Me to the people telling me that the Brewers are going nowhere this year because they look like complete dog mess against the top two teams in the National League:
You want me to say that the Brewers don’t look anywhere close to the level of the Dodgers or Braves? Fine. Sure. They’re 2-9 against the top two teams in the NL. Most of the games haven’t been close against the two favorites to make it to the World Series from the National League. Are you happy? Do you feel better?
Alright, all kidding aside, it’s August 17th. On paper, teams are what they are at this point of the season. There could be a call-up here or there, but we’re far enough into the season to know what we’re dealing with. The Brewers have the talent to take a Wild Card spot. They have the talent to win the NL Central. But even I don’t harbor any illusions about what the betting odds would be if they match up with the Dodgers or Braves in the NLDS or NLCS: They’d be underdogs in basically every single game.
But if you want me to throw in the towel on the season because of that, I won’t! I can’t and I won’t! Listen, baseball is a QUIRKY sport. The list of teams making the World Series or winning the World Series that had no business being there is LONG. Just look at last season, the Phillies sneak in as the 6 seed, they weren’t favored against ANYONE, including the reigning World Series champion Braves, and they ran it all the way to the Fall Classic! In 2019 the Nationals BARELY got past the Brewers in the Wild Card game and went on to win the whole damn thing. The 2011 Cardinals had NO BUSINESS getting past a stacked Phillies team in the NLDS, but they did, and they went on to beat the *REDACTED* in the NLCS and took home the trophy.
The point I’m making is this: Yes, the Brewers have not looked good against the two best teams in the NL. But they do possess excellent pitching and baseball can be extremely random in the small sample size of a playoff series. We were all annoyed with David Stearns’ ‘bite of the apple’ quote from last season because it came after they traded their All Star closer and acquired no one while they were sitting in first place. But this season truly is a ‘bite of the apple’ type of season. Just get in and set up your pitching so you’re throwing Burnes/Woodruff/Peralta in Games 1, 2 and 3. For as bad as the offense has been, I’ll take my odds with those guys on the mound and Payamps/Williams in the 8th and 9th.
PS: Yesterday was the first time Wade Miley started at Dodger Stadium since this infamous moment:
I was BAFFLED when this happened in real time. But the more I think about it, even though they lost the game, I don’t hate the mind games Counsell was playing in that moment. Don’t forget, that 2018 team really didn’t have a good starting rotation. Jhoulys Chacin and Miley (when healthy) were the top two guys in the rotation. Woodruff was really young, Burnes was a rookie coming out the bullpen, Gio Gonzalez was making critical starts down the stretch. So Counsell tricked the Dodgers into setting an all righty lineup against the lefty Miley, and then pulled the ol’ switcheroo after one batter. Not the worst idea when the strength of that team was actually the offense and the bullpen.
