There's A Storm A Brewin'

  Somebody give the Milwaukee Brewers a drug test. Fast. For something has to be amiss with the Brew Crew in 2025. 

Milwaukee opened the season in New York. It must have been a real jolt coming from the Arizona desert where they have their spring training home, dealing with the late March chill. 

For the Yankees absolutely buried the Brewers. After losing the season opener 4-2, the Milwaukee pitching was atrocious, with NYY clubbing homer after homer and putting up 20 runs on Saturday then 12 more on Sunday. 

This was not a good start for a team predicted to battle the Chicago Cubs and the other NL Central teams for supremacy. Let alone a playoff berth at a minimum. 

The home schedule didn’t start off any better, when Kansas City, a team which had its own playoff aspirations, downed Milwaukee by a 11-1 score. I am sure that a ton of Brewers fans were wondering what the heck was happening with their team.

Something must have clicked in Wisconsin in April, as the club won six of its next seven games. Even so, the team managed to lose a game to the lowly Rockies in Denver, part of losing three of four games. Towards the end of April, there was another four game losing streak. 

May also did not start out great, with a four game losing streak, which ended with a 4-0 shut out win over the first place Cubs. At the end of May, Milwaukee strung together an eight game winning streak, with those wins coming against Pittsburgh, Boston, Philadelphia and Cincinnati. The Brewers were back in the hunt. 

In July, the Brewers picked up speed, going 17-7. Which included an eleven game winning streak, stopped by the Cubs on July 30th. 

Through August 13th, the team has been unbeaten for the month. Which has given the team a record well over 70 wins, tops in the MLB, and opened up large leads over the Cubs, Cincinnati and St. Louis, all teams with records over .500.

Milwaukee has an astounding 150+ run differential, with the Cubs the only other team with a 100+ run differential. Moreover, the wins have come over good teams—Boston; Philadelphia; New York Mets; Detroit; Los Angeles Dodgers; and Seattle. If the season ended today, all of the aforementioned teams would be in the playoffs. 

Within the division, the Brewers have played well. Maybe not as dominating, but still coming up on the plus side. It also does not hurt to have the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates around to beat up on. The Brewers knocked Pirates star pitcher Paul Skenes out of the game after four innings on Tuesday night—no small feat. They followed that up with another rout of Pittsburgh, which entitled all of Milwaukee to obtain a free burger, as a local establishment has a promotion that when the  Brewers win 12 straight, it’s burgers for Milwaukee. 

Looking at the batting averages, none of the regulars has an average over .300. Oft-injured and one-time M.V.P. Christian Yelich leads the offense with 23 home runs and 78 runs batted in. It is a solid lineup, with most every player with the exception of catcher William Contreras, having stolen bases in double figures. And Brewers hitters seem to strike out a fair bit. 

The pitching seems to be the key. The starting pitching, including injured rookie  phenom Jacob Misiorowski, is solid. Quinn Priester has the best winning percentage while Freddy Peralta leads all of baseball with 14 wins. Closer Trevor Megill has converted 28 out of 31 save opportunities. Only Texas and San Diego have allowed fewer runs this season.

The number of home runs allowed is on the lower end, while the strikeouts of other teams’ batters is in the top 10. Converserly, there isn’t any batting statistic which blows away the other teams. 

How did this team of no real superstars get to be so good? Experts are unsure. Just after Memorial Day weekend the team had its last rough spot, losing five of eight games. The team was mired at 25-28. 

Then the Brewers exploded. From that date, Milwaukee is 48-16, with a 26-4 record in its last 30 games. With no real signs that the team is slowing down. 

Meanwhile, every big time contender has had rough times which were the opposite of the Brewers winning. Some of that losses for those teams—LAD, Philadelphia, NYM and the Cubs can be attributed to Milwaukee. For that matter, the Cubs have the National League’s second best record since late May and has lost 14 games in the standings to Milwaukee. 

Despite having the best record now in mid-August, I am not anointing the Brewers as the absolute favorite to win the World Series. Bettors tend to agree with this assessment, as the oddsmakers still have LAD, Philadelphia, Detroit ahead of the Brewers and tied with Seattle, which is in a wild card spot in the American League at this point. 

 

Who they have is the reigning National League Manager of the Year Pat Murphy at the helm. He has inspired a lunch bucket kind of mentality—nobody will outwork or outhustle this group. They can sport a revitalized Andrew Vaughn—once the number 3 pick in the 2019 draft who was demoted by the lowly White Sox before finally being traded a bit north—and now is smacking the ball. Plus Isaac Collins is a 28 year old rookie who may be the current leader for NL Rookie of the Year. 

Milwaukee faces a difficult eight games in the division beginning on Friday. At Cincinnati for three games then in Wrigley Field for five games. They travel to Toronto for three games to conclude August. 

Starting with division opponents, the road to October isn’t going to be a cake walk. Chicago could easily sneak back into the picture; the Reds have designs on a Wild Card berth; and the Cardinals are far from dead. Plus Milwaukee hosts NL East leader Philadelphia; and travels to San Diego for the penultimate series in September—the Padres are hot on overthrowing the Dodgers for the top spot in the NL Central.  

This is a pretty great comeback from the humiliation in the Bronx in March and the uninspired play to just after Memorial Day. For now, the Milwaukee Brewers are the feel good story for the 2025 season.

For you Yankees haters, I just want to mention Giancarlo Stanton. The guy is on an absolute tear. Like he tends to do in October during the post-season. Stanton is whacking the ball all over the place. Hard hits galore. 

After a lackluster play in his belated start to the season due to his painful elbows, which included not elevating the balls he was making contact with and striking out too many times, Stanton has put that behind him. He is hitting home runs seemingly every game and driving in multiple runs. 

His offense is much needed during New York’s tailspin. Especially so with Aaron Judge still possibly banged up with his flexor strain.

Since Judge cannot play the field right now, in order to keep Stanton’s torrid bat in the lineup, Yankees Manager Aaron Boone has penciled Stanton on right field, where he can defend less ground. Stanton has done okay given his limited range and speed. 

He always has been a great teammate. Judge and Stanton have a great rapport. This current stretch shows what Boone and General Manager Brian Cashman have echoed about how valuable Stanton is to this Yankees squad. 

Let us not forget that Stanton has slugged 441 home runs, climbing the all-time ladder steadily. With some continued success, Stanton could reach Hall of Fame outfielder Carl Yastrezemski’s 452. Or go beyond. 

Wherever he ends up on the HR list and how the Yankees do—like winning a World Series—may have a lot to do with how Hall of Fame voters perceive his resume. And take into account his injuries and how they have limited him. Stanton sure is fun to watch when he is on a roll. 

One more comment. The torrent of enthusiasm for the unorthodox play of the Savannah Bananas touring baseball team, selling out wherever they go, does not include me. Don’t get me wrong—I liked the Harlem Globetrotters and their style of play. NBA players mimic some of what the Globetrotters brought to a basketball floor. 

What the Bananas do is highly athletic and entertaining. It does not resemble that much of traditional baseball. If your’e looking for entertainment and crowd involvement, then go see them. Their brand of baseball is cheap price-wise and endearing; it’s just not for me. 

With the August heat still upon us in the Northeast, there is a storm a Brewin’ in the Northern Plains. 

Such A Shame

  Watching the New York Yankees this season is, for me, an addiction. Perhaps it’s my childhood loyalty. Maybe it’s because I love the sport so much and I actually could play the game a bit. 

Or perhaps it is the fact that Aaron Judge is one of the greatest ball players I have ever seen. I thought the same about Mickey Mantle and Derek Jeter, when he played. Plus I became enamored with their supporting casts. 

There is a segment on Yankees broadcasts on the YES Network entitled “Name That Yankee.” It is a fun treat each game trying to guess who the player is. Most times it involves somebody who played for the Yankees and that day’s opponent. I can guess only a handful of the names correctly, usually resorting to my phone for a Google search of a particular Yankees roster that was listed on the screen. It’s a lot like the way I cannot get many answers the clues for the Sunday puzzles from the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. Still, I try for the elation of getting it right or in the case of the puzzle, figuring out the long clues, I guess. But I digress. 

The Yankees throughout the years were my baseball heroes. I patterned my swing after second baseman Bobby Richardson, a mainstay of the 50’s and 60’s glory years. I became a switch hitter due to Mantle, perhaps the best ever, and Rookie of the Year Tom Tresh. I could replicate the swings of most every Yankees player of my youth, which I practiced repeatedly in so many stickball games at the Hamilton School, my local elementary school. 

You wanted to see AL home run record holder Roger Maris (until Judge passed him) blast a home run? Sure, I had power to clear the fence at the end of the playground. Yogi Berra? I could swing at bad pitches too and loft them into play. 

My imitation wasn’t limited to hitters. I wound up like Bullet Bob Turley, a mainstay of the staff. Bulldog Jim Bouton with his maximum effort windup with his cap falling off? No problem there. 

Sure, I could replicate players from other teams. For whatever reason, I was fascinated with the in-the-bucket swing from Jake Woods of Elizabeth, New Jersey when he was with the Detroit Tigers. Same too with Frank Thomas, the home run slugger for the nascent New York Mets. 

The opponents were the exception to the rule. Why really bother when the Yankees were routinely ruling baseball?  Besides, it was much more fun to be a Yankee while honing my skills. 

You need to understand that I thought I really could play baseball. I was pretty good as a kid in Highland Park, New Jersey. Made an All Star team the year my parents didn’t take me on a cross country car trip. Played center field on my championship Junior League team in 8th and 9th grades and even stole home to win a game. 

Striking out wasn’t in my game—even in college (and the one time I suffered a called third strike, that ball might not have been a strike for a guy 6’2” or so). I thought I could actually make contact with Tommy John, the fine MLB pitcher who was the prototype for the current elbow surgery which bears his name. 

I played a bit of baseball in high school. I was on the JV team as a freshman and while I would get on base, the coach would routinely pull me for a sophomore who would never come up with a hit. It boggled my mind. 

Being short and pudgy at age 15, I was the object of great derision and bullying from a certain element on the team. As a result of a very physical hazing incident after the coach once more pinch hit for me, I had to leave the team for my own protection. Even then hazing continued into my sophomore year when I put a clear stop it.  

I didn’t play any organized ball after that. Just stickball and catching fly ball after fly ball my friends hit to me, while developing great arm strength with my throws and pitching. Losing 30 pounds and starting to lift weights didn’t hurt either. 

I had a cockamamie notion that I could walk on at Franklin and Marshall College having not played in a game for almost four years. Nobody asked questions. My hitting, fielding and throwing was sufficient. 

My college career wasn’t what I wanted it to be. After playing two years, I foolishly wrestled intramurally and hurt myself against a guy who had been recruited to wrestle at F&M, an EIWA member which went up against the likes of the Ivy League, Army, Navy and even Dan Gable and Iowa State. I didn’t make the squad my junior year because I was unable to throw. Many years later—during my first shoulder surgery when I awoke in the midst of it—I learned I had separated the shoulder. I think I knew that because I remember banging the shoulder into a wall hard and felt a bit better. 

I ended my college eligibility as a bench warmer and was able to coach and play with the junior varsity. I dabbled in softball, having the great opportunity to play in the US House of Representatives league in 1971 and be part of an Essex County Lawyers League championship team in 1984. 

When the opportunity arose, I played in two Alumni-Varsity baseball games after I graduated. The first contest was in 1973. The second one was in 1992, after I had the aforementioned rotator cuff surgery and had rehabbed with the idea in mind that I had been invited to play and would end my ball playing in a way which I felt would be most fitting. 

I made friends for life from my college team. My softball friends remain in touch. I even owe baseball for my professional career, as the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender’s Appellate Section needed a good player for its softball team while filling an open spot. Which is how I met my wife and developed my beautiful family. 

I looked at playing baseball on a team as an honor. I was privileged enough to do so despite some adversity and despite of my small stature. 

So when I read about Derek Jeter not coming to this year’s Old Timers’ Day, I felt cheated. Sure, I can see him talking on a pre-and post-game show for FOX. 

That’s all well and good. To me, Derek Jeter is the face of the winningest Yankees teams of recent memory. He will always be because of his exploits. Jeter was a generational talent. Sure, he worked hard at his craft. He was expected to succeed given his first round draft pedigree. Something which I was never blessed with. 

The Yankees are saluting the 25th anniversary of the team which defeated the Mets in the Subway Series. Most all of the big names are returning. Even Roger Clemens, with his Hall of Fame credentials (yet always under a cloud of doubt over whether he used steroids to prolong his career) is making his debut at the NYY Old Timers celebration. 

After Jeter refused to come last year unless there wasn’t an actual game to be played as had been the case, this year the Yankees brought back the game for the fans to enjoy. But Jeter won’t be anywhere near the stadium, citing a daughter’s birthday as an excuse not to come. Really?

Joe DiMaggio was a Yankees legend. I only saw him play via newsreel footage. He was a celebrity.  He even married Marilyn Monroe, the sexiest woman alive in his era. 

He supposedly came for the fans. He even played in the games until he knew when it was time to stop in the mid ’80’s when he was photographed getting dressed. He didn’t like his aging body being displayed. Nonetheless, DiMaggio kept appearing with his dignity intact by wearing a suit and being announced as “the greatest living ballplayer.” Forty-seven out of forty-eight times did Joe Di return to the Bronx for Old Timers’ Day. Only a surgical recuperation kept him away.

Derek Jeter is entitled to act as he wishes. However, as a person who loves the game of baseball, loves the Yankees (even this current edition for which TV viewing is like going to a NASCAR race waiting for the inevitable crashes), I expected more. I wouldn’t have thought he would give up the chance to hear the adoration of the vocal and loyal Yankees fans who supported him throughout his career. 

So, unlike DiMaggio, who was aloof from his teammates when he played, yet still came back to be honored and remembered. As much as I thought DiMaggio was a snob, he did the right thing by returning each year for generations to show their appreciation. 

As a result, I now look to Judge. He carries himself correctly. He interacts with the fans. He, to me, represents the best as a player and a human being. Judge is now my favorite Yankees player, with Mantle, who always came back for Old Timers’Day, in second place. I doubt he would pull the same garbage as Jeter. 

At the least, it seems that Derek Jeter is no Joe DiMaggio or even Mickey Mantle. Such a shame.

The July 31st Trade Deadline

  The MLB Trade Deadline. July 31st of every season. The last time teams can deal directly with each other without having a player pass through waivers where any team can pick off a player being traded after July 31 with a claim. The trading team has the right to pull back the player before the claim becomes final. It’s an interesting phenomenon. 

Teams get see how their squad has performed in the first 100+ games then try to tweak the personnel with needed upgrades. In the short term, the idea is to make a playoff contending team better. But long term, the teams which receive prospects could turn out to be better than the team it joined in trade. For even longer periods than just one year. And some of the players traded on July 31 could find new homes in the future, as long-term attachments to a particular franchise seem to be waning greatly with free agency. 

Being aggressive on the trade market will signal to the remaining players that the expectation to win, already high, has become even greater with the new additions. For those coming to a different team, the fact that they are there means that management of their old franchise felt that their value had grown sufficiently to acquire future devolving players. Meanwhile, the team to which they were traded is making a bold statement that we expect you to perform at your peak and contribute to great success the remainder of the season. 

A lot of the trading involves financial considerations. Some teams, feeling they cannot reach the post-season, unload bigger salaries or trade away a player whose contract is expiring and they either anticipate they cannot re-sign than player long-term or simply care not to. 

Of course, in these transactions, it takes two commodities to make it work. If a team is seeking major league talent, the return must be something which the sellers want that they believe will be worth the sale. So the teams which are in the market for ready talent need to have significant minor league assets available to make a trade. Rarely, it seems, is there a trade of players at the major league level, and if there is, it usually does not involve high-level players. 

While developing good talent through the minor league systems is a desirable goal, in the heat of pennant races where so many teams now are in the hunt for division titles and wild card spots, far more teams now have reasons to ponder if they are going to become buyers. Just because your team may be three or four games below .500 does not necessarily mean that, with one hot streak, you couldn’t be holding down a playoff slot in September. In the American League, only the Athletics and White Sox trail Seattle by double digits for the final Wild Card playoff spot; in the National League, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Washington and Colorado are way behind San Diego. 

Some teams want hitters. Others want pitching. And a few want both. These decisions are reached as the season progresses to July. How close are you to a playoff spot? Did your team suffer significant injuries which warrant replacing? How much extra salary will be added, especially if you are in or headed towards the luxury tax bracket? Plus an eye must be kept to what the roster will look like next season and beyond if a particular player is sought. 

Teams scout other teams at all levels. There is familiarity with players from even before they are drafted—each team scouts college, high school and foreign talent to fill their minor league systems and to find that diamond in the rough who might shine after some polishing. 

Thus, when the teams reach the end of July, they are acutely aware of their needs, which players at what levels might be beneficial to procure for the aforementioned reasons or just to replenish losses in the farm system. While trade talks may heat up in earnest in July, it issn’t mean that discussions haven’t begun before the looming deadline or that particular teams haven’t coveted a certain player for a long time and now finally have a chance to grab him. 

Once the dust settles, there is no guarantee that the new players a contending team obtained will work out in the ways the franchise hopes. Just because the player thrived in one locale does not mean he will in a more pressurized place. Nor does it mean that if the new player has been injured that he will heal to the extent needed, or that new asset won’t get injured, thereby making it a hard loss at a critical time. To quote sage philosophers: this is why they play the games. 

Whatever trades are consummated may not be enough. A team can obtain hitters, yet that still may leave a hole or two in the lineup, or the new player may become mired in a slump. Meanwhile, the franchise struck out on improving a weak pitching staff by not getting quality starters or relievers. 

Grading the trades right after they are completed is a fool’s errand. The only time that should occur is at the end of the season when the entire body of work over the last 60-62 games will determine the team was able to make the playoffs, let alone successfully make it to the World Series. 

So I am not going to rate what the New York Yankees haul was. General Manager Brian Cashman was busy down in Tampa where the Yankees have offices. Yet he admitted that he had discussions which didn’t pan out for starting pitching, as the team has a few young starters currently in place along with the imminent return of Luis Gil, the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year. 

The team still has to get shortstop Anthony Volpe straightened out. The New Jersey kid out of Delbarton has the potential—he was a Gold Glove winner his rookie season. But Volpe is in a horrible fielding slump with repeated bad throws, and while his bat is beginning to show signs of life, his batting average remains unacceptable at a current .215 number. 

Moreover, a review of the averages shows that outside of Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton, Jason Dominguez and the injured Aaron Judge, nobody is hitting over .250. No matter the power numbers, this isn’t going to get it done. During its losing throughout June and July, which led the team to fall out of first place in the AL East, New York suffered from a lack of production with runners in scoring position. 

Plus the catching is subpar. Ben Rice is a nice player with some pop in his bat who can also DH or man first base. Unfortunately, Rice has great difficulty throwing out runners attempting to steal. 

Primary catcher Austin Wells is mired in a slump. When he was on base in the ninth inning on Wednesday, Wells totally lost count of how many outs there were, and mistakenly wandered off second base after  a successful sacrifice bunt by Trent Grisham. He was tagged out to end the inning, thereby quashing a potential winning rally. Fortunately, NYY rallied in the 10th inning to win the game to overcome Wells’ blunder.

New York is going to make significant roster moves in the next two weeks to accommodate the new players, Gil and two or more relievers currently working their way back from injuries. Then there is the need to reinstate the potent bat of Judge into the lineup. 

Judge is recovering from a right flexor strain. He received a PRP injection. The plan is to start him as a designated hitter until his anticipated healing will allow him to go back in the field. However, that isn’t expected to be soon, and Judge’s return as soon as Tuesday as a DH will necessarily take away at bats from Rice, a slugging Stanton, Goldschmidt, newly acquired Amed Rosario and Austin Slater or Wells among others, as well as create a position log jam whereby somebody has to go either to the minors or be designated for assignment. 

Making the right decisions could significantly impact the team’s fortunes. NYY trails division leader Toronto by 3.5 games as the Yankees have begun to win again while the 50-59 Baltimore Orioles took three of four games to momentarily cool down the torrid Blue Jays. 

The schedule is hardly a cakewalk, as the Jays, arch rivals Boston and Houston loom ahead. Tonight the Yankees are in Miami; although the Marlins sit at 52-55 and seven gamers out of a NL Wild Card berth, the team has been playing well as of late. Next up is a trip to Arlington to play the Texas Rangers, a team which is over .500, improved its solid pitching and is only one game behind Seattle in the AL Wild Card hunt. Then AL West-leading Houston comes into Yankee Stadium next weekend followed by non-contending Minnesota. 

With all that has gone on, it is the stretch of the next nine games for NYY and all the other teams in the playoff chase which will possibly start to show which ones have gotten stronger as a result of the transactions made up to the trading deadline coupled with injury reinforcements. 

Time’s up for this week. So much for my review of Happy Gilmore 2, which we watched last night on Netflix. Nor will I be able to give my thoughts now on Rutgers’ new athletic director, Keli Zinn. 

Such is the pervasive MLB enigma popularly known as the July 31st trade deadline. It sure enhances the race to the finish line.