Playing Catch

I agree. I think that because the Brewers have been the best team, the national audience has enough of a curiosity-factor. There's a lot of heartland folks that will be rooting for the Brewers, and I'm sure there's a lot of Yankees and Dodgers fans, too, that think the Brewers are a fun story... Basically, all baseball fans would enjoy the Brewers in the World Series. But let's get there first! I'm worried about the offense, but really, I think I'm only worried about playing teams with really good defenders. The Brewers place so much value on putting the ball in play, that good defending teams could be the Brewers kryptonite. Or, that's my one concern. I probably would've voted for "none of the above," as I agree with others that have pointed out that the Brewers didn't fluke into the league's best record. The Phillies and Dodgers don't want to face the Brewers, either.

Not if you are justifying a vote for him due to the separation of .OPS, considering the parks involved.

I mean... What are we doing here?

I must be spoiled. It's a gut-punch to lose Woody, and I love the guy! But the Brewers have beaten teams with lots of combinations of pitchers on the staff. Playoff baseball often sees starters just go once through the order anyway. I just don't see this grand canyon-sized drop-off in quality that everyone else is seeing --- at least in terms of how likely the Brewers are to win a playoff game where Tobias Myers or Chad Patrick go 2.2 instead of Woody. Look, would I rather have Woody? Of course. But if any team in baseball can absorb that kind of loss, it is literally the 2025 Brewers.

I know that traditionalists don't like divisions and expanded playoffs, and that winning the world series is the ONLY thing for many others. But for me --- at the beginning of every season --- winning the division is THE regular season goal, and in some ways the only goal. All the other goals jump off from that point. No team has a goal of being a wild card team at the beginning of the season.

The Guardians today, have a negative run differential for the season.

Getting a top QB is a great way to make a program look good. Peak Russell Wilson would make every college team better, so I'm not disputing that the way to playoff glory is to procure good quarterbacks and throw the ball around. Quarterback is often the position cited by non-traditionalist Badger fans, as to justify the changes to the program. Even on this board, I've read the lament of something along the lines of "who cares about the run game, we need to modernize," etc. Quarterback seems to also be the biggest concern for those that are defending Fickell, or wanting more time with him, feeling like if his transfer guys were only healthy, THEN we'd really see Fickell shine. Right now, they can't keep the quarterback upright, and they can't gain one yard on a 3rd and short. Meanwhile, their opponents CAN. It seems that there are a significant cadre of fans that are concerned about "going back to Barry-ball," due to their boredom with the metronome of winning the way he did, by running the football and stopping the run. I loved Barry-ball, so I'm just as biased as those wanting to modernize. But as I said at the time of the move... it BETTER work, because otherwise you've really torpedoed any remaining semblance of Barry-ball left in the program. The debate reminds me of Brewer fans that just want more dingers and offense, regardless of the winning. I like WINNING. edit to add... Barry and "his" guys were NEVER shy about throwing the ball. They WERE shy of trying to throw the ball around when they didn't have the talent to do it. In college football, there are a lot of teams that don't have the talent to do it, and win.

smooth operator.

I think the Brewers are unlikely to add any significant payroll. Mostly because I think it allows for them to make creative trades at the deadline like they did this season with the Shelby Miller trade. Going into next season with our current mix of infielders sounds good to me. Adding a big lefty corner sounds great, but with our outfield depth, Yelich needs to be a primary DH, so that lefty corner needs to probably be as good of a defender as Yelich is in LF. Bauers represents said quality at first base, and kinda in the outfield. There are better players than Bauers? Of course. But are there better players that will be happy in the same role as Bauers? I'd also say that I could see the Brewers trying to resign Jansen if they are uncomfortable with the Haase/Quero/MiLBFA guys. The front office seems to like having a legit hitting backup at catcher (e.g. Caratini/Sanchez/Jansen).

To my eye, Chourio is nursing that hammy. I feel like he's a little slow out of first gear. I think while each of the miscues are super-annoying, are they any more annoying than Turang's misplays? Or Adames' month-long stretch of below-par defense for an extended stretch last year? I don't worry about any of the recent defensive issues. There isn't much one can do about it. It's not like any manager would make changes with Chourio/Turang that would be based on how well they play their defensive position. They are elite defensive talents... at this stage of their careers, you just keep throwing them out there and expect that they perform as such.

A very fun group! Do any of us doubt that Dinges, Adams, and Adamczewski are immediately co-favorites to win AFL MVP? The pitchers are a combination of mysterious*, curious, and meritorious. *(why Baseball Reference doesn't adequately show how players were acquired, with an obvious link to their transaction history is so frustrating to me. It took me an entire 30 seconds(!) to google my way to Brewerfan's 2025 UDFA tread to confirm Fowler's signing this season).

Reminds me of some of the fan-friendly, early-week events before golf tournaments.

You are probably correct, but I'd still rather have an NLCS game 7 in Milwaukee instead of Philadelphia.

I think McGee will be able to return in place of the presumably injured Mears. McGee last pitched for Nashville on the 2nd.

Let's just win today.

15-9. Because I think they are a true, .630% winning percentage team.

Dub Gleed is quite a name.

One can argue about the efficacy of monitoring pitch-counts, workloads, leverage innings, pain thresholds, etc., but I believe the Brewers DO CARE about trying to keep everyone healthy for the stretch run (and coincidentally, they care about winning, too... just like us.). He's now at 134.1 IP. November 1st is two months away. It isn't just the bullpen they have to think about. I'm not saying we shouldn't worry about it, or talk about it. Heck. I was worried about bringing in Ashby. I'm just saying there is a lot of things the organization considers other than what is happening in the moment, in one game.

I think the fact they haven't won a playoff series since 2018, and that last season's loss was so brutal, our collective mindset is "gotta win a playoff series". Those emotions are still raw. But I think by the end of the season, if they get a bye in the first round, we'll see other "good" teams get beat and have to go home, while the Brewers would still be playing. I think we'd all feel pretty good about the season at that point, even if they lost a tough series. With that said, I've ALWAYS felt that regular season success deserves a trophy and all of the pomp associated with such. I think if the Brewers finish the season with the best record in baseball, that would make me really happy, regardless of how their playoff series goes.

On August 28th, the Brewers have the best record in baseball by 5 games. They are on-pace to win 100 games, which would be a franchise record. If the Brewers go on to win the division and garner a top-2 seed, thus avoiding the wildcard round altogether, is that the equivalent of winning a playoff series? Do they have to do more than that for you to be satisfied with the 2025 Brewers? World Series or bust? How are Brewerfanatics feeling as baseball enters the Pennant Race?

True. He has just over 100 IP this season, and last season's 81 was his previous high-water mark. I'm crossing my fingers that the Brewers believe so much in depth and sufficient rest that a lot of these injuries (position-players included), are really about re-setting the whole squad for the playoff push. There are 2+ months remaining of baseball. Getting a physical AND mental break now is good. For the "peak-too-early" crowd, these injuries are surely harrowing harbingers, but I think good teams like the Dodgers always use roster depth to manage workloads. I am worried about Megill. But the Brewers can probably mitigate that loss more than other teams. His MLB innings have been poor, but would anyone be surprised if Yoho came up again and dominated? Obviously not in a 9th-inning role, but still... that's impressive bullpen depth compared to most teams.

I like Ashby in the role he's in. multi-inning lefties with dominant-stuff are a rare breed and mesh perfectly with the Brewers' piggy-backing model. Those right-handed starters with 3 pitches are so much better when the team doesn't expect them to go 6 innings. It also allows for using lefties as openers against teams that feature multiple lefty bats at the top of their order. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE innings-eaters that can navigate a game with runners on-base, like Priester, Woody, or Quintana. But I love Freddy or Misiorowski for what they provide. They are dominant five-and-divers. Having a lefty like Ashby/Hall/Gasser follow them, or those other righties that struggle getting through a lineup more than a couple of times, not only can be effective in trying to win a baseball game, but it's effective at helping to schedule out your bullpen over the course of a homestand or road-trip. Good middle relief is a truly underrated factor for winning teams. It's a major reason the Brewers lead baseball in comeback wins (although having a great offense obviously helps as well).

Luke Adams is going to go to the AFL and rake like Wes Clarke did in '23, isn't he?