Cool Hand Lucroy

I really thought Martinez and that bullpen would sink the Nats. Something else I was just totally wrong about. Still time for them to lose, of course, and the Astros are good enough all around to come back from 0-2, but beating Corbin will be a tall task. I'm sure, if the Nats hold on, the narrative will be about "traditional" starting pitching, but I think that will be an oversimplification. The Nats were simply smart enough to play in a way that suited their roster, and their deployment of their starters in the WC game and NLDS was anything but "traditional." Stearns and the gang may be in Billy Beane territory as far as postseason BP usage is concerned. I think they've changed the game, but they won't get much credit for it because they didn't win the WS and cement the narrative (though hopefully the WS part of that changes in the next couple years...a fan can hope).

This. The FSU thing is different. It is. It is a college team in a community, and the nickname and associated gestures have been negotiated by community leaders. That hasn't happened in Atlanta. It hasn't happened in Cleveland. It hasn't happened in Washington. All three of those teams have generic, broad-brush names that claim to speak for all tribes. That's the issue here, and it means they have a higher burden than FSU.

Yeah, I think they reminded me of the 2018 Brewers offensively. Lots of HRs but struggled to score if it disappeared, as it did against the Yanks. That series had to be brutal for Twins fans, though in a totally different way than our tough losses. It just never really looked like they were in it after about the 4th inning of Game 1. And the streak of ineptitude in the playoffs continues. Amazing that in the past 15 years or so, the Twins have won a good number of division titles and only won 1 playoff game. They've now lost 16 straight in the postseason, 13 to the Yankees. Baseball can be cruel. Hope the Rays can force a Game 5 today just for excitement's sake. Pretty fun to have two elimination games tomorrow, even if one of them involves the Cards.

I'm watching that Cards game in the 8th and thinking, if Schildt goes to Gallegos he wins. He goes to Martinez, he loses. Sometimes these decisions seem easier than they are, but the two closers in this series seem about as shaky as they come.

Really hoping the Twins bounce back today. We are getting into death and taxes territory with these Twins-Yanks series.

The plate discipline of the Yankees is crazy. Man. That Torres AB.

Cards nearly blew that game after the Braves blew it. The Cardinals have an odd roster. Other than Goldschmidt, no one is terrifying. But just about everyone can hurt you. I think it's Soroka/ Flaherty tomorrow. That will be a good one. Edit: Looks like the Braves are throwing Folty. Wonder if losing Game 1 changes that.

Pina is really interesting to me. His career OPS+ is 90. For a catcher that gives you good defense, that's not bad at all. I feel like both Pina and Arcia are like 1-win players. Arcia gets most of that from defense. Pina has split it more evenly over his career (about .5 bREf WAR on O and D). Can you carry both? Sure. Though that gets you closer to a "stars and scrubs" approach, at least as far as your lineup is concerned. If we can only have one, I'd agree on taking Pina just because he gives you slightly better ABs and has been good against lefties.

It is fascinating to me, over the last two years, how "un-fun" the postseason has been. Even Moose's walk-off in Game 1 of the NLDS felt more like a relief. Winning Game 6 felt like it brought another day of nervous tension. There's wonder in that tension for sure, and I hope we get more of it, but the playoffs remind you how cruel and random baseball can be. I mean a weird HBP and a broken bat single turned that WC game. By the way, in Game 7 of the 2001 WS series, Craig Counsell came up with runners at 2nd and 3rd in a tie game against Mariano Rivera. He got hit on the hand. Luis Gonzalez then hit a little flair to win it. Baseball is weird. That's why I love it. That's why it breaks my heart.

I think Nelson is going to get every chance to factor in to that discussion. And I feel like the Crew would have made a harder push for Odorizzi two years ago if they liked him. Wheeler seems more likely IMO. We will seem. I actually really like this group of pitchers. Especially with the 3 batter minimum coming. We have a lot of guys who can throw 2-3 every third day.

I don't see a lot of ways to improve by addition without Moose/Grandal. I think the FO has a lot of faith in Cain, and I'm with them. Offensively, this year feels aberrational. He looked like he was pressing, swinging at low pitches he took in 2018. Does the FO have the same faith in Shaw? Honestly, the best bet for another playoff run is him being a good hitter again. If Moose gets re-signed, I doubt Shaw sticks around. This could be a weird offseason. I wouldn't be surprised if it contained a lot of transactions, with none of them being flashy. We are going to see a lot of Spangenberg type moves IMO. I think the FO loves its pitchers. Maybe someone at the margins gets dealt, but Nelson, Burnes, Woody, Freddy, Hauser, and the other usual suspects will get lots of chances. Knebel coming back to form would be just massive from a run-prevention standpoint. He makes Hader more valuable by a good bit.

It's possible that nobody was ever as right about anything as Giamatti was about baseball in that bit of writing. The season is a novel in the dirt, and, when it's over, it can only be bittersweet. Maybe it's just a matter of how bitter and how sweet. I hope Billy Beane gets his this year.

Kyle Whelliston was a sportswriter during the 2000s, and he's probably most famous for a blog called The Mid-Majority. Whelliston traveled to hundreds of college basketball games over the course of almost ten years, and, in his own words, wrote "more about philosophy than basketball" and "more about losing than winning." The unofficial motto of the blog was, "It always ends in a loss" because "mid-major" college basketball teams are at a nearly insurmountable disadvantage given the economic structure of the game. I was thinking about that this morning, given another tough postseason loss, and I wondered, if someone told me, "The Brewers are never going to win a WS in your lifetime," would I still watch? I think the answer is yes. At the end of the day, baseball is a sport that allows us to live in the moment and enjoy the day-by-day struggle of creating something cool and beautiful, and that creation can't be dependent on victory for its validation. After all, Milwaukee isn't New York or LA, and the financial structures of baseball make it unrealistic to expect a championship. Not only that, but some of the most fun players I've watched as a fan (Carlos Gomez comes to mind) played on bad teams, and I wouldn't trade that sense of joy for the pressure-cooker of Yankee stadium, regardless of the titles that might come with it. I just wouldn't. I feel like all I can ask is that this team try its hardest to put a good team on the field. That the guys play together. That they demonstrate the kind of human values that baseball, like literature or film or ballet or whatever, can show us. This team did that. Last year's did too. So did the 2017 team, and even that 2014 team that just fell apart at the end. I don't think 2020 will be any different. I'll be waiting for whatever magic CC and Stearns and the full TEAM produces, and I think it will be something to see, however it ends. Glad I know y'all will be along for the ride. I'm ready to get the hot stove going today, folks! Go Brewers!

Man. Some day, Bill Buckner will be able to rest in peace. Geez. It's baseball. Grish got excited and overran the ball. It happens.

It's gonna happen, torts! And even if it doesn't, we cab proud of what the smallest market in MLB has don e! Goooo Crew!

It was great. You got to win that game if you are the Crew. They deserve to go home. Not good enough. Terrific game of baseball. Unfortunately a team has to lose. Sucks that it's ours. Agree comepletely. Some bad breaks and poor execution when it counted. Couldn't add on. That's baseball. Go get 'em next year. Go for the golden era of Milwaukee baseball.

Foul ball that should have been and a broken bat single...killers

Real quiet night for the offense. Stras is due up 4th here. Quiet after the 2nd, I mean.

But isn't Pom due up 2nd?

Lyles still an option too, but yeah. Interested to see how CC plays this with no easy double-switch.

Whatever happens with Suter, it will probably happen fast...

Whatever happens with Suter, it will probably happen fast...

Freddy was up to get one out and then be pinch hit for if necessary. I thought it was smart.

Freddy was up to get one out and then be pinch hit for if necessary. I thought it was smart.

Thievery! Stealing innings! Great job, Woody!