Fear The Chorizo

Hader wouldn't have been pitching to Freeman in the 8th inning if Williams had a functional throwing hand. I disagree. Hader is the exact match-up you'd want facing a power-hitting left-handed first baseman in a tied game in the bottom of the 8th. I don't have the splits in front of me, but I think it's a tougher in-game decision at that point to just go to Hader because Williams is no slouch against LHB either and at that point the Brewers would know they'd need to get at least 3 more outs in the 9th to win the game. I also hated the fact earlier moves led to Maile being the catcher that inning - no idea why Hader is throwing a slider to Freeman in that spot.

I don't think anyone's saying the lack of offense wasn't the main problem/reason the Brewers lost - Having that just whitewash over the other shortcomings the Brewers had in the bullpen that contributed to them losing a pair of games in this series isn't the way to look at it either, though. To me the offense not producing AND the bullpen being thinner than it would've been largely due to Williams' injury combined to produce many of the questionable in-game managerial decisions CC made in games 2-4.

It's tough to prove impact on something that had no chance of happening due to injury - my simple point is that the Brewers' pitching staff would've been much better positioned with Williams healthy and available for any of these games than him not being there, and to me that alone negatively impacted their chances in the series. Simple comparison to me would be what would the Braves' pen have looked like if Matzek punched a wall and wasn't able to pitch meaningful innings in all 4 games? With the exception of seeing something obvious as Boxberger come into an 8th inning when the Brewers had a lead and promptly giving it up, some people would say not having Williams would never have made a difference - but bullpen use and those type of decisions trickle down to how other relievers are utilized.

Game 1 - Williams is probably in for the 8th, and I'd say doesn't allow a dinger to Pearls which also gives him 1 less look at Houser for later in the series. They win the game either way. Game 2 - yep, he probably doesn't impact this one at all. Game 3/4 - I'd group these together based on CC's decision to pull Peralta after 4 shutout innings in game 3 and essentially turning over at least 9 innings (5 in game 3, at least 4 that would've would up being 5+ in game 4 had Hader not given up the bomb to Freeman) to the bullpen that doesn't have Williams available in a late game situation. Houser immediately gives up another bomb to Pearls and it winds up being the scoring in Game 3 for a L. Not having Williams for game 4 leads to forcing Ashby for multiple innings (tied the game), using Woodruff for 1+ to get through the 6th and 7th, and bringing Hader in the 8th with the team essentially in scramble mode again. Not having Williams screwed up the formula they rolled with most of the year once he got himself right in June - it's not the only reason they lost the series, but it's definitely a reason why they didn't win it.

I agree with this. I was so pumped when they clinched the postseason weeks ago, but then when they had the chance over the cardinals to end them, and just faltered it all seemed off to me. I kept coming here to read, as a casual fan, that it didn’t matter, but it sure didn’t seem like a great way to enter the postseason. I don't want to break my arm patting myself on the back but a couple of times in the past few weeks I expressed this concern about playing poorly going into the playoffs and some here chided me saying the guys would turn it on once the playoffs started. I'm not happy that I was right to be concerned, believe me. Pat yourself on the back all you want, that still doesn't make you right. These games were all meatgrinders, and they were always going to be with how the Brewers' roster was constructed when facing teams that on paper are better offensively. Key managerial errors hurt their chances in their 2 losses in ATL, IMO - sure they could've made life easier on CC by hitting better, but the same could be said for the Braves who actually advanced in the series. The pitchers that were largely rested and ramped down at the end of the regular season performed very well. Williams punched a wall, which scrambled the bullpen for a playoff series. It's tough to gauge how deflating that was for this team. As for the hitting - Tellez was on a rehab assignment right up until the end of the season with a knee issue that kept him out most of September. Brewers were fortunate to just get him back healthy for the playoffs. It was obvious Avi was laboring with a number of nagging injuries down the stretch. Adames was on the IL for part of August and most of September and I'd imagine he still wasn't anywhere near 100% physically. Same for Vogelbach and Taylor. Yelich scuffled across September but still played plenty - his struggles are much more than coasting the last two weeks of the regular season. Hitters like Urias, Escobar, and most notably Narvaez actually did pretty well in the NLDS - Narvaez was on fumes at the end of the season after catching 15 more games than any other season in his career, so I'd argue the rest really benefitted him. Wong had a terrible NLDS and frankly slumped most of the 2nd half of the season - it's a shame there wasn't a better option to put in the leadoff spot. Bradley was a major, major disappointment offensively and frankly had to play way too much down the stretch to alleviate injury/wear and tear issues on the other outfielders. The Brewers definitely didn't play well in the last couple weeks of the regular season and frankly most of September - that's not solely because they were coasting, in hindsight it's because their roster was burnt out and was scrambled dealing with a bunch of injuries in key spots (Adames, Garcia, Tellez) and extended end of season slumps (Yelich, Wong). That carried over into the postseason, unfortunately. Others pointed out previous Septembers where the Brewers' depth at roster spots 27-40 came through and contributed in a major way down the stretch - leading to what appeared to be an end of season surge towards the postseason. The roster rule change negated that in part, but I also think that part of the Brewers' roster wasn't as solid this year as in year's past anyways. The biggest difference between this team and the 2018 team that was a couple pitches away from going to the World Series is Yelich not being the middle of the order stud that he was in 2018 and is now paid to be in 2020. Even with all the other offensive shortcomings and slumps this team saw, if Yelich was anywhere near the player he was in 2018-2019 this team goes much farther.

Healthy enough to play, sure - but odds are pretty good there were some key guys on fumes or dealing with nagging injuries that impacted their performance...Avi, Narvaez, Yelich, Cain - that's mainly just the grind of a season though. Regarding Yelich, there really needs to be some organizational and personal soul searching that goes on this offseason to figure out what can be done to get him back to being a quality player - not 2019 MVP-caliber, but at least what he was offensively during his time with the Marlins. If not, this organization is completely screwed. I still go back to the day he signed his huge extension before Spring Training 2020, and after I realized how much money Yelich probably left on the table in terms of overall contract value a thought crept into my head asking why do this contract now - for both Yelich and the Brewers? For the Brewers, they still had I believe 3 years left of team control on Yelich's deal at the time at very friendly annual values - to me it wasn't surprising to see them wanting to extend Yelich, but I was shocked they did so before actually making sure he was the same player he was prior to breaking his kneecap. The only reason it made sense for Yelich to pull the trigger on an extension then was his own uncertainty of how well he would perform after that injury longterm - otherwise he was leaving significant money on the table. Just think of where the Brewers would be as an organization right now had they not inked that deal - I believe the Brewers would have seriously considered not picking up what would have been a $15M option for the 2022 season and possibly just let him walk this offseason. That's a meteoric fall in terms of a player's value vs. production on the field.

Really have to question pitch selection in that Freeman at bat....I know it's just a one pitch AB, but you can't start him off with a get me over slider. If Freeman can square up 97 at the top of the zone so be it, go down with your best pitch - the offspeed can't be a middle of the plate strike. Wonder if any unfamiliarity having the 3rd catcher putting signs down had an impact. Just a disappointing end to what looked like a promising opportunity to go on a run. They always say pitching and defense wins in October....but that's when you compare teams that are similar offensively. When one team has a really good offense even great pitching gives up a few runs here and there, and that's enough to beat a team whose offense never really showed up.

Smith threw 1 actual strike against Adames in that at bat

I think Smith would walk in a run if the Brewers just didn't swing

That wasn't a sac bunt....but it was also a terrible time to try for a bunt for base hit, too

This is nuts

That was probably before the Brewers' second best reliever punched a wall....and before Brewer hitters started facing the Braves relievers making them all look unhittable. The Braves' pen is solid, but it shouldn't be unhittable.

It's amazing really. Jace too. This really gets me too - particularly when your other two catchers are actually 2 of your better hitters recently. Just because you have 3 catchers on the roster doesn't mean you've got to burn them all up - and before the 8th inning no less

I think at this point it's a one or the other....with the idea that having Burnes in game 5 is your best bet for your starter to go 7-8 innings. Burnes could probably come in and go a couple, but the decision to lift Peralta 2 innings too soon yesterday basically has the key pen arms mostly gassed and they would really be chasing to get through a game Thursday if he isn't available. With him on full rest for Thursday, it's his game as far as he can go. ....glad to see Contreras is nice and slow, too!

Tellez not just going after and catching the ball yelling " I got it" as loud as he can the whole way. Just a terrible misplay

lol....go catch the damn ball Rowdy

Would be interested knowing what the Brewers' team OPS is against breaking pitches/offspeed vs fastballs....sure seems like the Braves' gameplan is to pepper them with offspeed in key spots and they haven't hit much of any of it.

Good lord the braves suck at baserunning...particularly Duval

I think there's something chronic going on with his back

screw this ump

Visually he looks like a massive mess when batting. He just looks defeated after poor swings and K’s…more so than he did in 2018-2019. Maybe I am wrong…but seems like it. Probably for multiple reasons, his timing is just way out of whack and it doesn't look like his legs are in his swing at all....that side angle of his swinging 3rd strike looked like his legs, waist, arms, and hands were all working opposite of each other instead of being sync'ed.

Write some crude, inflammatory, and insensitive emails not intended for public distribution a decade ago to the president of football ops of a team called the Redskins up until last year - forced to resign in disgrace from a job he didn't even have when those emails were written. Meanwhile, trade rumors continue to swirl around Deshaun Watson while writers speculate what caliber of draft picks would be warranted as an acceptable package if he gets put on the Commish's exempt list temporarily for sexually assaulting as many or more women than the total number of red flag emails Gruden sent. And he is still making his $10M salary this season as a healthy inactive with the Texans each week while the league probably just hopes the story goes away quietly. Guess the moral of the story is don't ever write anything down...

I thought Jace was the best option to pinch hit in that spot...but also just hated the decision to do so in the top of the 5th. It was a 0-0 game, for gosh sakes. Braves could have yanked Anderson and brought lefty relievers in if they thought it was a max leverage situation, but they opted to leave him in probably assuming he'd give up at least 1 and they could take advantage of the Brewers going to their pen too early over their next 5 at bats. They got the best of all worlds by getting out if it unscathed and immediately scored 3 runs in their half of the inning. Cain's at bat was the key spot of the game ( and of the series to this point) if his hard hit grounder gets through a pulled in infield the Brewers score 1-2 there, a big inning ensues, and Peralta stays in the ballgame. Instead Swanson makes a good play and CC makes a bit of a panic move and it completely backfires on him At the end of the day, hitters have got to score some damn runs...would make these decisions easy and frankly unnecessary to even think about so damn early in a ballgame.

Interesting that Lafleur basically called out other aspects of the fg unit as a reason for some of yesterday's missed kicks. At the end of the day, Crosby is the one kicking the ball....but if there are inconsistencies with snap/hold and protection, the timing gets thrown off and suddenly its tough to find any consistency. I thought I saw at least twice where Crosby was animated towards either the snapper or holder after missed kicks on the field - not shifting everything away from Crosby, but it seems like the fg unit is doing its part to be as dreadful as kick coverage and punting units for gb's atrocious special teams

I'd include all 3 games....they are fortunate to still be alive, actually.