Time Heals All Wounds, & Winning Makes Brewers Fans Happy. Or Does It?

[Michael Trzinski]

Image courtesy of MLB Via Getty Image

Milwaukee Brewers fans have been on the ‘Steel Vengeance’ rollercoaster ride while following the team that has been in Brew City since 1970. Regardless of age, fans have seen the ups and downs of their favorite baseball team, much like the riders of the world-famous ‘coaster in Sandusky, Ohio have experienced.

In the 55 years of Brewers baseball, the team has finished with a record of .500 or better just 24 times. The best stretch of 81 or more wins was from 1978 to 1983, the origin of Bambi’s Bombers and Harvey’s Wallbangers. Since then, the longest streak of winning ball was a four-year span from 2021 to 2024.

Does having a winning team equal strong attendance?
Looking back to the County Stadium days, the largest single-year attendance was 2,397,131 in 1983, which was a carryover from the ‘magical’ 1982 season. The Brewers won 95 games in that season before losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in the ‘Suds Series.’ It is fair to say that winning has a positive impact on the number of fans in the stands.

But what about emotion and sentiment? After the July 1999 ‘Big Blue’ crane accident that set back the opening of Miller Park one year, the Brewers would be forced to play at County Stadium for one more season. 

The only two dates in 2000 that featured an attendance figure of more than 50,000 were Opening Day (April 9), on which 53,509 people celebrated the last home opener, and the final game (September 28), on which 56,354 fans said goodbye to the old ballpark. In the other 79 home games, Milwaukee drew an average of 18,528.

Perhaps fans simply wanted to see the new ballpark open.

Welcome to Miller Park!
In 2001, President George W. Bush and 42,024 fans welcomed the Brewers to Miller Park and saw a 5-4 Brewers win, courtesy of Richie Sexson’s eighth-inning home run. Fans flocked to the park to the tune of 2,811,041 during the year despite the Brewers’ woeful 68-94 campaign. Perhaps they just wanted to see the roof open or close, which the Brewers operated every game for a large part of the season before they realized it would cause excessive wear and tear on the retractable roof.

Skipping ahead a quarter-century, let’s talk a little about how fans perceive the team depending on the Brewers’ fortunes. Are Brewer fans ‘fair-weather’ or will they pledge their allegiance no matter what?

In three recent polls on Brewer Fanatic, readers were asked:

·        Do you approve of the job Pat Murphy is doing as Brewers manager?

·        Will the Brewers make the postseason in 2025?

·        How many games will the Brewers win in 2025?

How is manager Pat Murphy doing?
On March 31, when the Brewers started the season 0-4, about 50% of the poll respondents thought Murphy was doing a good job. His highest approval rating, about 95%, in April and May occurred on April 12, following the Brewers' win of four of their last five games. It hit rock bottom on April 26 when no one liked Murph. That was after a four-game losing skein. The approval rate rose in early May after three straight wins but sank to its lowest point again on May 11, following a trio of losses. His approval rate was about 91% on May 27, when the Brewers were in the midst of an eight-game winning streak.

Survey says: the Brewers fans like Murphy when the team wins.

Will the Brewers make the postseason?
Fans were optimistic to start the season, but then came three losses to the hated Yankees and one to the Royals as March ended. Oops. Fans were largely positive in the first three weeks of April, despite the Brewers' 12-11 record as of April 21. From about May 7 until Memorial Day, more fans thought that the Brewers would NOT make the playoffs. A 9-9 record in that timeframe, combined with the fact that they had been mired in third place in the NL Central, probably had something to do with the polling results. Our fine fandom is more positive since Milwaukee won nine of its last 10 contests as May turned to June.

Conclusion: fans are concerned about the Cubs and Cardinals, as well; they should be. Neither team is showing any signs of weakness. At least not yet.

How many games will the Brewers win?
In April, the consensus was that the Brewers would win somewhere in the 86-90 range. After the Brewers started May with just three wins in nine games, the faithful lowered their collective expectations to the 81-85 win range. Then, after going 5-4 in the next nine games, Brewer partisans got hopeful, and approximately 50% of the poll respondents were ready to give the Brew Crew a chance to win 91-95 games. Belief that the Brewers would perform that well quickly subsided over the next few days, but rose slowly at the end of the month.

The numbers have fluctuated, but generally, fans expect Milwaukee to win between 81 and 90 games.

I’m not entirely convinced that winning or losing games has a positive or negative impact on fans’ perceptions of the team. Still, it is enjoyable to review the season and compare the success (or failure) to what our astute readers share in our poll results.

Tell us what you think in the comments section. Is your perception of the team colored by win/loss record? Is the T-Dog (author) full of it? Please let us know, and thank you for reading!

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[Snoebird]

This season is all about Christian Yelich and whether he is still able at 33 to perform at an MVP level. Jackson Chourio will have his day, but Yelich is still "the guy" the Brewers need to drive the bus. Whether the Crew makes the postseason this year or not isn't as important as having their star player show that he can still be a viable slugger until Chourio truly arrives.

[Michael Trzinski]

52 minutes ago, Snoebird said:

This season is all about Christian Yelich and whether he is still able at 33 to perform at an MVP level. Jackson Chourio will have his day, but Yelich is still "the guy" the Brewers need to drive the bus. Whether the Crew makes the postseason this year or not isn't as important as having their star player show that he can still be a viable slugger until Chourio truly arrives.

And it certainly looks like Yeli has stepped up the pace, batting .415/.492/.774 over his last 53 ABs, including six HRs and 15 RBI. Hopefully he can stay healthy and continue to play well.