Cool Hand Lucroy

Real, real bad. And now O'Hearn got HBP. Should be 1st and 2nd, nobody out.

From a matchup perspective, I feel like the consensus is the Cubs are worse for the Brewers. There's something to that. They play great defense. The Brewers don't hit many homers. It's hard to score when your opponent takes away a lot of hits. And, on the other side, the Cubs hit the ball out of the yard a lot (6th in baseball). I think this holds mostly true, and I'll bet Chicago will be a betting favorite, by more than you'd think given the public money. On the bright side, the Cub arms are not in the same category as the Padres. And they've had to cover three pretty close games. Maybe Drew Pomeranz comes in and dominates, but you'd rather see him trailing by a run in the 8th than Mason Miller. I don't know. I'm don't have a lot of confidence in winning this series, but maybe that's just self-protection. I'd be surprised if it ends after 3 games. Other than that, who knows?

Tatis just put up one of the worst ABs I have seen in the playoffs.

This has been a nervy Cubs-Padres game. The difference is a bloop hit and a walk. And some great defense from Chicago. Otherwise, not a lot of confidence from either team. Cubs have left a lot of runners out there, Padres haven't hit with RISP all series. I'll say this: I think it's better to face the Cubs than the Dodgers.

Dialing myself back to zen about us playing the Cubs. It's 3-5 baseball games. None of the emotional narratives really mean anything in the end. If I have to watch the games on mute to remember that, I will.

Really? Low-key, that might be the most fascinating thing about this for me. I love it, in theory.

Three game 3s today is pretty fun. I would be SHOCKED if Game 1 losers were still 0-fer the round after today, but you never know. I'll take the Guardians and Yankees to win. Cubs/Padres feels 50/50 to me. I could see Darvish dominating his old club or getting shelled. Lean Cubs just because they're due to win a Wrigley elimination game. Maybe Game 1 losers go 3 for 3. Baseball. October. Life, man. LIFE!

The Dodgers look awfully good on offense.

OMG 104 on the corner. Nuts.

Mason Miller throwing 103. Yowza.

I think it really is a horse apiece. Padres power bullpen is tough for the Brewers. But the Brewers, roster wise, are not as talented as anyone in the playoffs, save for the Reds. So, just make these teams play and do what you gotta

Yeah, I've watched one inning of Dodger playoff baseball, and I'm already thinking I was a little crazy for wanting the two seed lol. It's (almost) October! Let the moment-by-moment emotional swings commence!

Well, we'll see if the Padres can get a game tomorrow. I think we'll all be rooting for that, since the series going 3 is clearly better for us (even if the impact is limited by the number of off days). I'm fully with everyone who doesn't want the emotional risk of playing the Cubs in the NLDS. I've been low-key dreading a playoff matchup with them for months. But, if I look at it objectively (as in, if I put, say, Pirates jerseys on the Cubs roster), I'd clearly rather face that team than San Diego. Factor in travel and familiarity and scouting, and I think it might be the better matchup for us. I still don't want to play them. But, if we do, I'll probably do what I can to detach myself a little bit from the more annoying parts of the series (maybe spending less time in the game thread, muting the sound on the TV if needed, avoiding more of the post-game narratives if we lose, etc.) and just generally try to get super zen about the fact that this is baseball and no one controls the outcome, and anything else is just noise.

If it is Lockridge vs. Hoskins it's like the the irresistible force versus the immovable object for Murph. Does he go with the scuffling veteran whose got all the postseason battle scars to inspire the team? Or does he go with the scrappy, quick young kid with defensive prowess and a record of long ABs, not to mention someone who was often seen treating like a cool nephew in the dugout? Tune in Saturday morning...

This is great. I'd love a link to your Badger hoops analytics recap. Always fascinated by that stuff, and by the "luck" category on KenPom/Torvik.

KenPom did this relatively recently with the Badgers. They put up a couple of middling years in that Ryan/Gard transition (the Davison years), and yet the algo had them rated very highly. I think he tweaked things to bump them down a bit because he thought something about Wisconsin's per possession strategy was gaming the system. Might not be a bad idea to adjust MLB projection in the same way, although I think you might start to run into funkier and less quantifiable variables given the nature of the sport. Good thought.

Thank you for this. I used to think we were the Rays of the NL. It's getting to the point where you have to say: we're just the Brewers. This is not to rag on Fangraphs. Projections are hard, there's going to be mean reversion, etc. But, man, it's a huge credit to this org to have systematically outperformed to this degree. In a weird way, I'm almost as impressed by the Dodgers, who have put together very projectable rosters and still managed to outperform systematically. Great job. with this, @sveumrules

Gone back and forth on this for awhile, but here goes: OF: Yelich, Chourio, Perkins, Frelick, Collins, Lockridge IF: Vaughn, Turang, Ortiz, Durbin, Mona, Bauers C: Contreras, Jansen SP: Peralta, Priester, Quintana RP: Koenig, Uribe, Mears, Ashby, Hall, Megill, Patrick, Gasser, Miz Notes: 1) There is a very loose divide between SP and RP. Swap out Q for Woodruff if Woodruff is healthy. I think Peralta and Priester are going to go five, but Q is probably only getting three, and you're counting on Patrick and Hall and Gasser for multiple innings. 2) Ultimately, I think Miz's upside is worth giving him a spot. Plus, he can be a righty long man. End of the day, Miz is the most uncomfortable AB we can give the opponents, and I think it's a mistake to leave that off the playoff roster. Even the threat of it is valuable, even though we know having him in the game is a risky proposition. In short, I think teams want us to leave Miz off the roster, and I don't think we should give them what they want. Tough call, but that's where I've landed. 3) Final position player spot is tricky. I think Hoskins is getting dropped. Would I have him on? I don't know. I like the veteran presence, but looking at who we have, he's redundant right now. Unfortunate, but I'm not sure he adds too much. The question then becomes who do you roster in his place? I think there are two candidates: Quero and Lockridge. Quero wouldn't play. He just allows you to pinch-hit Jansen with less downside risk. There's something to that, especially the way Jansen has been hitting. But I'd go with Lockridge because he will play. He'll run. He can play defense late. And he can give you an early PH AB and see a lot of pitches too, though that won't be something that happens much. Like I said, good arguments for adding Quero, but I just think Lockridge is more likely to give you value for the spot, in areas the Brewers like. Overall, I think this roster looks pretty good. If Henderson is healthy, maybe that changes the calculus on Miz, Gasser, or Patrick. Maybe they go with Grant Anderson, but I think the length the other guys can give matters. Success or failure is probably going to come down to: Do Yelich, Contreras, Turang, Chuorio (and Vaughn, to a lesser extent) slug? If you get two or three of those guys hot, you like our chances at a deep run. If not, going to be tough.

It won't be long before the playoffs begin, and they'll dominate the season narrative. Without wading too far into the debate about how much the playoffs SHOULD dominate that narrative, maybe this is a place where we can acknowledge and celebrate the season on its own merits. Longest win streak in club history. Most wins in club history. 3rd straight division title. Bye into the NLDS. My personal favorite game was the win over the Mets to get to 9 in a row. Fell behind early, came back and got a Collins walk-off. Pretty rare I've been so giddy watching a regular season game. Whatever happens, this team owns the Central division. I'll be hoping we get the Padres in round two, but let's just play our best baseball and remember who we have been, which is the best team in Major League Baseball.

Mets announcers talking about 2008 on the air.

There's a Joey Weimer sighting in Miami.

People in Milwaukee waiting on the result of a Mets-Marlins game to end the regular season brings back some very good memories. 97 wins!!!!!

Fedde is a fine depth option for next year. Can anyone imagine him pitching in a playoff game where we aren't down by 4+ runs? He screams semi-useful regular season arm to me.

Kind of puts into perspective just how crazy good those middle 76 games were. I'm not really sure who the real Brewers are, but one good sign is they've played their best baseball against the year's best teams. The bad news is the exception to that might be the Cubs/Padres, who they're now assured of playing in round two. Still. I suppose there are things to recommend that, as opposed to the (found themselves again) Dodgers or the scorching Reds (who will be even more scorching if they beat LA in the WC round)/Mets (though I'd take the Mets if I got to pick my playoff opponent). Let's rest up and play these 11 to 19 games just like the middle 76.

I guess I don't really see how that connects to the fan perspective. I agree with you. Which is why we shouldn't worry too much about these games.