Coming off an 81-81 campaign without their best pitcher for half the year, the Milwaukee Brewers may just be ready to make their move to the next level. They have young talent and they are starting to develop a measure of depth that was sorely lacking over the past 12 years. At least one writer agrees with me that they may be ready. Let's hope so:
NL wild card — Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers haven't had a winning season since 1992 and haven't made the postseason in almost a quarter century. That's about to end. They'll need a healthy Ben Sheets to make this prediction come true, but they can already bank on full seasons from uber-prospects Rickie Weeks and Prince Fielder, and shortstop J.J. Hardy, who seemed to find his stroke in the second half, could emerge as one of the best shortstops in the NL. GM Doug Melvin, one of the most underrated execs in the game, can trade Lyle Overbay for pitching if need be, and the bullpen figures to be quite strong. Also, the Brewers last season ranked sixth in the 16-team NL in starters' ERA, and that's with only 156.2 innings from Sheets. Believe it: Milwaukee will be in the playoffs in 2006.
Dayn Perry is a frequent contributor to FOXSports.com and author of the forthcoming book, "Winners: How Good Baseball Teams Become Great Ones"
One exciting development is the hiring of Hall of Famer and fan favorite Robin Yount as bench coach. How can you not like this guy?:
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Is there anything more precious than the undying Reagan-esque optimism of a Brewer's fan in the off-season? I just got a lil misty reading this entry......
Posted by: BORU | 06 November 2005 at 11:50 PM