remaining - has a chance to win in a 3-game Wild Card series.  It will basically be Brandon Woodruff and Devon Williams against one of the greatest teams ever assembled starting on Wednesday night, when they fly to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers.

It also seems only fitting that in a year where almost nothing is predictable, that I had my most successful year of preseason playoff picks by guessing 14 of the 16 teams correctly.

PLAYOFFS START 9/29/2020

NL Wild Card Round:

#8 Brewers v. #1 Dodgers

#7 Reds v. #2 Braves

#6 Marlins v. #3 Cubs

#5 Cardinals v. #4 Padres

AL Wild Card Round:

#8 Blue Jays v. #1 Rays

#7 White Sox v. #2 Athletics

#6 Astros v. # 3 Twins

#5 Yankees v. #4 Indians

World Series Prediction:  Twins defeat Padres in 7

Rooting for:  Twins v. Brewers

Preseason Predictions:

#1 Dodgers

#2 Braves

#3 Cubs

#4 Mets

#5 Reds

#6 Padres

#7 Nationals

#8 Brewers

#1 Yankees

#2 Twins

#3 Athletics

#4 Rays

#5 White Sox

#6 Astros

#7 Indians

#8 Blue Jays

Dodgers over Athletics

Usually this is one of my final posts of the year in which I also report how many total ballgames Erik and I attended.  Sadly, that number is a big fat zero for both of us this year.  We are both really hoping that fans are allowed into stadiums next year, and particularly that we can make it to Texas next year to see the new Rangers park.  But we are now 6 months into this pandemic with things seemingly getting worse and not better, so who knows where our country will be next April.  In fact, even as I write this, I learned today that my daughter may have been exposed to Covid and we will all have to get tested.  There are still things more important than baseball, but if this weird season has taught me anything, it's that I needed the distraction far more than I realized.