Brewers 2021 Wrap-up

They say baseball is all about pitching, but the 2021 Milwaukee Brewers proved that offense is also a required component for a legitimate World Series contender, as they lost to the Atlanta Braves this week in four games while scoring a sum total of six runs, including two shutouts.

These four games were sadly reminiscent of the four games I attended in 2021, when the Crew scored a grand total of four runs, losing all four games. Three of these games took place after the acquisition of shortstop Willy Adames, whose presence gave the team a needed boost at the end of May.  I like a good pitchers duel now and then as much as the next guy, but the team I watched during those four games was not a fun team to watch.  The offense was anemic, the baserunning and defense sloppy, and the overall excitement generated was subpar.  And while the Brewers surged during the second half of season, their offensive numbers over the entire season were, well, terrible. 

Milwaukee ranked 26th in batting average, 24th in slugging percentage, and 20th in OPS.  Defense didn’t help either.  The Brewers ranked 9th in errors allowed, 28th in double plays, and 21st in fielding percentage.

It was this team that somehow – miraculously – managed to score enough runs throughout the season to lock down the NL Central in easy fashion.  Their pitching staff was so good – ranking 3rd in runs allowed per game – and the division in which they played so mediocre, that the Brewers ran away with their first division title in three years.  Even offensively, the Brewers managed to score the league-average number of runs per game, but I don’t know of any Brewers fans who felt confident entering the playoffs.  Four game later, our concerns have been unsatisfyingly validated.  The Brewers’ pitching staff once again had to be nearly perfect for the team to even have a chance of winning, and in the playoffs against a good-hitting Braves team, this was an awfully tall order. 

The pitching wasn’t perfect, but it was solid.  What was embarrassingly bad was the offense.  During the playoff series against a good-pitching Braves team, the Brewers swung and missed at more pitches outside the strike zone than any playoff team has a right to.  This is best encapsulated by Avisail Garcia’s third at-bat in game four.  After swinging and missing at two sliders down and away, Garcia swung at the next pitch – also a slider – in the exact same location.  What made Garcia think that pitcher Huascar Ynoa – after having adequately demonstrated that he needn’t pitch in the zone to get a strike – was actually going to throw in the zone for his third pitch is mind-boggling.

This one at-bat sort of sums up a lot of the Brewers at-bats this season, and it highlights the concerns for next years’ Brewers team (and begs the question: will batting coach Andy Haines be returning next season?).  On paper, the Brewers’ pitching and infield seem to be in relatively good shape for 2022, with nearly every player returning.  These were the strengths of the team in 2021 (tough first base is still a concern).  But the Brewers’ outfield is currently bloated with highly-paid players who are performing absolutely terribly.  Garcia was the lone bright spot (though not always), but he likely won’t be returning to the Brewers next season.  Instead, the Brewers have returning Jackie Bradley, Jr., who just completed one of the worst offensive seasons in Major League history), an injury-prone and past-his-prime Lorenzo Cain, and Christian Yelich, who’s not even a shadow of his former self, garnering a shocking 1.3 WAR in 2021. 

How will the Brewers fortify the outfield with some offensive numbers?  There’s only one way that I can think of given that the team salary is already stretched, and that’s to make a deal to trade some of their stellar pitchers on the staff.  With the luxury of having three aces in Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta, very capable 4th and 5th starters in Adrian Houser and Eric Lauer, and excellent relievers in Devin Williams (albeit a very, very stupid Devin Williams, who used his pitching hand to punch a wall at the end of the regular season) and Josh Hader, I would not be surprised some of these guys were traded to bolster the offense for 2022.  We shall see what David Stearns and company decide to do during what will certainly be a volatile off-season, as players and owners hash out a new collective bargaining agreement.

Time Loop Fantasy

Two months after delving into the fantasy of time travel, I’d like to address another fun fantasy scenario: that of living in a Groundhog Day-type time loop.  I think we can all agree that reliving a day in Punxsutawney circa 1993 would have been a challenge, though Bill Murray’s character gave a good go of it in the aforementioned movie.  But existing in a time loop prior to widely available internet and streaming services would certainly limit your options.  Even worse would be living in a time loop in, say, rural Nebraska in 1890. Or in 2020-2021 during the worst days of the pandemic!  Fuggedetaboutit!  But fast forward to the 2020 film Palm Springs, which deftly borrows the Groundhog Day synopsis, and it doesn’t seem nearly as awful to be stuck in time.  For one, Andy Samberg’s character has a time loop partner in Cristin Milioti, and Cristin’s access to the internet allows her to discover how to escape their predicament.  Still, the city of Palm Springs is not a booming metropolis with much to offer, and if you had to live in a time loop, you might choose to pull the levers of circumstance just a bit to make eternity not only bearable, but even a palatable sentence.

Unlike the time travel question I posed two months ago, there aren’t a multitude of rules to consider in a time loop fantasy; only that no matter what you do, you wake up at the same time on the same day in the same location as the day before, without end.  The only additional wrinkle is that for the purposes of this exercise, you’ll have the luxury of knowing in advance that you’ll be stuck in a time loop and therefore have the ability to prepare.  What do you choose to do?

For me, I would choose to live more or less in the present day, but before or after the worst of the pandemic.  Let’s have all the restaurants and stadiums open at full capacity.  Let’s put masks and social distancing behind us.  And let’s make air travel as easy as possible.

Speaking of air travel, this is an essential element to living happily in a time loop, so residing close to a large airport is number two on my list.  I currently live 20 minutes from O’Hare, so I’m in good shape, but it may be useful to live on the East Coast, which opens up all sorts of interesting locations to visit in the U.S., not to mention much of Europe.  Hell, you could hop on an early departure from JFK and reach Paris in time for dinner.  Chicago would of course be a better bet if you needed access to the western United States.  Or maybe you’d choose to live in Europe, where visiting a multitude of countries is within reach.

I would stick to the U.S., but regardless of location, I would then choose to relive a beautiful 70-degree Saturday in September.  The importance of the weather component is obvious, and the request for a Saturday is multifold.  First, I could visit 15 different MLB ballparks and scores of college football stadiums to take in a game.  I’m not a huge college football fan, but in the midst of an eternal time loop, I could become one. Furthermore, some museums, businesses and restaurants are closed on Sundays, as are banks, so Saturdays offer more flexibility.  Also, concerts, plays and musicals are more plentiful on Saturdays, and I could probably spend hundreds of days traveling to see a different act each night (this does strengthen the argument to reside in New York, though Chicago wouldn’t be a bad option).  Finally, traffic isn’t so bad on Saturdays, so I wouldn’t have to spend a good chunk of eternity stuck on a U.S. Highway.

Like Adam Sandberg’s character in Palm Springs, I would want someone to be stuck with me in my infinite time loop.  In my case, that’s my wife.  Sorry, honey!

Prior to the time loop, I would transfer all of our money to an easily-accessible bank account, and I would make sure that our credit card balance is at zero so that we could take advantage of our full credit.  We could then of course choose to spend as much money as we want on any given day, knowing that the money will be available to us the next morning.  Buying a last-minute first-class ticket to London would be of no concern.  We could eat at the most expensive restaurants in town (assuming we could finagle a reservation, but my guess is that dropping a few thousand-dollar bribe to the host would get the job done at most places), buy a sports car for the day, get front row seats to a concert, or walk downtown and give each homeless person a couple of grand that they could enjoy for the day.

During our time loop, we could watch practically every movie known to man, listen to every piece of recorded music, and read every book we’ve never had time to read.  Sure, we’d have to repurchase it every day to get to the end of the book, but who cares?  We’ve got nothing but time! 

We could also visit all three of our kids, though not for as long as we’d like.  It might behoove us prior to our time loop sentence to ask our kids to move close to us (this would likely take some convincing).  That way we could invite them to join us on whatever adventure we choose.

The above may not make as interesting a movie as Groundhog Day or Palm Springs, but it would be a much more pleasant sentence than enduring a cold shower each morning in frigid Punxsutawney in 1993 or a wedding in hot and dry Palm Springs in 2020, with or without Andie MacDowell or Cristin Milioti.  If you can give me reign over my time loop circumstances, I might just sign up!

Where would you Time Travel?

When it comes to thought-provoking discussion topics, one of the most intriguing has got to be: “If you could go back in time, where would you go?”  I asked a friend of mine this question recently and he said, “I’ve never thought about it.”  I find this mind-boggling, as I’ve spent days of my life contemplating just the rules of such an endeavor, never mind the actual answer to the question.  There are so many variables to consider:

• How long can I travel back in time?  An hour?  A day?  A year?

• Do I get to choose when to come back, or is the duration predetermined?

• Can I stay if I choose to?

• Am I going merely as an observer, or do I get to interact with my environment?

• Will my actions change history?

• If I do interact with my environment, will I know the language of the people I meet?  Will I arrive with the proper clothing and currency?  Will I have access to basic toiletries and lodging?

• Can I go back as myself and relive an event from my own life?  If so, do I go with my 53-year-old brain and understanding of the world, or do I go back to the person I was at that time?

• Once I arrive, am I bound to the travel restrictions of that time?  For instance, can I visit multiple places with the snap of a finger, or would I have to walk or ride in a bus, boat or carriage?

• Can I die, be harmed or put in prison while I’m away?

It can get complicated quickly, and each answer to the above questions will radically change the central answer to the central question.

When I asked a few of my Christian friends, they didn’t need to think twice: witness Jesus’s resurrection.  Fair enough.  Another friend of mine thought that seeing her grandparents as young adults would make for a good trip.  I like that one a lot.  Some of my music-centric friends thought about attending one of the seminal concerts by their favorite bands.  One friend thought about witnessing the JFK assassination and paying particular attention to the grassy knoll to see if there’s any truth to the conspiracy theories.

For me, I’ll make the following assumptions:  I will not interact with my environment in a meaningful way, but I can make small talk, order food at a restaurant, etc..  I can observe people, places and events, I can eat food, and I can be visible if I choose to be or an invisible observer when appropriate.  I am not subject to injury, death or imprisonment.  I can travel via the methods appropriate for the time period.  I can sleep in some other dimension, as opposed to living along in a dingy motel somewhere.  Money is no object.  I can not change history.  I can stay for up to a month.

Given these assumptions, I would consider time-traveling to Milwaukee on September 23, 1957 and staying for at least three weeks.  I have the following in mind:

I’ll first attend County Stadium to witness the Milwaukee Braves game on Monday night, September 23, and watch Hank Aaron hit a game-winning, league-clinching, two-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning and celebrate with over 40,000 other fans in attendance.  A few weeks later, I will attend games 4 and 5 of the World Series and watch the Braves beat the Yankees, and I’ll stick around in Milwaukee to watch/listen/cheer/celebrate with my fellow fans on October 9th and 10th while the Braves beat the Yankees in the Bronx.  I could try to travel to New York to see the games, but I think it might actually be more fun in Milwaukee.

Since there’s a lot of time to kill in between these two events, I’ve got some ideas. I’d like to take a bus to Memphis, Tennessee, and on September 27th see The Biggest Show of Stars, including Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, The Drifters, The Everly Brothers, Frankie Lymon and Paul Anka.  Not too shabby.  And two days earlier, on September 25th, I can see Elvis Presley at the Eagle’s Nest, also in Memphis!  Even better, the weather in Memphis that week looks to be in the mid-70s to the low-80s, so I’d try to take a boat tour, eat some good southern food and get a flavor for the area.

If possible, I’d then like to quickly travel up to Green Bay for their 21-17 victory over the Bears at the inaugural game at New City Stadium (now Lambeau Field).  I’ll be there with 31,000 other fans, and future president Richard M. Nixon (and current - at the time - Vice President) will dedicate the stadium at half-time.

During the following week I’ll go back to Milwaukee and visit both sets of my grandparents.  I knew my maternal grandparents, Elmer and Louise, quite well as a young adult, but I’d love to see them again, hear them laugh, watch them cook a meal, play cards, sing in the choir, etc.  I’d even take a few bus rides with my grandfather at the helm as a city driver.  What a hoot that would be.  And then I can go just a short drive away to my paternal grandparents, Edwin and Mildred, who I didn’t know nearly as well in my lifetime, and get a fuller picture of who they were.

I would also kick around the land where I grew up in Menominee Falls and Brookfield.  None of the homes I lived in will be there yet, but I’d still like to see how things looked prior subdivisions being developed.

During my downtime, I’ll watch current movies in theaters.  It’s hard to know exactly what films will be played during this three-week period, but they might include Jailhouse Rock, Sweet Smell of Success and A Face in the Crowd.  Maybe a few older films will be playing around town as well. And I’m sure there will be local concerts worth seeing. I’d also like to attend a Reform Judaism service somewhere in Milwaukee or northern suburbs and see what the services consisted of back then, and I’d like to visit Capitol Drive Lutheran Church where I’ll attend Sunday School a few decades later.

That sounds like a pretty good three-week time-travel vacation.  If the parameters were to change, so would my answer.  What if I can only go back for one hour?  What if I can change history?  What if I can snap my fingers and change locations?  What if I can interact with my environment with absolutely no worry about changing history? 

Oh, the possibilities are endless.  Sorta like this blog entry!

Where and when would you like to go?

Shoutout to Jomboy's Baseball Breakdowns

With all the talk about baseball needing a significant makeover considering that strikeouts and game lengths are up and batting averages, doubles, triples, stolen bases and excitement are down, it’s nice to see that the game can still be made interesting by sheer personality and incredible lip-reading.  Enter Jomboy Media.  Now, I’m not much of a YouTube guy because I like to waste my time in other meaningless ways, but I do have a 19 year-old son who will on occasion lead me to a channel that offers big entertainment value, a phrase not typically associated with Major League Baseball these days.

Jomboy Media has a history, multiple channels, podcasts and a slew of related entities that I don’t understand, and I encourage you to investigate all of them and then tell me in 30 seconds what I should pay attention to, but what I’d like to share with you today are its Baseball Breakdowns hosted by Jimmy O’Brien.  The breakdowns are an inside look of baseball’s intricacies, extraordinary plays, heated arguments between players, managers and umpires, and the best (and worst) of baseball fandom, all done with wit and a genuine appreciation for the game.  And did I mention the lip-reading?  Wow! This guy can tell you exactly what managers Craig Counsell and Tony La Russa are uttering in this incredibly interesting and entertaining breakdown of a challenge that may or may not have taken advantage of a significant loophole in the rulebook. 

For another taste of what O’Brien does best, check out this recent look at a Mariner comeback against the Astros:

Great stuff!  I’m a fan.  I might be as big a fan of Jomboy as I am of baseball itself.  You can also watch the videos and have better search functionality at Jomboy’s website.

Now excuse me while I piss away some more time on YouTube.

A Devil's Baseball Bargain

I’ve proposed the following scenario to a few Milwaukee Brewers fans, but you could just as easily apply it to fans of the Seattle Mariners or Texas Rangers, the Jacksonville Jaguars, Denver Nuggets or Buffalo Sabres, or any other sports team without a championship. 

A person or entity of some kind approaches you, and – knowing your lifetime loyalty to the Milwaukee Brewers (or some other ill-fated sports team) – says, “I can guarantee that the Brewers will win a World Series sometime in the next five years, but here’s the deal: your team will spend the subsequent twenty years in last place.”

You don’t know how or why, but you know this person is telling the truth.  Do you take the bargain?

I’ve offered this question to a couple of friends of mine and have been dumbfounded that each of them quickly and unequivocally said no; they’d rather have a fun, competitive team for many years than to hit the pinnacle for one year and spend two decades in the cellar.

Me?  I would take the deal in a heartbeat.

I wouldn’t have when I was fourteen years-old and the Brewers had just lost the World Series in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals.  After all, they’d surely be back a year later to avenge their disappointing loss, right?  Right???

Nearly forty years later, I realize just how fleeting successes are, and how you can root for a team – even good teams – and never make it to the finish line.  Think the Utah Jazz, the Tampa Rays or the Buffalo Bills.  Or how about the Atlanta Falcons, who let the Super Bowl slip away when it was in the bag?  Brutal stuff.  Tell me a Falcon fan wouldn’t change the outcome of that game for twenty years in the doldrums.

The Packers have won two more Super Bowls than I ever expected them to win when I was following them through the awful 70s and 80s.  But now?  It’s all icing, baby.  They’ve done it.  Twice in my lifetime!  If they spend the next decade in last place, hey, that’s okay.

The Milwaukee Bucks just won their first championship since I was three years old.  I was thrilled.  I traveled up to Milwaukee and hung out with my sister and brother-in-law, walked amongst Bucks fans of all genders, races and sizes, and I loved it.  But I couldn’t express unadulterated jubilation, because I didn’t earn it.  I don’t think much of pro basketball as a sport, and while I was very happy for the city of Milwaukee, the fans who’ve slogged through season after hapless season and the players who seem genuinely grateful for having won a championship in a small-market city, I couldn’t revel in the victory as much as the next guy.  After all, the Bucks game I attended earlier this year was my first NBA game in twenty years.

But I’ve earned my heartache with the Milwaukee Brewers, and I will have earned the euphoria should they ever manage to win a World Series.  They’ve come close to getting there – in 2011 and 2018 – and those were fun rides to be sure, but they were not the finish line.  I want what true Bucks fans got last week.  I want it all.  I want to be in the stands when the Brewers complete a World Series victory.

I’d be willing to spend a lot of awful seasons for that Golden Moment.  Hell, I’ve lived through enough awful seasons without that golden moment.  What’s a few more?