It’s the eternal baseball paradox. And when the postseason rolls around, it’s far more paradoxier.
How do you play like every pitch matters, then forget just how much the last one mattered, because the next one, you know, matters?
How do you show up with the utmost intensity, while simultaneously exuding unflappable Zen?
And how do you master the age-old baseball adage of not getting too high with the highs nor too low with the lows?
The answer, quite clearly, involves wearing a Milwaukee Brewers uniform. Because as brilliant as regular season was, these playoff Brewers look even better.
In each game of their National League Division Series, the Cubs have smacked the Brewers with top-of-the-first home runs – Michael Busch’s leadoff shot in Game 1, Seiya Suzuki’s three-run blast in Game 2. It’s the kind of thing that sends fans reaching for the antacid, if not something stronger.
But twice, the Brewers have smacked the Cubs right back – with six first-inning runs in Game 1 and Andrew Vaughn’s game-tying three-run homer in Game 2. They were crucial down payments toward the Brewers banking wins of 9-3 and 7-3, putting them on the brink of sweeping this best-of-five series.
In other words, the Average Joes are looking anything but. Again.
“People are wondering, how does this team have the best record in baseball?” manager Pat Murphy said after Monday’s late-night escapades. “It’s the group of people in the room that know how to wash it off. They know how to bounce back. They know how to have a bad series and understand the importance of the next pitch. That relentless kind of behavior is a separator.”
Tell us who you’d pick to be a Betty this year!
Murphy got just about everything he wants out of Milwaukee’s first two playoff games. Freddy Peralta’s reliability and an offensive onslaught in Game 1. Resounding answers to the injury questions surrounding William Contreras, Jackson Chourio and Trevor Megill. A historic bullpen game performance in Game 2, keyed by the flame-throwing (if a bit wild) Jacob Misiorowski, to save the rock-solid Quinn Priester to start Game 3. And most of all, he got those two statement-making victories.
About the only thing on his wish list that didn’t come to fruition was an end to Brewers fans booing Craig Counsell. Fans at the ballpark have serenaded the former Brewers skipper at every introduction and pitching change. And fans at home might be following suit with every exasperated dugout shot on the TNT broadcasts. So intently have those dugout shots captured every bead of frustration seeping from Counsell’s pores, it’s a wonder they don’t come with parental guidance warnings.
It’s all made for fascinating cinema, and some of the reviews have bordered on surreal. After Monday night’s Brewers win, the Chicago Tribune posted a Paul Sullivan column beneath a headline that wondered if beating the Cubs and Counsell constituted the Brewers’ World Series.
Much of the piece muses why so many Brewers fans remain so annoyed with Counsell’s departure for Chicago, and Sullivan tries drawing owner Mark Attanasio into the fray. When Attanasio deftly declines, Sullivan eventually shifts toward slating the entire city of Milwaukee. “I took one psychology class at Mizzou,” he writes, “and my theory is they resent the fact that Chicago is a world-class city with great architecture and restaurants, while Milwaukee is a place with a statue of The Fonz. It’s as simple as that.”
Sullivan’s an excellent baseball scribe, but if that’s the extent of his understanding, he should ask Mizzou for a refund. Or at least check in with the fine folks at Visit Milwaukee. Of course, Milwaukee isn’t Chicago. That’s the point. We don’t want to be. We’re quite happy having so many of Chicago’s good bits without all the annoying ones.
Like the Brewers, for instance, who keep practicing the mindfulness of Zen, spreading their message of friendship, embracing the power of love. Just ask midseason Chicago transplant Vaughn.
“The city has been unbelievable,” he said Monday night. “From the moment I got here, it felt like they just opened their arms and gave me a hug. It’s been unbelievable for me and my wife. We love this place so far.”
