Kirsten Schmitt-Milwaukee-Brewers
Acquired from Tampa Bay in a late-May trade, shortstop Willy Adames has become a team leader on and off the field.
On the first Sunday of September, I accompanied my in-laws to Milwaukee to see the Brewers play the St. Louis Cardinals. The experience turned into a real-life version of those Progressive Insurance commercials that warn us about becoming our parents.
“What do you guys think? Should we call it a day?” I asked as Brewers left fielder Christian Yelich hit a line drive right at the St. Louis first baseman for the third out of the eighth inning, stranding Eduardo Escobar on second.
The Cardinals were taking a 5-1 lead into the ninth and I was interested in getting a jump on traffic back to Madison. My companions had different ideas and were disappointed in my suggestion. So were 10-year-old me, 20-year-old me and even 30-year-old me.
Why would you ever leave the ballpark early, I was asked? When would life outside American Family Field ever be better than experiencing the action inside, especially during this season, when the Brewers have surged to the top of the National League Central Division standings with one of baseball’s best pitching staffs and a lineup of opportunistic hitters?
Properly chastened, I returned to my seat and later witnessed a truly miraculous feat when pinch hitter Daniel Vogelbach won the game on a walk-off grand slam home run, one of the most dramatic baseball scenes I’ve ever witnessed in person.
I was back at the park on Friday, Sept. 17, when the Chicago Cubs looked to be in charge heading into the bottom of the eighth, leading 5-4 with the bottom of Milwaukee’s order due up. But the Brewers broke the game open with a few singles — two of them with two outs — and some aggressive base running and won, 8-5.
This year’s Brewers team has proven that fans who stick with them will be rewarded. The best example of this occurred on June 30 against the Cubs, when starting pitcher Aaron Ashby gave up seven runs in the first inning. Milwaukee scored one run in the bottom of the first, five in the second and eight in the fourth, ultimately winning, 15-7.
But back on May 21, it was a different story. Milwaukee was in third place in the division with a 21-23 record, four games behind St. Louis in the standings. A quarter of the way through the season, they were playing like a .500 team, alternately overachieving and disappointing. Games were not appointment viewing.
That day, Willy Adames arrived via a trade with Tampa Bay. Adames had a .197 batting average with a .625 OPS (on-base plus slugging, a statistic meant to more accurately measure a player’s offensive ability) at the time and the move didn’t attract a ton of attention. Only serious fans would have known Adames as a great defensive, but light-hitting, shortstop on the Rays’ 2020 American League championship team.
Four months later, Adames has a .264 batting average with a .824 OPS. More important, his energy on the field and in the clubhouse has proven to be significant. Among other positive habits he has brought with him to the team are enthusiastic embraces with anyone in his vicinity.
“His pregame hug will floor you if you’re not ready,” said Brewers bench coach Pat Murphy in a June story in The Athletic.
Adames has taken tone-setting pressure off of former league MVP Yelich, who hasn’t been the same player since he fractured his kneecap in 2019. In a late September Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story on the leadership shown by the Brewers’ Latino players, manager Craig Counsell praised Adames, from the Dominican Republic, for the vibe he brings to the team.
“The best thing I can say about Willy is, there’s a lot of players that love the game, but Willy loves every part of the day when he’s here,” Counsell said. “He loves batting practice. He loves every part of it. He goes to the training room, he loves it. He loves every part of it. That wears off on everybody.”
Heading into the playoffs, the National League is fiercely competitive. St. Louis sewed up a wild card berth by winning 19 of its last 22 games — including six over Milwaukee. Los Angeles and San Francisco battled for the West Division title until the season’s final week, each winning over 100 games.
The Brewers are set to face East Division champs Atlanta in the divisional round of the playoffs, starting Oct. 8 in Milwaukee. They split six games against the Braves this season. Milwaukee ace Corbin Burnes had one of his worst outings of the season on July 30 against Atlanta, giving up nine hits and five earned runs in four innings, four in the first inning — and that game was actually a victory for the Crew.
The Brewers surged in that game, scoring four runs each in the third and fourth innings — irritating anyone who changed channels after witnessing the early deficit.
