For the first time since July 12th, the Chicago Cubs are in second place in the division behind the Milwaukee Brewers. Unfortunately, that second place mark is an end result of a torrid run through the month of September by the Brew Crew that saw them cut the division lead down from five games to finish a tiebreak game 163 with the NL Central crown.
Now this article has two parts, and to be completely honest with you, neither of them have a whole lot to do with the Cubs. That is mostly due to the fact that you have pretty much heard it all regarding the Boys in Blue.
Oh you haven’t heard? Here’s a five sentence recap:
The starting pitching sucked and the bullpen was good. Then the starting pitching was good and the bullpen sucked. The offense was good but it was streaky. They dealt with more injuries than you could imagine to some of the most important players on the team. They still managed 95 wins and a spot in the Postseason. The end.
No, this article is about the curious case of the Milwaukee Brewers. Now as a fan of the Cubs, this article is being written soon after a fairly crucial loss this season, so I am going to start off with the positives of the Cubs’ opponent so I don’t look too awful salty.
The Beer Makers were a solid team in the 2018 regular season that happened to get absolutely scorching hot at the time that every team in the league tries to turn it on. They are riding a hot streak in the month of September that brought them back from five games back in the division and the team just seems to be running on all cylinders.
They have a guy who is going to be named the MVP of the National League in a few weeks thanks mostly in part because of a month where he played out of his freaking mind. He has performed in exactly the way you want the Most Valuable Player to play.
They have a lights out bullpen all the sudden with four innings of zeros completely covered with Corey Knebel, Joakim Soria, Josh Hader, and Jeremy Jeffress each taking a frame.
This team will be riding home field advantage throughout Postseason until someone is able to knock off the hottest team in all of baseball, and I just can’t envision that happening at this point in time.
HOWEVAH!
I don’t understand how this is happening. I truly do not.
The Milwaukee Brewers have a pitching staff that I would not trust to trot out there against the likes of the 115 loss Orioles. Can you believe that the team with the best record in the NL deployed a starting rotation of Chase Anderson, Jhoulys Chacin, Wade Miley, Gio Gonzalez, and Zach Davies? That is ludicrous. Now please do not take these words as me saying that these guys have bad results this season, because in fact it is the complete opposite. They have done just enough to get the job done with THOSE names no matter how quirky and unassuming they are.
Their offense touts the future-MVP Christian Yelich along with another extremely valuable bat they acquired this past offseason in Lorenzo Cain. 2018 has been a breakout season for Jesus Aguilar as well. But outside of those three players, the lineup is sub-par at best. This is a team that consistently starts .688 OPSing Jonathan Schoop, .560 OPSing Orlando Arcia, and .647 OPSing Erik Kratz. But they still just seem to get the job done despite that fact.
It is truly incredible when you think about it. The Milwaukee Brewers were able to win the NL Central and finish with the best record in the entire league with a starting pitching staff that ranked 10th in the league in fWAR and an offense that has no protection for the top of the order.
Now before any of you go tagging your Brewers buddies in this post so that they can call me a jealous Cubs fan, I want you to first understand that I am happy for the Milwaukee Brewers organization. I have never had a problem with the players, managers, ownership, or fans of the team (besides labeling themselves the Cubs little brother). I not only want, but NEED a rival for the Cubs to emerge in the Central and I am ecstatic that it is the Brewers and not those lousy Cardinals and their fans. The organization is an underdog story that is easy to root for and if the Cubs bow out of the Postseason, I will be rooting for them. I’ve been a doubter of the Brewers for three full seasons now and they have proven me wrong each and every time. I will never begin to understand how they have figured out this way of proving me wrong with the roster that they run out there every day, but I am very impressed nonetheless.
Out of the Vines 