From Milwaukee To Madison To Green Bay -- Extremes In Wisconsin Sports

The World Series starts this week, without our Milwaukee Brewers, as they were unceremoniously swept out by the Los Angeles Dodgers. This only reinforced the old baseball adage "good pitching beats good hitting."

There's been a lot of lamenting this fact. Brewer fans are quick to forget this was a 97-win team, best in franchise history and best in baseball. This ignores the fact that most every national publication predicted a .500 or sub-.500 season for Milwaukee. This young team gave us all a helluva ride during the season and a lot to be grateful for. ESPECIALLY that satisfying win over the Chicago Cubs in the first round of the playoffs.

Take a good look at this roster and all you see is an upside for Manager Pat Murphy, who could (and should) be given his second straight NL Manager Of The Year award. This team is anchored by Bryce Turang, William Conteras, Sal Frelick, Blake Perkins, Joey Ortiz and Jackson Chourio -- who put up his second straight 20/20 season despite missing a month with an injury.

Factor in rookies Caleb Durbin and Isaac Collins, plus pitchers Chad Patrick and Jacob Misiorowski, to name a few, and the future looks bright. And speaking of Misiorowski, this 23-year-old fireballer looked like a veteran on the mound against LA, giving the Brewers six strong innings, mixing his pitches well. Every time he throws a fastball in the 103-104 mph range, you shake your head and just have to hope that he stays healthy.

There are questions, to be sure. Brandon Woodruff is sure to be gone. Freddy Peralta could well find himself traded. The pitching staff will be vastly different in 2026. Milwaukee General Manager Matt Arnold will have to meet some challenges in crafting a roster. 

TO BE HONEST, the only way to balance things out in the NLCS would have been to make the Dodgers carry their bank books or money bags during play. LA is a red-hot team with amazing pitching....but come on, baseball, isn't it time to balance things out with a salary cap. When a team has a $350 million payroll, with a pitch making as much as Milwaukee's entire staff, things need to adjust.

Shohei Otani, who had a performance in game four against Milwaukee that we will probably never see again, was signed for $700 million with a lot of the money pushed down the road. Can teams in Kansas City or Pittsburgh come even close to to something like that?

The defending World Series champions are poised to spend a record $509.5 MILLION in payroll and projected luxury tax. The Brewers play in the smallest market in the big leagues, and their entire payroll of $124.8 million doesn't even approach Los Angeles' projected luxury tax bill of nearly $168 million.

Come on, MLB. Let's get a salary cap in place so the haves -- teams in LA, Boston, New York and Chicago -- can't gobble up all the talent.

UP IN GREEN BAY, the Packers are once again the youngest team in the NFL. Only one player has over 10 years in the league. That's injured kicker Brandon McManus, a 12-year veteran. Closest to him? Several players are seven year vets.

McManus has been subbed by free agent Luke Havrisik, who is currently four-for-four in field goals, including a jaw-dropping franchise record 61-yarder against Arizona. Packer legend Mason Crosby held the previous mark at 58 yards.

Gotta thank Packer management for pulling the trigger and getting edge rusher Micah Parsons from the Dallas Cowboys. This helps the team grow in a number of ways.

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN MADISON? Not a whole lot where the Wisconsin Badger football team is concerned, and that's causing a LOT of angst around the campus and the state.

After last week's embarrassing 37-0 loss to Ohio State, Bucky has fallen to 0-4 in the Bigger Ten (averaging a lusty 5 points per game)  and just 2-4 on the season. Take a good, hard look at the remaining schedule and a 2-9 finish.

The Ohio State loss came on a 34-0 shutout by Iowa. That's the first time since the John Jardine Badgers was shut out in back-to-back games since 1977. That woeful team managed to score just 22 points in its final six games....this year's team could well challenge that. Wisconsin hasn’t been blanked in three consecutive games since 1968.

Both Badger Head Coach Luke Fickell and Athletic Director Chris McIntosh are sitting on seats that are getting hotter and hotter by the week. Another shutout loss this week against the sixth-ranked Oregon Ducks, currently 6-1, could well fuel the flames for firings -- large payouts be damned.