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Remaining schedule has a big effect on their chances. The path is wide open IF they keep winning. The Dodgers and Cardinals play a 4-game series next weekend, so in the ideal case of a 2-2 split, they have a chance to make up more ground. After that, LA has 9 games on the road also--at Washington, Cincinnati, and San Diego. St. Louis has the upcoming west coast trip, but unfortunately they play 9 straight against Houston and Cubs after that (although at least 6/9 of those games are on the road). They definitely have the easiest schedule. So it is crucial to get another game back tomorrow if they want any chance. The Pirates are letting a golden opportunity get away this weekend, but they still have 12 more against the Mets/Cubs/Astros also so they can't be neglected even if they are treading water. With three teams ahead of them, the Brewers can't count on getting much help, you have to figure at least one of those teams is going to go a few games over .500 the rest of the way.The Brewers can probably afford to lose only about 5 more games the rest of the way, 18-5 to finish 87-75 should do it for sure, with a little luck maybe they could get into a tiebreaker at 86 or 85. They are 15-5 in their last 20, so they just have to repeat what they have been doing. If one of the teams ahead of them gets hot, that's it. Things would get more complicated if the Braves choke and fall back into the pack. They are 20 over .500 and 5 1/2 up on St. Louis, but a sweep by the Brewers combined with some help could get them back closer to everyone else. Since this is the optimism thread, I won't comment on what I think will happen. But for what it's worth, past years have shown that teams playing from behind with nothing to lose can put lots of pressure on the teams above them in the standings. So their odds might be higher than statistical analysis would suggest.

That is all true and the offense is basically the same or better than last year--and the infield defense has notably improved as well. But putting money (and defensive alignment) aside for a minute, imagine a lineup with Braun, Ramirez, and Fielder. Combined with the rest of the role players, that would be the best offense in baseball.

69-70 now. Unbelievable considering how terrible they were for much of the summer. I wonder if they can finish off the improbable sweep tomorrow.

I'm surprised they decided to play tonight, especially with nice weather expected tomorrow. I can't imagine that many fans will be left.

No way this one gets played. Doubleheader tomorrow or Sunday?

If they want to make any sort of playoff push, this is a win they have to get. Not the most favorable pitching matchup and Ramirez out of the lineup...I hope they can get it done.

Sometimes I wonder if the bad bullpen is part of the reason the offense is so good this year. Hart probably figured we would lose if he didn't get a hit in the 9th.

That was probably Segura's best at-bat of the season. He lined out, but it was a nice 12 pitch at bat.

We are here kalle! The Marlins' announcers just said that Adam LaRoche is an NL MVP candidate. He's having a good year, but seriously?

It would be absolutely incredible if the Orioles and Rays finish 1-2 in the AL East. Their two payrolls combined still fall $50 million short of the Yankees. Hopefully the fans show up to the Yankees series this weekend. It would be sad if Camden isn't packed, but when you are terrible for as long as they have been, many of the fans in that area likely switched allegiances or never became baseball fans.

It's too bad because at first I was like "Oh yay, the IGT got up to 3 pages tonight!" Then I started reading the posts...

Ok I got rid of 3/4 of this topic, there's no excuse for swearing or name calling, that will not be tolerated on this forum.

Yikes nobody is there tonight.

[attachment=0]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1346701920.912257.jpg[/attachment] I think this is the coolest thing at Marlins Park. And let's all get along please?

Mike Fiers is from Pompano Beach, he has a big cheering section here. Very sparsely attended game, lots of Brewers fans.

Unfortunately there are only about 10-15 true #1 or "ace" starters in baseball, so the majority of teams have to do without one.

Will the Brewers finish ahead of the Pirates in the standings this year?

Yeah I agree with that statement.

I highly doubt that was RR's call.

I'm not sure what it was doing beforehand, but I'm not experiencing this problem now.

Tapatalk logs me in automatically, isn't that one of the advantages of it???

This just became the most uninteresting thread of all time.

The bullpen is a complete joke, it's amazing that the rest of the team hasn't given up after seeing this happen time and time again.

Solid 7 RBI day for Luc.

At the pace we're going, the winning team is going to need about 15 runs. And the game is going to take over 4 hours.