It wasn't that long ago, early July in fact, when the Milwaukee Brewers stumbled into the All-Star break on a three-game skid -- to the pathetic Pittsburgh Pirates, no less.
Oh, the gnashing of teeth and renting of clothing that followed. "Woe is us" was the feeling of many, loud and clear, that the 59-37 Brewers, with a six-game lead on the Chicago Cubs, were dropping like a stone. Can't possibly keep winning at a .6146 pace and will fade down the stretch.
Let's see....the team has gone 32-19 since the break, a winning percentage of .6275. They just completed a tough 16-game schedule with a three-game sweep of those Cubbies, going 11-5 and stretching that lead to 10 games. That's with 15 to play before the regular season wraps up.
We've come to expect the playoffs with Milwaukee, and an early exit. This season will be different, as manager Pat Murphy has a young team (look around: Luis Lara is 21, Jackson Chourio 22, Cooper Pratt 22, Jacob Misiorowski 24 and still learning how to pitch).
Here we sit with 15 games left and already in the playoffs for the eighth time in nine season. Time was, just finishing .500 was cause enough to break out the bubbly.
Keep the Brewers healthy, sort out some pitching issues, and this team is looking at a long playoff run. Will it get to the World Series? Anything can happen in playoff baseball.
Anyone for giving Murphy the NL Manager of The Year award for a third straight season? There's a lot of hands in the air to reward a guy with a limited payroll and a young team.
Brewers are currently eighth in the National League in attendance, 12th overall, averaging 33,814 fans on the year as 2,536,079 have shown up to cheer.
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