The Suds Rise To The Top
When we were a week into April and the Milwaukee Brewers were in first place, the common refrain was, "It's April. Relax. There's a lot of baseball left to play."
Well, now we're a week into May, and the Brewers have the best record in all of baseball and the best player (shortstop J.J. Hardy) in all of baseball. Now what?
Typically, teams that start well finish well. I'm not going to quote the statistics, but trust me: if your team wasn't within a decent week's play of first place by the end of April, history suggests that they won't be eligible for the playoffs by season's end. There's just too much ground to make up.
This brings me back to what must easily be the story of the young baseball season thus far: the Brew Crew is 21-10. Think about that. They are already 11 games over .500 for the season, and it only gets better.
With 131 games left, if the Brewers only play .500 ball, they still wind up with 85 wins, which will be more than enough to win the NL Central and make the playoffs. For the currently last place Cardinals to do better, the Dead Birds would need to play .770 baseball for the rest of the season just to tie the Brewers.
Now you understand why I'm burying the Cardinals. With staff ace Chris Carpenter on the shelf and a suddenly mortal Albert Pujols, they have no chance to make up that kind of ground over five months. They just can't sustain that kind of clip.
The Cubs, on the other hand, are a manageable five games out of first place as of this writing, and everything points to Alfonso Soriano rounding into form just as the weather warms up (and the wind blows out) at Wrigley. They will bear watching as the season unfolds, but remember this: while they are a decent week's play out of first, they are also a miserable week's play out of contention. Let the Lovable Losers go on one of their patented June Swoon losing streaks of seven or more games and they can forget about the division as well.
And we haven't even addressed the main reasons for the upstart Brewers' success: all that talent on the roster is finally coming together.
There has never been any doubt about Ben Sheets' ability (or Chris Capuano's, for that matter). Prince Fielder is already a better hitter than his old man was, and he can match his prodigious pop for distance on home runs as well. But, truthfully, who saw Rickie Weeks coming? Jeff Suppan? J.J. Hardy? Hardy, in particular, shows absolutely no signs of slowing down after a torrid stretch to begin the season, and is even managing to outshine the stellar Jose Reyes.
The young guys are playing with confidence, their pitchers are dominant, and the division is theirs for the taking.
Looks like it might be time to hoist one for the Brew Crew...
Well, now we're a week into May, and the Brewers have the best record in all of baseball and the best player (shortstop J.J. Hardy) in all of baseball. Now what?
Typically, teams that start well finish well. I'm not going to quote the statistics, but trust me: if your team wasn't within a decent week's play of first place by the end of April, history suggests that they won't be eligible for the playoffs by season's end. There's just too much ground to make up.
This brings me back to what must easily be the story of the young baseball season thus far: the Brew Crew is 21-10. Think about that. They are already 11 games over .500 for the season, and it only gets better.
With 131 games left, if the Brewers only play .500 ball, they still wind up with 85 wins, which will be more than enough to win the NL Central and make the playoffs. For the currently last place Cardinals to do better, the Dead Birds would need to play .770 baseball for the rest of the season just to tie the Brewers.
Now you understand why I'm burying the Cardinals. With staff ace Chris Carpenter on the shelf and a suddenly mortal Albert Pujols, they have no chance to make up that kind of ground over five months. They just can't sustain that kind of clip.
The Cubs, on the other hand, are a manageable five games out of first place as of this writing, and everything points to Alfonso Soriano rounding into form just as the weather warms up (and the wind blows out) at Wrigley. They will bear watching as the season unfolds, but remember this: while they are a decent week's play out of first, they are also a miserable week's play out of contention. Let the Lovable Losers go on one of their patented June Swoon losing streaks of seven or more games and they can forget about the division as well.
And we haven't even addressed the main reasons for the upstart Brewers' success: all that talent on the roster is finally coming together.
There has never been any doubt about Ben Sheets' ability (or Chris Capuano's, for that matter). Prince Fielder is already a better hitter than his old man was, and he can match his prodigious pop for distance on home runs as well. But, truthfully, who saw Rickie Weeks coming? Jeff Suppan? J.J. Hardy? Hardy, in particular, shows absolutely no signs of slowing down after a torrid stretch to begin the season, and is even managing to outshine the stellar Jose Reyes.
The young guys are playing with confidence, their pitchers are dominant, and the division is theirs for the taking.
Looks like it might be time to hoist one for the Brew Crew...
posted by van walker | 4:02 AM
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