Scott Paulus \ Milwaukee Brewers
Prince Fielder, Brewer in spirit, is in the playoffs as designated hitter with the Texas Rangers.
On Sunday, Oct. 4, at 5:11 p.m., I tweeted: “And, mercifully, the Brewers’ 2015 season is over.”
The less said about a season in which the Brewers lost 94 games — including their final three games, at home against the playoff-bound Chicago Cubs — the better. Amazingly, the Cincinnati Reds performed even worse down the stretch, winning only one of their last 10 games and finishing at the bottom of the National League Central.
The other three teams in the division all reached the postseason, including the St. Louis Cardinals, the only team in all of baseball to notch 100 wins. The next two best teams in the majors? The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cubs.
If the Brewers are to become serious contenders again, they’ll need to start from scratch. And that process has already begun, with Milwaukee dismantling its lineup piece by piece over the past few years. Look for more changes during the offseason.
The Brewers’ front office has shown a knack for trading away talent that flourishes on other teams. I’m not sure what that says about Milwaukee, but this year’s playoffs feature several former Brew Crew members. Of the eight teams still alive at the time of this writing, only one — the New York Mets — did not currently have a former Brewers player, coach or manager on its roster.
Take a look at this:
Number of former Brewers players in playoffs: 18 — including guys who make a difference, like Zach Greinke (Los Angeles Dodgers), Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers (Houston Astros), Prince Fielder and Yovani Gallardo (Texas Rangers), and Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar (Kansas City Royals).
Number of former Brewers managers in playoffs: three — four, if you count Royals hitting coach Dale Sveum, who managed the Brewers’ final 12 games in 2008 after Ned Yost was fired. Yost now manages the Royals. Ron Roenicke, canned as Milwaukee’s manager 25 games into this season, is now the Dodgers third-base coach.
Number of former Brewers coaches in playoffs: three.
That’s almost enough for an entire team!
With Milwaukee dealing so many Brewers to contenders in recent years (let’s not forget Aramis Ramirez and Corey Hart of the Pittsburgh Pirates, victims in a loser-goes-home Wild Card game against the Cubs last week), loyal fans will need to be patient with new 30-year-old general manager David Stearns as he rebuilds.
But at least we have plenty of reasons to watch the playoffs.
