Outdated Brewers Article

Here is another article made for the WarCry that became outdated:

The Milwaukee Brewers have had quite a season. They got off to a slow start with many key players hurt. Then came an incredible summer where they won 31 of 39 games. Now, as it comes down to the playoff stretch, they are cooling off. At the time of this article, the Brewers are 5.5 games ahead of the Cardinals, and the magic number to get in the postseason is 8. They were 11 games ahead just 10 days ago.

        The Brewers have many reasons for their success. They have three all-star starters: 1B Prince Fielder, 2B Rickie Weeks, and LF Ryan Braun (although he was hurt and could not play). Braun and Fielder are in discussions for the NL MVP Award for their outstanding seasons. Weeks is having a great season as well, but is just coming off of a severe ankle sprain. He may not be 100% healthy for the playoffs.

The Brewers pitching has taken a giant leap from last season. Brewers’ general manager, Doug Melvin, gave up top minor league prospects for Zack Greinke (2009 AL CY Young Award winner) and Shaun Marcum. They have combined with Yovani Gallardo, Randy Wolf, and Chris Narveson to have one of the best pitching staffs in the National League. They are near the top in many pitching categories. Each pitcher has at least 10 wins, which is rare.

The Brewers also got busy at the trade deadline by getting Francisco Rodriguez, who had a record 62 saves in 2008. He has set up for one of the hottest closers in baseball, John Axford. Whenever it is close, they turn to those two. Then they acquired utility player, Jerry Hairston Jr., from the Nationals. He has played many positions well for them.

The Brewers are enjoying a great attendance season as well. They are on pace to break three million fans. The fans have made the Brewers sixth in league attendance, averaging 37,518 people per game. That is quite an accomplishment for a small market team.

As long as the Brewers make the playoffs, the season will be success. Those of you that remember how wild and crazy the last few weeks of the season were in 2008 (the year the Brewers last made the playoffs) know that anything can happen. But, from where it looks right now, the Brewers will make the playoffs. If their pitching staff continues pitching at a high level and the offense reignites, the Brewers could make a run for World Series Champions. It is a great time to be a Wisconsin sports fan.