MLB Teams: Milwaukee Brewers
If you want to appeal to a British newcomer, having a name that relates to beer is as good a start as any. The Milwaukee Brewers get a tick in the box right from the off.
What’s more, the Brewers used to emphasise the link to their ale-brewing history even further through their mascot. Bernie Brewer would celebrate a home run by the home team by hurtling down a slide into a big mug of beer. Unfortunately that ‘dream-come-true’ moment was stopped when the team moved to their current ballpark, Miller Stadium, in 2001.
Apparently the sight of the kiddies’ favourite pal enjoying himself by bathing in booze wasn’t seen as being a very politically correct message to send out to impressionable youngsters. I guess they had a point, but it’s a shame nonetheless.
Bernie does still have a slide to ride down and if the absence of a beer-soaked landing means this act of entertainment doesn’t grab you, the famous sixth-inning sausage race might do instead. There’s nothing quite like watching a Bratwurst, Polish Sausage, Italian Sausage, Hot dog and Chorizo running down the warning track at Miller Park to make you forget about the worries of the world.
The Brewers do a great job of providing additional entertainment on the field, which does make you question whether these efforts are to cover up a lacklustre team.
There was a lot of merit to such a claim in the past as the Brewers haven’t been very successful over the years. The organization struggled in their 1969 debut season as the Seattle Pilots, a campaign immortalized in Jim Bouton’s ‘Ball Four‘. The team swiftly moved to Milwaukee for the following season and they’ve been there ever since.
Despite not moving location, the team has led a nomadic life for the weird and wonderful purposes of the MLB structure. First they were in the AL West, then the AL East, then the AL Central before controversially switching to the NL Central in 1998. They spent the majority of their time in the AL East (1972-1993), during which they achieved their lone World Series triumph in 1982.
That was the last time they had made the postseason until their 2008 season. The Brewers were playing well before the team’s owner did what every fan hopes for and made a blockbuster, ‘win now’ trade to acquire CC Sabathia. The team don’t have great financial resources and they knew in all likelihood they would be priced out of a longer term deal with their hired ace (and boy were they ever!), but they went for it anyway. Brewers fans enjoyed a mesmerizing three months in which Sabathia exceeded even the most outlandish expectations, finishing with an 11-2 record including seven complete games and an ERA of 1.65.
To further demonstrate their will to win, the Brewers made a stunning call by sacking manager Ned Yost with just two weeks of the season left to go. The team made it to the playoffs but couldn’t get any further than the first round and then saw Sabathia and Ben Sheets depart via free agency (although Sheets could possibly return once he regains his fitness). It made for a disappointing end to the fairytale season, yet at least the team had produced great excitement and genuine hopes of postseason success along the way.
Despite the departures, the Brewers remain as one of the better teams in the NL. Any team in the Majors would be happy to build around the likes of Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and Yovani Gallardo and they are ably supported by other products of their farm system (J.J. Hardy, Rickie Weeks – when fit – and Manny Parra to name three examples) and some quality veterans. They look set to compete in the NL Central for the foreseeable future and the ownership and GM have proved that they will go all-out to try and bring success to the city.
Add those factors to the appealing ale links and the fact that they are not an ‘obvious’ pick (I haven’t come across many British Brewers fans) and you’ve got a team that should be a strong contender to win a Brit’s support.
And if they brought back the beer mug slide, it might not even be a contest.
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