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Posted by James Lincoln Ray Jul 3, 2007 |
When the Milwaukee Brewers broke out to a 25-10 start, most fans and baseball pundits thought it was a fluke. Everybody thought the team was too young and that it didn't have enough weapons to be a real playoff contender. When the team went into a tailspin and lost 13 out of 17 games in May, everyone patted themselves on the back, writing the young Brew Crew off as another early season wonder who fizzled out on the first hot day in May.
But then something happened that wasn't in the script: the Brewers started winning again, and then they went on another hot streak. As of July 3rd, Milwaukee has won fourteen out of its last eighteen games and was 48-34 with a six game lead over the Cubs. So, It's pretty clear that this team is not going away, and with the weakness of the NL Central, they have a great shot to take the division.
Who leads them? Most of all, it's been Prince Fielder, who seems destined to establish the Father-Son 50 Home Run Club. Remember, his dad, Cecil Fielder, hit 51 homers for the 1990 Detroit Tigers. The younger Fielder is on pace to hit 54 round-trippers. How great would that be if he did it?
Fielder has an impressive (and very young) supporting cast:
- 24 year old All-Star shortstop J.J. Hardy is batting .283 with 18 HR and 52 RBI
- 25 year old outfielder Corey Hart is hitting .314 with 11 HR and 33 RBI
- 23 year old rookie third baseman Ryan Braun, is hitting .341 with 7 HR and 25 RBI in just 34 games.
On the mound, Ben Sheets has been brilliant and Jeff Suppan has been solid, but if this team is going to have a shot at winning a series in the playoffs, it will need another starter. Wherever this team finishes in 2007, however, it's just nice to see the resurgence of a franchise that was proud and competitive in the late 70s and early 80s, but then fell on hard times due to baseball's insane economic paradigm.