Milwaukee Brewers Still Fighting for Wild Card Spot

MILWAUKEE — In baseball, being too good can sometimes be a curse.

Take the 2021 Milwaukee Brewers. They were in first place in the National League Central for most of the regular season. Behind a dominant pitching staff, the Brewers built such a large lead in a weaker division — 14 games by mid-September — that when they struggled in the closing weeks, they still backed into the division title with 95 wins. The games down the stretch didn’t have the same importance and, despite their best efforts, the Brewers limped into the playoffs, where they were quickly bounced by the eventual champion Atlanta Braves.

“We played marvelously until the final two weeks of the year,” Brewers shortstop Willy Adames said in Spanish over the weekend. “Then we went in the wrong direction and we couldn’t get out of there, and that was the reason we didn’t advance past the first round.”

This year, the small-market Brewers don’t have a cushion. They need every win and as much time as possible to ensure their streak of four straight postseason appearances isn’t snapped.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/19/sports/baseball/milwaukee-brewers-playoffs.html