Brewers 2008 World Series Chances
Milwaukee Unlikely to Advance in Playoffs This Season
Optimists will point to an inexperienced 2003 Florida Marlins team that rode a hot-streak all the way to a World Series championship. This proves that teams can overcome weaknesses if they get hot, but that does not take away the realistic analysis of the Brewers’ overall chances.
If the Brewers earn a postseason birth, it will likely be as the Wild Card team. This means that even if they have the second best record in the entire National League, they will still be the last seed and not have home-field advantage at any point during the playoffs. This Brewers will likely match up with the winner of the NL East because the leaders in the West are struggling to play .500 and a Wild Card team cannot play a team from its own division in the first round of the playoffs.
Milwaukee Brewers Pitching Staff
CC Sabathia has been the best pickup in baseball this year. He has been even more dominating with the Brewers in 2008 than he was with the Cleveland Indians last year when he earned the American League Cy Young Award.
The addition of Sabathia gives the Brewers a tremendous 1-2 punch at the top of their rotation. Milwaukee’s ability to send out last year’s AL Cy Young winner and this year’s NL all-star starter (Ben Sheets) is ferociously intimidating.
However, even the top of the rotation has a weakness. Sabathia and Sheets have a recent history of not performing well in big games. Eight years has passed since Sheets’ astonishing two-hit shutout of Cuba to win Gold at the Sidney Olympics. After dueling Chicago Cubs right-hander Carlos Zambrano to a no-decision in the first game of the season, Sheets has lost all but one of his games against big-name aces—including a rematch against Zambrano. Furthermore, Sabathia choked in the 2007 postseason (8.80 ERA) after his brilliant regular season for the Indians.
The starters must overcome their poor history in big games if they are to advance in the 2008 playoffs because the Brewers bullpen is their biggest weakness on paper. Milwaukee’s 36 year-old closer Salomon Torres has bounced back from a terrible 2007 campaign in Pittsburg, but he has no playoff experience. The rest of the Brewers bullpen has been extremely inconsistent, especially Milwaukee’s 10 million dollar offseason acquisition Eric Gagne who has a deplorable 6.90 ERA.
Milwaukee Brewers Manager Ned Yost
Brewers manager Ned Yost has endured heavy criticism from fans in Milwaukee despite his guiding the 2007 team to its first winning season since 1992. This year, Yost’s Brewers have the second-best record in the National League, but many fans are not satisfied.
Yost has worked magic with the offense by sliding hitters around in the order to break them out of slumps—moving J.J. Hardy back up to the two-slot has rejuvenated his season. Yost’s handling of the pitching staff is another matter entirely. Fans complain that he often leaves starters in too long when they begin to get into trouble late in games, or he takes them out when they are still dominating and hands the ball over to an inconsistent bullpen.
Yost’s inability to handle the pitching staff could be the Brewers’ downfall in postseason play—especially since they will likely be facing the high-power offense of either Ryan Howard and the Philadelphia Phillies or David Wright and the New York Mets.
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