The Milwaukee Brewers were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday. Considering how poorly the season started it’s surprising the Brewers were a theoretical playoff team until mid-September. The Crew may not be a playoff team, but this is not to say they will not factor in the pennant race. In fact, the Brewers can be a major thorn in the side of the objectively evil St. Louis Cardinals.
It’s paramount for a World Series contender to win their division and avoid the one-game Wild Card playoff.* The last thing you want is for a team to win 95 games and see their season end after one game. Unless that team is St. Louis, in which case that is exactly what you want to see.
*Granted, being a Wild Card team worked out well for the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals last season.
The Brew Crew had a chance to trim the Cardinals’ lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates to two games on Tuesday night, but were unable to plate the winning run in the bottom of the 9th and ended up losing in 10 innings. Despite the undesirable outcome, I enjoyed the feeling of terror as Francisco Rodriguez came out of the pen in the 9th inning to preserve a tie game. It’s nice to feel nervous about a game, even if the only stakes are making life more difficult for a rival.
Ideally we’re watching the Brewers jockey for playoff position this time of year, but I’ll settle for being a pest. Playing spoiler to the October plans of the Cardinals is the next best thing to actually contending. The Brewers have six more opportunties to do just that.