One Fatal Flaw...

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Interesting artical in USA today highlighting the Achille's Heel of the playoff contenders  MLB playoff contenders' flaws, issues that could derail title hopes

The intro included this bit about the Brewers, and it sounds a little too familiar again.

"The Brewers had the best record in baseball in 2025 then scored one run a game and hit .128 in a four-game National League Championship Series sweep by the Dodgers. It was the lowest batting average in a postseason series of at least three games in MLB history. Their power outage was not a fluke. Milwaukee finished the year in the bottom third of the majors in home runs, covering for it all season with contact and speed. The flaw was there, buried under 97 wins, and it was exploited once the bright lights came on.

The actual "flaw" discussed about MIL later in the article is about the starting pitching. Not telling us anything we don't already know as daily followers of the team. Just sounds a bit like a broken record from last year.... not enough power, built for the regular season with speed, defense and contact against pitching that runs from the aces to the bottom of the order, the same bottom of the order type of pitching you don't face in the playoffs. Hope the contact bats don't crap the bed again when it counts most, especially with the pitching drop off after Henderson.

 

[jay87shot]

I don't think the lack of power is a fatal flaw, last year we could have hit 5 more  HR in that Dodger series and still wouldn't have been close becuase they would have likely been solo shots. Anyone facing Skubal, Yamamoto, Snell, and Glasnow is going to struggle and it just was that we had 4 tough ones in a row. I would rather have a scrappy team that can get on base and play some small ball to steal a run here or there than really on a random solo HR or two when facing that rotation. We have enough guys who can hit HR, maybe no 40 HR guys but 6 guys who can hit 20+ is alright.

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48 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

I don't think the lack of power is a fatal flaw, last year we could have hit 5 more  HR in that Dodger series and still wouldn't have been close becuase they would have likely been solo shots. Anyone facing Skubal, Yamamoto, Snell, and Glasnow is going to struggle and it just was that we had 4 tough ones in a row. I would rather have a scrappy team that can get on base and play some small ball to steal a run here or there than really on a random solo HR or two when facing that rotation. We have enough guys who can hit HR, maybe no 40 HR guys but 6 guys who can hit 20+ is alright.

Ideally, you have better balance in the lineup between the contact bats and the power bats, so those 5 more HRs aren't solo shots. Obviously, acquiring that lineup is easier said than done. Small ball is fun, entertaining no doubt, Just would prefer a better balance. Yes, they have several guys with the capability to hit 20+HRs, but they don't. Currently, they have 2, one of which is reaching it for the first time in a career year. Turang might get them 3, and Contreras gives them a slim chance for 4. Can't wait until Burke and Fischer arrive and hopefully bring their hammers to the big league.