I flinched.
Every year, I align my one-week summer hiatus from The Sunday Cycle with the MLB All-Star week. Never in my wildest dreams did I think my break would coincide with the most eventful two weeks in recent memory for the Brewers.
First, there was the seven game losing streak that legitimately felt like it would never end. Then, the Josh Hader tweets happened. The Brewers began the second half with a ton of attention from the national media, and very little of it had to do with baseball. The Brewers lost 2 of 3 to the Dodgers that weekend, and slipped to 3.5 games back in the NL Central, and for the first time all season, I flinched.
I was mashing the panic button. I fired off a series of disgruntled tweets about how the public declaration that the Brewers expected to win in 2018 was the worst thing the organization could have done mid-rebuild. “It all sounds great in January…” I tweeted angrily before bed on Sunday evening, “…the expectation now is to win. But when you’re trying to change the losing culture of one of the least successful franchises in sports, calling your shot and striking out could end you back right where you started”.
lol…. oops!
As I’ve said nearly countless times over the five year history of The Sunday Cycle: my what a difference a week can make.
First of all, the Brewers are winning again. Two of three from the Nationals and three of four from the Giants have the Brewers between .5 and 1.5 games behind the Cubs, depending on the result of the Cubs / Cardinals game this evening. They’re hitting again, the starting pitching featured more good starts than bad, and the bullpen was lights out. It became clear at the start of the Giants series that this team was ready to put their bad stretch behind them and get back to winning baseball, which is exactly what they did.
Second, GM David Stearns made the team better this week. Stearns made two separate trades to bring White Sox RHP Joakim Soria and Royals 3rd baseman Mike Moustakas to Milwaukee. Stearns was even quoted saying he may have “one or two more [deals] in him” and I believe him. Next week, we’ll cover all of the moves in detail once the August 1st deadline passes. At a very high level, Soria bolsters what was already one of the best bullpens in baseball, and Moustakas brings power and slugging to the middle of the lineup. Good moves.
Finally – the Brewers are healthy and trending upward. Only Jonathan Villar and Zach Davies remain on the 10-day DL, with both set to rehab this week in the minors. The Brewers haven’t been healthy all year (knock on wood). For a team that grinded their way through so many injuries to key players early in the year, having everyone back full strength heading into the dog days of August is huge. I’ve said it all year: we haven’t really seen this offense click yet. With two months left in the regular season and the NL Central very much up for grabs, the stage is set for the Brewers to do something really special.
A lot of trades are going to be made over the next 44 hours. From there, it’s a sprint to the finish line. With exactly 1/3rd of the regular season remaining, the Brewers find themselves right where they expected to be: in a pennant race. Here’s to hoping the culture in the Brewers clubhouse really is different, and the Crew finds a way to rewrite the losing script that we have watched play out countless times. There’s no running away from it this year – the Brewers expect to win; anything short of a postseason birth is a failure.