Look, it gives me no joy to break this to you but I am going to give it to you straight, and that’s why I got right to the point with the title of this article.
The Brewers are not going to the playoffs this year.
Sure, the Baseball Prospectus playoff odds give the Brewers a better-than-even chance to make the postseason at 56 percent as of this writing. And undoubtedly, entering Wednesday night a strong 73-60 record has put the Brewers in the second wild card spot. But going by runs scored and runs allowed, Baseball Prospectus has Milwaukee at just a “true” record of 68-64. Their runs allowed and prevented are decidedly middle-of-the-pack in MLB.
I know what you’re saying. “Aren’t you the guy that thought Neftali Feliz would be a great signing and that his homer problems were behind him last year?”
Or maybe, “Didn’t you recommend the Brewers trade for relievers Josh Osich and 35-year old AAA pitcher Chris Smith?”
That’s different. This time, I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.
Now you might also be thinking that I’m putting some kind of reverse curse on the Brewers, and that by simply predicting things I can get the opposite to happen, as was the case when I wrote just a few short weeks ago that Ryan Braun may be on an irreversible decline, before he went on a tear and slashed .333/.450/.833.
Or when I suggested Shohei Ohtani should consider signing with an NL team shortly before he signed with the Angels.
How dare you. I would never use this forum to try and turn around the fortunes of a team that has lost ground in the divisional race and are in a close pennant race. Do you really think that I believe simply by predicting the Brewers will miss the playoffs, the opposite will happen and this city will sweep into another pennant race fever? And that maybe the Brewers will take notice and just as a joke they’d ask me to throw out the first pitch at a playoff game? Don’t be ridiculous.
Because the Brewers aren’t going to the playoffs, and you can take that to the bank.
I mean, sure I’d accept the invitation to throw out the first pitch, but like as a joke. It would all be in good fun but maybe some of the players would joke about being grateful and give me high-fives for it. But not for real, because we’d just be joking around and enjoying the playoff experience.
That’s all beside the point. I’ve been wrong a lot in my baseball analysis, but take it from me, the Brewers are not going to the playoffs and I am positive they won’t prove me wrong or go on a hot streak starting tonight.
This prediction certainly won’t carry their momentum to a playoff spot, nor a division title. And Uecker won’t make a joke about how bad this prediction was and invite me into the booth to talk about it, nor ask me to stick around after the game for a beer where we become real friends.
No, the Brewers are not going to the playoffs.
And if they do, they definitely aren’t making the World Series.
You are correct. And it’s annoying that some Brewer bloggers, including some of your colleagues, keep up their hopeful narratives.