Fear The Chorizo

Kratz's was lower

Dang nab it

OUT

Here we go...I think you stick with JJ here

That could've been a disaster...who's the emergency catcher left?

don't get tossed...that was brutal

I'd stick with JJ assuming his spot in the lineup doesn't come up this inning

Cedeno mucked things up in his Game 163 appearance, too - until he proves otherwise, these pressure-packed stages seem pretty big for him. They're going to need him later this series, so hopefully he does his job better the next time his # is called.

This is fun!

get greedy and have about a 4 run inning here

Colder than freezing cold takes!!

Yeah, noticed it specifically for Kershaw, but Woodruff got two questionable strikes against Turner there, too. Ump seems to like low and corners - going to be tough scoring runs on Kershaw if he's hitting his spots.

Actually not a big fan of pulling Gio here...

Gio giving up 1 run off a solo shot to Machado isn't the end of the world. Kershaw getting a couple inches on both sides of the plate so far...that's no bueno

For perspective's sake, going into this season the prevailing wisdom was that MLB was going to have a handful of "superteams" capable of winning a championship, a group of awful teams, and the remaining half of the league stuck in no-man's land mediocrity without a clear path to become contenders. The final 4 teams playing to go to the world series include 3 of the aforementioned superteams and our Brewers. That's despite not having their best 2017 starting pitcher all of 2018, despite missing arguably their 2nd best 2017 starter for ~75% of the season and getting a bad version of him most of the time when Davies did pitch, despite their 2018 opening day starter having to be left off postseason rosters due to a propensity to give up HRs, despite the likes of a pile of early season MIF garbage and Boone Logan pitching in high leverage spots, and despite being projected as a sub-500 team by presumably respected baseball analysis sites. They've got the NL MVP on their roster and 1-2 relievers who will likely garner some CY votes. They have an electric bullpen that includes talented young arms capable of becoming effective MLB starters in the very near future. Their lineup and bench has the talent and depth that is comparable to the remaining teams in the playoffs, at a fraction of the payroll. There are prospect reinforcements not too far away from being regular contributors and the current roster won't need to be gutted like many other small market postseason contenders have to immediately after their best "go for it" window opens. Admittedly I wasn't old enough to know what was going on for the early 80's Brewer teams, but I'd say this is probably the best positioned the Brewer organization has ever been in terms of sustaining a quality organization capable of becoming postseason regulars, and it has to rival if not exceed being the best time to be a Brewers fan in the history of this team. Let's get after it, and here's hoping for this ride continuing well into late October!!!

If I'm the Dodgers, I don't really care who the Brewers start - I'd just write the best, most balanced RH/LH lineup I could down on the card and roll with it so there are a diverse set of pH options for later in the game. If the Dodgers try to configure their lineup based on righty or lefty platoon advantages, I think they'd just be playing right into the Brewers' hands.

Some of the strategy has to line up with the opponent - I'd rather kick a field goal under 2 mins to go up 6 if it's Brett Hundley on the other sideline compared to Brady or Rodgers getting back on the field. But in today's NFL, there's alot of value in not putting the game in the hands of your defense and ending it by taking a knee regardless of opponent. Building on that, there may be a team in the next few years that just goes for 2 points every time they score a TD unless a late game situation warrants just a PAT. I feel like the Steelers flirted with that last year a bit after they moved the PAT distance back. Screw conventional wisdom, when you have the opportunity to score more points, an aggressive-minded coach should want to do so early and often. I also think with how rules are being interpreted by officials, part of just about any offseason "QB school" or training regimen will become teaching QBs how to coax roughing penalty flags from officials - I'm sure this is already going on in most of the players' minds considering just how bad a penalty it is for the defense, much the way how receivers are coached to amplify the impact defender contact makes on them to get PI calls.

The Brewers lost the 7 game season series 3-4 to the Dodgers, but based on when they played there's alot to be looked at here from who the Dodgers actually faced in terms of Brewer pitching. The season series occurred starting the 2nd half after the AS break - so right after all the media circus with Hader's twitter account and in the midst of a bunch of games without an offday. In looking at the 4 brewers losses, here are the pitchers who gave up most of the runs the Dodgers scored: Williams Suter Albers Hernan Perez Burnes/Woodruff Anderson Chacin Chacin of course had that bad start in LA that resulted in a 21-5 drubbing (8ER in less than 5IP) - however he was more or less forced to bite the bullet even though it was obvious he didn't have it considering it was the last game of a long road trip and the pen was gassed before flying home to start a series the next night against the Rockies. Hader had very little usage during this stretch of the season (pitched in only 2 of the 7 dodger games despite 5 of them being close late), Knebel was scuffling along, Jeffress pitched well in a few of the Brewer wins against the Dodgers, Burnes/Woodruff were just up from AAA and Soria was just getting his feet wet after the deadline trade. Many of the runs Williams gave up came at the hands of facing LH hitters, and the Brewers were in the process of finding out post-DL Albers just didn't have it. The Dodgers did win 4 games, winning two handily thanks to bad starts by Suter and Chacin and winning 2 tight contests. The 3 Brewer wins came with 2 Miley starts, one Peralta start, and their current key bullpen arms fresh and available. With the exception of Chacin and improved Woodruff/Burnes from their July selves, I'd be surprised if any of the other pitchers the Dodgers did damage to even make the NLCS roster, let alone pitch meaningful innings.

He hit .272 for Biloxi in 307 plate appearances in 2018. That is not a "call me up now" stat. That 0.272 BA came with a big slump into and following a wrist issue that cost Hiura some time, IIRC...the silver lining to that is he seemed to recover fine from it, and it has nothing to do with the elbow issue he's had that many assumed would require tommy john surgery or turn him into a DH only trade chip at the start of 2018. Also, I think one poster is focusing on OBP moreso than BA - the 0.340 OBP Hiura put up in AA during his "struggles" would rank 5th on the Brewers' regular position player roster, behind only Yelich, Cain, Aguilar, and Shaw. The fact that Hiura played a bunch of 2B once he got called up to AA and seems to have put throwing arm injury concerns behind him is much more important to me than what his offensive stats were - we all know he can hit, he was profiled as the best hit tool bat in his draft. With Schoop likely in the 2B mix for 2019 and the possibility of Shaw moonlighting there on occasion should Moose opt to stay in Milwaukee next year, it's not like there's a gaping hole at 2B that Hiura needs to be rushed into. I wonder what Dubon's availability may be following his ACL surgery, also, as a utility MIF. I think Hiura opens 2019 in San Antonio, and once June rolls around if Schoop or whomever they have getting regular ABs is struggling, Keston will be up.

100% agreed - depending on how the 25 man roster shakes out for this series, there are going to be at least 2 and possibly 3 "relievers" out in the pen who are essentially starting pitchers in waiting (Woodruff, Burnes, Peralta). The depth they've assembled makes it more like how minor league games are managed with piggybacking starters - instead of doing it to limit innings, at the MLB level the Brewers are doing it to limit exposure for pitchers, and they seem to have alot of interchangeable parts between starters/middle relievers.

Aside from the seats between dugouts and foul poles down each line, are there really any other spots where fans could readily jump onto the field without having to deal with the foul ball netting, jumping over dugouts, or crawling over the higher outfield walls/bullpens? i think the somewhat limited access points would make it easier for beefed up security to prevent this. With everything going on in the world today, something tells me MLB and other pro sports leagues have some pretty serious measures in place to try and avoid the seemingly innocent onfield celebrations. Even if a bunch of fans were to pull it off, would the celebration really be worth it to eventually get arrested and likely lose ticket privileges? Also, I think fans rushing the field in general after a game is a bad idea - you're just asking for some sort of injury/incident, most likely for the fans but potentially for the players. Celebrating in the stands/concourses would be just as cool and alot safer for all parties involved, IMO. Besides, the region has a pretty bad history of failed field rushing attempts (thinking back to that Badger/Wolverine game at Camp Randall a couple decades ago).

I've felt that the Brewers' roster structure lends itself better to 1- game and shorter series playoff rounds, where having the ability overwhelm an opponent with a pile of quality relievers to keep them off-balance long enough to advance to the next round. That being said, winning a 7 game series becomes tougher if you don't have that unicorn starter that can be leaned on to get deep into 2-3 games of a series and leave with a great chance at picking up a win. Even dominant relievers lose their advantage having to face the same hitters in key spots 3-5 times over the course of a series, and the Brewers are going to keep rolling with the heavy bullpen strategy because their stable of starting pitching can't be counted on to get through the Dodgers' lineup 3 times without giving up crooked numbers. I'd expect Kershaw to start game 1, and frankly I see the series hinging on how well he pitches. If the Dodgers essentially can pencil in at least 2 wins on games Kershaw starts regardless of what the Brewers do pitchingwise because he just shuts them down, then I don't see the Brewers getting to a game 7. However, if the Brewers find a way to win one of the two Kershaw starts between games 1-5, I think they have an excellent chance to win the series. The Dodger lineup looks stacked because of the names 1-8 plus a couple key bench players. Funny thing is the Brewers lineup looks pretty damn good when you compare their production over the last 2 months + playoffs. With Arcia and the C position being better than pitchers offensively, and 2nd base production being provided by a converted 3B with pop and streaky Schoop, the Brewers have made it tough on pitchers. Really helps having the MVP in the 2-hole and a resurgent Braun towards the top, too. This could be the series where both Gio and Miley get 2 starts because they are lefties...it's tough because the Dodgers are effective against both RHP and LHP, however they are especially dangerous against RH starters.

Um, anyone that wants to play Houston over NY and Bos is fooling themselves - they have the best all around roster and it sure seems like some of their key guys are getting going offensively. Even if they struggle to score, they have the starting pitching to just shut teams down and a deep bullpen. The Yankees and Red Sox have various questions between rotation and bullpen. Honestly I'd take any of the AL teams on, as that would mean the Brewers reached the world series. In all honesty, they'd be underdogs against anyone from the AL - and that's just fine.

Braves with some life, at least there'll be a G4...

Gotta run chacin out for at least 1 more