BruisedCrew

Not to mention that Hendricks generally owns the Brewers in early season games. Hendricks on the mound tossing up crap on a cold, wet day with the wind blowing in I think runs are going to be hard for the Brewers to come by.

Brewers 88 Cardinals 86 Cubs 76 Reds 73 Pirates 69 MVP- Renfroe Best Pitcher- Woodruff Surprising- Taylor Disappointing- I would say Yelich but I expect him to be what he’s been the last two years so it isn’t really disappointing any more, it’s just sad. So, I’ll say Narvaez, followed by Adames who I don’t expect to hit as well as last year. Under the Radar- Cousins Rookie-Ashby

I agree. That’s why it will never happen.

This will never happen, but the offense might be better with McCutchen in left and Hiura at DH. Watching 20-21 Yelich flailing away at the plate again this spring almost makes me want to cry. If (when?) Cain and Yelich have their usual back/quad/other ailments it won’t be hard finding ABs for Hiura. Until I see something different, I have more hope for him returning to something resembling his 2019 form than I do for Yelich returning to even his first half 2018 form, much less his MVP form.

The way I remember it that happened while he was pitching and tried to avoid a collision with a runner on a ball dribbled down the line.

The way I remember it that happened while he was pitching and tried to avoid a collision with a runner on a ball dribbled down the line.

The way I remember it that happened while he was pitching and tried to avoid a collision with a runner on a ball dribbled down the line.

The way I remember it that happened while he was pitching and tried to avoid a collision with a runner on a ball dribbled down the line.

Peralta struggling tonight too. And Gott has now given up home runs to the last two hitters he’s faced. The Brewers have had to make liberal use of the spring training rule that allows pitchers to be removed in one inning and then return the next just so the pitchers can get their pitches in. Neither the pitchers nor the hitters, with a few exceptions, are looking like they’re primed to start the season. Hopefully that will change when the games start to count.

I would love to see the Yelich that the Brewers traded for and that we saw in the first half of the 2018 season before he went on his MVP tear. Hitting the ball with authority to all fields with an occasional long ball would be a much welcome change to what he’s done the last two years. I’ve seen about 10 of his spring training AB’s on TV and he has looked frighteningly like the 20-21 Yelich and not at all like the first half of 2018 Yelich. Given what he’s being paid it can’t be too surprising that fans are not satisfied with a league average OPS+.

I would love to see the Yelich that the Brewers traded for and that we saw in the first half of the 2018 season before he went on his MVP tear. Hitting the ball with authority to all fields with an occasional long ball would be a much welcome change to what he’s done the last two years. I’ve seen about 10 of his spring training AB’s on TV and he has looked frighteningly like the 20-21 Yelich and not at all like the first half of 2018 Yelich. Given what he’s being paid it can’t be too surprising that fans are not satisfied with a league average OPS+.

I think the standards change when you start looking at a team as a potential World Series contender. An average offense might be good enough in the regular season, but when you get into the postseason against teams with some of the top offenses in the league who are throwing their top end pitchers, an average offense isn’t going to cut it. The Brewers are understandably favored to win their division given the status of the rest of the teams in the NL Central. But an average offense is probably going to lead to another short postseason if they get there.

I’m ignoring the poor outings from the starting pitchers for now, but I am concerned that the Brewers offense is going to pick up where it left off last September and October. At the top of the list is that Yelich looks exactly like the 20 and 21 version. Nothing but weak choppers to the right side and lazy fly balls and loopers, even on his hits. Urias’ injury doesn’t help and now Adames left today with what was hopefully a minor leg strain but still not what you want to see. Cain is likely to be a drag on the lineup too. Hopefully the pitchers will round into form when the games count because runs may be hard to come by.

It’s no secret that, in the last 15-20 years, the Buckeyes have “elevated” their program to be more like the SEC powers, and they have left everyone else, including Michigan, behind. In the last 17 seasons, O$U has only lost 15 conference games, and 5 of those came in 2011 when the Buckeyes were dealing with the sanctions brought on by Jim Tressel’s “indiscretions”. In the last 10 seasons, the Buckeyes have lost only 6 conference games: 2 to MSU, and 1 to each to Michigan, Penn State, Iowa, and Purdue. Wisconsin, the bell cow of the Big 10 West, is 0-7 against them. No program in the Big 10 has been able to beat the Buckeyes much since Cooper left.

I think it's relevant to point out that every job, every position, and every coach should be criticized and praised for his own merits and failures, not just "coach X has a better win % than coach Y or Z, therefore is better". I'm not going to get into the Coach CHryst debate in this thread, as it's not the place for it. I will say that Michigan fans had every right to question keeping Harbaugh around given his record against their cross-border rival. Good for him. He got it done this year. He's 1-9 against OSU, and fair or not, that's one of the measuring sticks for success at Michigan. For the record, Harbaugh is now 1-5 against OSU.

Weren't their fans calling for their coach to be fired after consecutive 2-4, 9-4, 10-3, 8-5 seasons? A coach who, prior to this year, was 49-22 in his career (61% winning percentage) and had never beaten their biggest rival and was 3-4 against their second biggest rival? Some fans were calling for Harbaugh to be fired, while others raised the legitimate question of who Michigan could get that would be able to beat OSU without being willing to play by the same rules the Buckeyes do. Those calling for his head also seemed to forget the Rodriguez/Hoke years and that basically nobody in the B10 has beaten OSU over the last several years except for an occasional slip up.

Who do you think deserves to be in ahead of Michigan?

Things are set up perfectly for the Badgers. Michigan will be due for a letdown after leaving it all on the field today.

At the end of July the projections gave the Braves less than a 1% chance of winning the World Series. Almost as much of a late season turnaround as the 2014 Giants.

It must be nice to be able to lose 3 games, including 2 conference games, and still be in the running for the conference title.

I’m not writing off the Dodgers, but I think the Braves are showing that they are a much more formidable team than a lot of people expected.

One of the takeaways from the playoffs is going to be that the anemic Brewers offense squandered an opportunity to defeat a prolific hitting team that was largely held in check by the Brewers pitchers. Holding that team to 12 runs in 4 games is pretty impressive.

And now McCullers is hurt.

The Brewers disappointing playoff series and this conversation raise a question that has come up before. As a fan, would you rather have a team that is consistently in the running for the playoffs and gets into them on a somewhat regular basis, or one that is consistently below .500 but breaks through once to win the World Series? Some examples are comparing the Braves of the 80’s and 90’s who won their division almost every year but won one World Series to the Marlins who won two World Series but pretty much stunk every other year in large part because they couldn’t afford to keep good players. Or the Royals who managed to break through to reach two World Series and win one, but have had no other playoff appearances since 1985 and not even that many teams with winning records. Hypothetically, would you rather have your team be under .500 for 10 or 20 years except for 1 year of winning the World Series, or have consistent winning teams that make the playoffs half or more of the time, including several division championships and a few LCS appearances? I know from past discussions on this that I am in the minority, but I would take the consistent winning teams. I have seen my favorite teams in several sports win championships, and as fun as that is, the real enjoyment I get from following sports is the day to day and week to week fun of following the season. That is so much more enjoyable when my team has a realistic chance to capture the big prize.

Right. I was 16 at the time and that definitely factors into why I will never want to forget that late 70s/Early 80s Brewer era. From 1978 through 1982 were definitely my favorite Brewer teams. I especially loved the 1978 team. George Bamberger named manager. Finally someone to lead us with a name and a proven track record. An increase of 26 wins from the season before and finally in contention for a penant with 90+ victories. A Robin Yount holdout threating to become an PGA professional. And who do they get to replace him, Paul (the Ignitor) Molitor. Cecil Cooper, Sal Bando, Molitor and Yount on the infield. A loaded outfield of Larry Hisle, Gorman Thomas and Sixto Lezcano. Think they would have only scored 6 runs against the Braves? A bench of Don Money, Ben Oglivie and a young Jim Gantner and Charlie Moore. A young and promising pitching staff lead by Mike Caldwell's 22 wins and Larry Sorenson's 18. With young pitchers such as Jerry Augustine, Bill Travers, Moose Haas and Bob McClure. Of course like any other staff some of those guys flamed out but we never had promise like that, the past 8 years. We started the season with a 5 game homestand. First off was Baltimore the second place team in '77 with 97 wins. We swept and outscored the Orioles 40-11 in the first series. Sixto, Gorman and Cecil hit grand salamis in each game. How to follow that series up but by sweeping a 2 game set against World Champ Yankees. What an unbelieveable start. The city of Milwaukee was on fire with this team. You could tell this was a start to a magical summer. I loved that 78 team too. That was my first full year after finishing grad school. So, armed with a full time job and no real obligations I think I went to about 35 games. The first one was the second game of the season sitting in the bleachers with the temperature about 35 degrees. After the lopsided 11-3 win on Opening Day we had high hopes, but the Orioles scored 3 in the top of the first. Then the Brewers answered with 3 singles and a 3 run HR from Hisle to go ahead 4-3. Before we could settle down they loaded the bases and Thomas hit a grand slam. 8 runs and nobody out in the first inning on the way to a 16-3 win. Molitor hit his first career HR that day too. So, 11-3, 16-3, and 13-5 wins to start the season. Those were the days.