Brew October

 

So. Full disclosure. I had a job interview earlier this year with MLB. It didn't especially lead anywhere, and I've found gigs afterwards that have worked out, but I did interview with them, and it was a very nice conversation. I was asked what I look for in an MLB season, as a sort of 'gotcha' to weed out people who don't know anything about baseball, but it ended up being a 'gotcha' on them because I can talk about baseball for hours interrupted if given the opportunity. And I talked about how I root for the underdog, the contact teams. I talked about wanting teams like the Pirates or Orioles to do well, and specifically mentioned the Brewers, who were building something. The interviewer was slightly skeptical, as they'd just traded Freddy Peralta, but I said 'they needed to make room for Logan Henderson, they know what they're doing'. 

I didn't get the job but I'm wondering if that interviewer is remembering that about now. Going 'maybe he was onto something'. Because I saw the Brewers' path to a World Series in January, when people still thought they were a 2nd place, non-competitive team, and sure enough...there they are.

It has been a WHILE since we've seen a team absolutely body the playoffs like the Brewers have. Someone mentioned the 2022 Astros, but even they got clobbered by the Phillies in the World Series. Literally the only time the Brewers came into any trouble this month was when Shane Drohan was on the mound. Nothing against Drohan, but his arm trouble's ruined his ability to keep offenses down, and he was the only weak link in the entire chain. Aside from that, and some infield error issues...the Brewers were unstoppable. Only 2 losses, and a lot of huge wins against very difficult teams. Taking down the Dodgers and Rays, two teams that always found ways to win during the regular season, without much effort required...that's incredible.

The Brewers stayed hot the whole playoff season, even with the first round bye. The power of terrific pitching, wonderful contact hitting and a ton of young stars in their primes won this ring. And again, as I've said all season, this is only the beginning of the gold rush for Milwaukee. Jesus Made, Jett Williams, Andrew Fischer, Jeferson Quero and Luis Pena are all coming, and that's just the people we know about. Misiorowski and Chourio are still very young, and these are two guys you can build a team around. Pratt can do all of that in a World Series in his rookie year. Henderson, Gasser, Turang, Lara and possibly a healthier Kyle Harrison will be there next year immediately. This team, which is already excellent, as the potential to get even better. I cannot imagine a better version of this Brewers team, especially after watching this series and seeing them obliterate an already-great team like the Rays, and blaze through the competition like nobody else. 

This World Series sets up a narrative of the Brewers being one of the league superpowers. And we're headed for the possibility of a lockout and a reassessment of league priorities on the basis of wealth of ownership. So it'll be interesting if they make it back, even though I believe they can.

Very happy for the Brewers. Was a wonderful World Series, and proved a lot of people wrong. More of this please. Hopefully we don't have to wait too long to see baseball again.