Who Would've Bet on the Brewers

‘Next Year’ Couldn’t Have Gotten Here Fast Enough for the Milwaukee Brewers

BY CHARLIE VASCELLARO

PHOTOS BY JOHN ANTONOFF

New Spring Training digs solidifies the Brewers’ presence in Maryvale and highlights the team’s place at the center of the Cactus League Universe.

One of baseball’s best stories, if not the best story in 2018: who would have thought before the season began that the Milwaukee Brewers would have the best record in the National League and come within one game of reaching the World Series?

CHARLIE’S BETTING SLIP

Well me actually, that’s why I laid down $20 at the Caesar’s Palace sports book while Las Vegas odds makers still had the Brewers as 40-1 long shot to win the Series, and we did tout the team’s praises here in the pages of Arizona Key magazine’s 2018 Cactus League Spring Training edition.

Credit 32-year-old GM David Stearns with not only assembling a competitive squad at the big league level but also developing a farm system that had the Brewers ranked in the top five in the majors by MLBpipline.com… It should come as no surprise if the Brewers are once again in the thick of the pennant race this year.

The “Brew Crew” took the National League and the Central division by storm engaging in an exciting three-team pennant race with the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals providing the major league’s most interesting story line down the stretch battling the Cubs until the teams ended up tied with identical 95-67 records on the last day of the season.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies also finished tied for first in the National League West, forcing two onegame playoffs to decide the division winners and wild card spots in a bonus end of the season twin billing on October 1, 2018.

MARYVALE BASEBALL PARK

Behind the starting pitching of Jhoulys Chacin, a lockdown performance by the bullpen, and a pair of eighth-inning RBI singles by Lorenzo Cain and Ryan Braun, the Brewers turned back the Cubs 3-1 on their home turf at Wrigley Field in Chicago to capture the NL Central title for the first time since 2011.

Meanwhile the Dodgers defeated the Rockies 5-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles to win the NL West setting up the Wild Card play-in game between the Rockies and Cubs and for the second day in a row the Cubs lost an elimination game at home falling to the Rockies 2-1 in 13 innings. The Rockies advanced to meet the top-seeded Brewers while the Dodgers squared off against the NL East division champion Atlanta Braves in the two NL Division Series.

The Brewers made quick work of the Rockies with a three-game sweep while the Dodgers dispensed of the Braves three games to one setting up the National League Championship Series between Los Angeles and Milwaukee.

Milwaukee employed baseball’s new “bull-penning” strategy to a tee in the first game of the NLCS using seven pitchers in nine innings to edge the Dodgers 6-5. A see-saw battle ensued through the rest of the series before the Brewers lost in seven games falling just one victory shy of reaching the World Series and having a shot at cashing in on those 40-1 odds.

CHRISTIAN YELICH

Still it was an exciting year of accomplishment for the Brewers and the team’s fans have every reason to be optimistic entering the 2019 season: Newly acquired 26-year-old free-agent outfielder Christian Yelich had a breakout season reaching career-highs with 36 home runs, 110 RBI and led the National League with a .326 batting average, .598 slugging percentage, a 1.000 OPS and 343 total bases, capturing the league’s MVP Award. Yelich has four years and $51 million left on his contract with a club option for $15 million on the final year.

Nine-year veteran outfielder Lorenzo Cain was also signed as a free agent prior to the season immediately solidifying the center field position. Cain hit a career-best .308 with 30 stolen bases and was elected to his second All-Star game.

Infielder Travis Shaw knocked 32 home runs with a .825 OPS eclipsing 30 HRs and .800 OPS in his first two seasons with the club after being acquired in a trade from the Boston Red Sox and transitioned from third base to second base after third baseman Mike Moustakas was acquired in a trade from Kansas City in July. In his first year of arbitration eligibility Shaw signed a one-year contract extension of $4.67 million after playing for the major league minimum in each of his first three big league seasons.

In his second season with the Brewers after being selected off waivers from the Cleveland Indians prior to the start of the 2017 season 28-year-old first baseman Jesus Aguilar slugged his way into prominence bashing 35 home runs with 108 RBI and a .890 OPS and was elected to his first All-Star game.

JESUS AGUILAR

Free agent signee Jhoulys Chacin anchored the Brewers starting rotation; the well-traveled veteran led the NL with 35 starts and reached a career high 15 wins with a 3.50 ERA.

No other Brewers starter reached wins in double figures and the real key to the staff’s success was the team’s bullpen.

In his second big league season hardthrowing left-hander Josh Hader recorded and incredible 143 strikeouts in 81 innings, compiling a 6-1 record with a 2.43 ERA finishing seventh in Cy Young Award voting and was named to his first All-Star team, played at Miller Park in Milwaukee.

Right hander Jeremy Jeffress posted an 8-1 record with 15 saves and a remarkable 1.29 ERA with 89 strikeouts in 76 innings.

Corey Knebel began the season as the Brewers’ closer but struggled out of the gate after injuring his left hamstring in the team’s first home stand that sidelined him for the first month of the season. Upon his return in May he was dominant for two months but fared so poorly in July and August that he was demoted to the minor leagues for a brief twoweek stint. He was promoted back up to the big club in September and was instrumental in the team’s pennant race run making 19 consecutive scoreless appearances before Dodgers shortstop Chris Taylor connected for a runscoring triple in Game One of the NLCS. Knebel recorded five more scoreless appearances in the rest of the series.

It was truly a group effort turned in by a deep Milwaukee pitch staff: Jacob Barnes made 49 appearances with a 3.33 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 49 innings. Rookie Corbin Burns went 7-0 with 35 strikeouts in 38 innings and 2.61 ERA after making his big league debut on July 10.

Brandon Woodruff began the season with the big club after making his big league debut in August of 2017 and was optioned to the team’s Colorado Springs minor league affiliate five times during the season but still managed to appear in 19 games with the Brewers going 3-0 with a 3.61 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 42 innings. The 25 –year-old lefty enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame and became a household name after homering off Los Angeles Dodgers ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw in Game One of the NLCS and also earned the victory striking out four batters in two innings.

BRANDON WOODRUFF

With most of the 2018 roster intact and the addition of catcher Yasmani Grandal, and whatever last minute deals GM David Stearns has up his sleeve the Brewers appear poised to make another post-season run.

The Brewers franchise has not won a World Series in its 50-year existence and has only appeared in one winning the American League pennant in 1982 and losing the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Members of the 1982 Brewers include Hall of Famers Paul Molitor and Robin Yount, who won the AL MVP Award that year, pitcher Don Sutton and reliever Rollie Fingers who won the AL MVP and CY Young Awards in 1981.

Although the Milwaukee Brewers franchise is still a relative newcomer to the major leagues, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the city is steeped in baseball tradition dating back to the Milwaukee Braves franchise that relocated from Boston in 1953. Milwaukee’s first major league franchise drew a National League record 1.8 million fans in the team’s inaugural season and also set new National League attendance records during Hank Aaron’s rookie season of 1954 and the team’s first World Series champion season of 1957.

HANK AARON DURING SPRING TRAINING WITH THE BREWERS AT SUN CITY STADIUM

Aaron moved with the original Braves franchise to Atlanta in 1966 but returned to Milwaukee for the final two years of his career as the team’s designated hitter in 1975 and 1976 and spent his last two spring training seasons with the team in Sun City.

The Brewers are the ancestral offspring of the one-season wonder the Seattle Pilots that joined the American League as part of a fourteam expansion of the major leagues in 1969. The other new teams included the Kansas City Royals in the same newly formed American League Western division and the Montreal Expos in the NL East and San Diego Padres of the NL West.

SEATTLE PILOTS MANAGER JOE SCHULTS AND COACH FRANK CROSETTI DURING THE TEAM’S INAUGURAL SEASON AT TEMPE DIABLO STADIUM, 1969, credit: Charles Kapner

The Pilots spent their first two spring training seasons and in Arizona at Tempe Diablo Stadium Tempe, enough time for plenty of baseball card photographs to be taken there with the familiar Tempe Buttes in the backdrop.

PILOTS BASEBALL CARDS

After struggling to draw fans in the team’s inaugural season at a beat up old minor league ballpark fittingly named Sicks’ Stadium in Seattle the Pilots cash-strapped ownership barely survived through the spring training season of 1970 declaring bankruptcy a week before Opening Day. The franchise was purchased by a car dealer named “Bud” Selig and relocated to Milwaukee with just enough time to change the name of the city on the team’s uniforms which had been packed on a truck with the rest of the equipment parked in Provo, Utah while the drivers waited to hear whether they would continue north to Seattle or east to Milwaukee.

In the spring of 1971 the Brewers returned to Tempe Diablo stadium and again in 1972 before moving into a brand new Sun City Stadium in 1973 where the team would enjoy an affectionate relationship with the senior citizens retirement community for a dozen years.

SUN CITY STADIUM, circa 1973

At first Brewers fans were despondent about the team’s departure from Chandler after the 1997 Cactus League season but they eventually warmed up to the new facility in Maryvale and turned the big asphalt parking lot into a big tailgate party with flags flying from the back of cars and trucks that fans use to identify their friends.

The Brewers moved the team’s spring training operation from Sun City to Compadre Stadium in Chandler in 1986 and again the team’s fans immediately fell in love with the facility. Located in what was an agricultural area way down Alma School Road among the citrus groves and farmland. Compadre Stadium was the first Cactus League ballpark to include a grassy seating berm beyond the outfield wall and the parking lot was a haven of the Brewers famous tailgate parties with plenty of beer and grilled sausages.

THREE BREWERS PLAYERS AT COMPADRE STADIUM IN CHANDLER: (L-R) Ben Oglive, Robin Yount and Paul Moliter.

It’s almost hard to believe the Brewers have been springing in Maryvale for 20 years, and while attendance at the Maryvale Baseball Park has traditionally been among the lowest in the league, mostly because the surrounding neighborhood never developed in the ways initially foreseen, that is most likely about to change.

Coming on the heels of the team’s first NL Central division title in seven years, the Brewers and the newly remodeled Maryvale Baseball Park will be a center of attention for the Cactus League this year. It’s been 21 years since the Brewers moved the team’s spring training operations from Compadre Stadium in Chandler to the Maryvale neighborhood in central/west Phoenix and the ballpark was in dire need of a sprucing up. The Brewers contributed more than $50 million to the ballpark renovations while the city of Phoenix kicked in approximately $10 million and the team signed a 25-year contract extension to remain at the ballpark in Maryvale.

RENOVATIONS AT MARYVALE BASEBALL PARK

Renovations to the ballpark facility include: A new wide-open entry plaza located directly behind home plate providing a view of the field from the outside of the ballpark that previously did not exist which also allows access to the team store at non-game days and times. Both the home team and visitor’s clubhouses have been renovated and all of the training facilities have been upgraded. Fans will appreciate newly refurbished and expanded parking lots, concession stands, restrooms and a wider concourse as well as newly landscaped exterior.

MARYVALE’S IMPROVEMENTS: NEW ENTRANCE

All of this will make the Maryvale Baseball Park feel brand new again and Brewers fans are expected to flock to Arizona in droves this spring to see the reigning NL Central division champs begin defending the flag.

MARYVALE’S IMPROVEMENTS: NEW SEATING

Appropriately the Brewers and Cubs will pick up right where they left off facing each other at the Cubs Sloan Park in Mesa on Saturday, February 23rd at 1:05 p.m. and again at the Maryvale Baseball Park on March 10. AZ

MARYVALE BASEBALL PARK’S VIEW OF HOME PLATE

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