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Easy one first - who gets sent down or DFA'd? I will be surprised if it's anyone other than Ornelas. How do you think the Brewers will divvy up playing time? Me? I think they'll take Bauers out of the OF rotation for a while and do a 2-out-of-3-man platoon with Mitchell/Lara/Frelick in CF/RF (Chourio would get a day or two off here and there, too). I'd like to see what a healthy Frelick brings to the table here, Then, regrettably, I think they might admit it's time to decrease Yeli's role. I don't know if this is what they're thinking, but it might make sense for Bauers and Vaughn to switch off between DH and 1B pretty much every day. Bring Yeli in occasionally, but maybe twice a week and in PH roles for Vaughn when he's DH and there's a righty on the mound.

With Naylor on the bench tonight, it really would have made some sense to have both Wild Bill and El Gary in the lineup, but it is a tiny bit risky (i.e. if the C has to leave the game, you lose the DH and the P has to hit). Eh, hardly ever happens, but that's generally why teams don't DH the backup C.

Well, I guess I take issue with the bolded - theoretically, maybe someone is out there that isn't that disappointed in post-season losses, but it ain't me, and it ain't you. I was devastated when High Point ousted UW. But, I also don't forget about the 30-ish games before it, either.

Well, the EPL certainly is lopsided in favor of the high-spenders - they have a similar problem to MLB in that respect. Playoffs at least offer a chance for the smaller teams, if they can even get in position

You and I would get along well IRL. Being good/great over the course of 6 months and 162 games is really more impressive than in 7. But that’s not how we’re set up (the EPL is arguably the most successful league on the planet and there are no playoffs, just a regular season champion).

Drohan obviously can’t also be in the bullpen. Interesting day for usage with an off-day tomorrow. I will be furious if someone contradicts realty….

Congrats and thanks for being a coach. Even though I’m not a coach (well, maybe if you expand the definition outside sports), I can relate to what seem like common sense big-picture decisions that so perplex and vex others. Not gonna lie - the vexed seem less intelligent to me. Doesn’t make them a lesser fan, though.

I’m of a similar vintage and while I agree with the sentiment about what a WS win would mean for our souls, I don’t get nearly as intensely upset as I did when I was younger. I humbly think I’m a bit wiser, The recent example was some posters going crazy over Senzatela being left in and almost blowing a thin lead. Like everyone, I wanted him to succeed, was getting nervous, and would have preferred pulling him. But I also understood the bigger picture of why having Senzatela stay in was defensible and really the best managerial choice, given the state of the bullpen. I’d have been miserable if we blew it, but mutedly so because I do understand that sometimes it just doesn’t go your way.

Enough of the fight between the sunshine blowers and the nattering nabobs of negativity. Just wanted to celebrate that thanks to taking the first two of this series, our current opponent is no longer much of a threat to pass us for one of the byes in the postseason (6 games back). They're now being chased pretty seriously by the Phils for the division, too. They're basically in the headspace we were after the SD series - keep the pressure on'em tomorrow.

Not disagreeing, but they are only 3 out of the WC and 4 out of the division - they really should be in desperado mode. They're also much better at home.

Honestly, given the circumstances, I'd have managed that the exact same way. This is the downside of the 6-man rotation = 7-man bullpen. It's especially rough when you're coming off two short outings by your starters, which left us with 5 of that 7-man bullpen with more than 30 pitches in the last two games. If they had gone extras, I shudder to think. When we hit Sep. 1, we'll get another arm in there, but this is the way it had to be today. (And you don't burn Drohan who's starting on Sunday).

And Pratt, who only rejoined Wednesday.

I know the point of this thread relates to the division, but this series starting this afternoon with the Braves is relatively important for seeding - probably the most impactful non-Cubs games on the remaining schedule.

Lotta baseball left. Of the 34 games left, there's really only 12 against teams currently not realistically in the mix for making the playoffs. The current magic number is 30 vs. the Cubs, and as previously mentioned, if MKE wins 3 of those, they earn the season tiebreaker, which would get the magic number down to 23 for the other 27 games; if they only take 2, it'd be a magic number of 26 for those 27 games, and then it might get dicey.

My weather app is saying 85% chance of rain on Sunday for Williamsport, but mostly earlier in the day - I like when other teams play in these novelty affairs...At least they're headed in the right direction with a 3-game set against the Mets starting Tuesday. It'd be nice to get some length out of Miz today with Ashby and Patrick probably down. With Sale on the bump for them, there's a stronger likelihood of using Hall/Senzatela/Wilson/Anderson in a higher-than-normal (for them) leverage situation. ATL has comparable metrics to MKE - they're obviously one of the top teams, but they get to their pretty good OPS through good/great slug rather than OBP.