Brewers (Burnes) vs Yankees (Cole): 9/10/23, 12:35pm

[Brewcrew82]

1 hour ago, BruisedCrew said:

I don’t think it’s irrelevant to recognize that the expanded playoffs have allowed teams into the playoffs that would have been nowhere near them in many past seasons. It wasn’t that long ago that only 4 teams made the playoffs.

I also think it’s reasonable for fans to feel better about their team if their chances of playoff success are greater than not being precluded from bucking long odds. 

If the Brewers do make the playoffs this will probably be the worst odds they have had when entering the postseason, not counting the phony 2020 season and maybe 2008 when they limped in with a weakened pitching staff and a team in a major hitting slump. At least that team had one less round to navigate.

The teams in 1981, 1982, 2011, 2018, 2019, and 2021 were, in varying degrees, more impressive teams in absolute terms and relative to the competition than this one. 

 

2019 had worse odds.

[BruisedCrew]

1 hour ago, sveumrules said:

2019 team was missing Yelich and needed to beat a superior Nats team on the road to even get into the NLDS,

FanGraphs had them with 0.9% WS Odds before almost stealing that wild card game from the eventual Champs.

Either way, even with this offense, we’ve been watching at worst something like the 6th/7th best team in the franchise’s 50+ year history.

I’ve enjoyed the ride and look forward to the currently unknown details of exactly how it ends, even with the overwhelming likelihood that’s it’s just another 2023 NL Central Champs or 2023 Wild Card banner painted on the stadium wall.

Lower Fangraphs percentages doesn't necessarily mean worse odds (as in betting odds), but I'm surprised they were that low. Maybe I just had more hope for that team because they finished strong and were coming off of a strong playoff performance the year before.

I would quibble about this team being at worst the 6th or 7th best in franchise history, I think you are undervaluing some of the teams from 1978-1992 that were strong teams that did not make the playoffs because of a higher bar and having other extremely strong teams in their division and no wild card berths to bail them out.

I can really only speak for myself, but despite being bearish about this team, I am enjoying the season a lot more than those seasons that had bad to mediocre Brewers teams with no shot at making the playoffs. I suspect that a lot of the posters who regularly complain about the 2023 Brewers feel the same way. As long as people are complaining it means they still are interested enough to pay attention.

I don't think that criticizing the team (even in harsh terms) and "enjoying the ride" are mutually exclusive. But, though there is always uncertainty about how the season will end, I don't think it's unreasonable to be more positive and enthusiastic when the chances of a positive outcome are a lot less remote than they are this year. If the Brewers beat the Cubs in the final game to win the division, it won't be anywhere near as exciting as it was on the final day in 1982 when the win made the Brewers one of the favorites to win the World Series and there would have been no wild card consolation prize for a loss.

[AKCheesehead]

I just checked youtube to see where Sal's catch ranked on the sportscenter top 10 plays yesterday.  It came in at #2.

[Nola Beery]

15 hours ago, Team Canada said:

This is an interesting response after scoring lots of runs the first two games and then facing Cole today. I guess if you want to complain about a couple of innings against their bullpen, ok, but doesn't seem very reasonable.

I assume all the Yankees fans are raging about how their hitters suck if they can't hit Burnes and Williams.

Yeah. We scored runs... and there's no dismissing the importance of that, however they get scored!  But I looked back at some of our recemt big innings, and it seems they usually involved some walks and maybe an error or 2.  I'll take 'em however we get 'em.  But we seem to "accept" them as gifts more than we actually "take" them.

And I am NEVER wrong! 🙂🤐  

PS  re Canada:  I am a former die-hard Expo fan (Ellis Valentine, Warren Cromartie, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Gary Carter, Tim Wallach, Larry Walker, Terry Francona, Vlad Sr. & more). When they went to DC, I had no real team for years... until I chose the Brewers. (Beer was factor.)