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I spend too many words talking up the Crew

I spend too many words talking up the Crew I spend too many words talking up the Crew

Look, I don’t think that I had any control over the Brewers actually losing their final two games of their series against the Cardinals last week, but I don’t know if the fact that the Redbirds took both contests after I said they would can exactly be ignored either. Maybe Devin Williams really took what I said to heart as he imploded for his first bad outing since coming back from the injured list or perhaps my attempted reverse jinx actually just jinxed the Crew. Regardless, I haven’t talked about the Brewers practically all season and if it looks like my normal reverse jinx powers aren’t working, then it should actually be beneficial to talk them up a bit.

Because it’s actually been a really fun season. I didn’t have many expectations heading into the season, and much like the Packers late run last year, I think that allows you to appreciate the good things that happen all the more. Last year, with the knowledge that star starting pitchers Burnes and Woodruff would likely be gone after the season, there was a bit of pressure to finally get over the hump and make a deep run in the playoffs. But this year, with most people probably expecting a significant regression from the Brewers, they’ve been just as good, if not better, than last year’s iteration.

And that’s largely come down to the influx of young players that Milwaukee has invested in playing much better than I would have guessed. Up and down the lineup, pretty much everyone has outperformed my expectations, or at the very least met them. Brice Turang and William Contreras got off to hot starts, Joey Ortiz, Blake Perkins and Sal Frelick have stepped up and Jackson Chourio has been one of, if not the best, bats in the lineup for the last three months. Add in another solid season from Willy Adames where he leads the club in RBIs and home runs and has come up in some very clutch moments, some late game bombs from veteran additions Rhys Hoskins and Gary Sanchez, and this lineup is so much more fun to watch than last year’s iteration. And that’s not including the return to form that we were seeing from Christian Yelich before his back injury crept into the picture.

And a lot of that has to do with the utilization of the team’s athleticism. While the Crew still doesn’t hit a lot of home runs, they are much better at taking advantage of the base hits they do get than last year’s squad. The Brewers are much more aggressive on the basepaths this year, currently sitting in third in stolen bases, and are more willing to play more small ball tactics.

The defense has also been impressive and a lot of metrics have the Brewers in the top five teams, which certainly helps with so many question marks heading into the season on the pitching staff.

Once again, the Brewers have managed to keep runs off the board, currently holding the fourth best ERA in the league. A lot of that has to do with what has been a pretty dominant bullpen, which may finally be at full strength for the first time this year heading into the season’s final month. Rookie Bryan Hudson, Trevor Megill and Jared Koenig carried the unit early on and the reentry of Devin Williams and solid performances from Elvis Peguero, Bryse Wilson and Joel Payamps make this a pretty good group.

And while the starting rotation may still not look like a World Series bound lineup, they have definitely held their own over the season, especially given the injuries that the unit has seen over the course of the season. Colin Rea has held together better than expected and rookie Tobias Meyers has been great in his first foray into the MLB. Freddy Peralta has had an up and down season, but when he is on, he is still probably one of our best pitchers.

It’s hard to see them matching up with some of the other heavy weights in the league on paper, but the Brewers have proved throughout the season that they can win with defense, small ball tactics and aggressive baserunning, with a little more power than last season. And if they can get to October, anything can happen. See the Arizona Diamondbacks last year for an example. Even if they don’t make a big run, it's still been a much more entertaining season than I thought it would be in March.

Alright, now that I’ve sufficiently cursed Milwaukee, I can turn back to other topics. Watch out Packers, you’re probably next.

A C ERTAIN POINT OF V IEW

BY

NATHANIEL U NDERWOOD REPORTER

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