MILWAUKEE BREWERS CLINCH PLAYOFF SPOT
Cincinnati - The Milwaukee Brewers were left for dead back on September 9th after reigning NL MVP Christian Yelich went down with an apparent knee injury. The apparent injury turned worse the next day as Yelich was diagnosed with a broken knee cap and ruled out until game six of the World Series. The World Series was a complete fantasy at that time. Yelich out, the Brewers trailing the Cubs in the wild card standings, pitching shaky and runs hard to come by.
Back on September 9th, the Brewers claimed a 76-68 record, good for third place in the NL Central. Only 16 days later, the Brewers are in the playoffs, boasting an 88-70 record, going 12-2 since losing Yelich. That's right, the math says only two losses during this tremendous stretch and bringing their run differential to a plus seven, up from an embarrassing -35 at it's worst. The Brewers have outscored their opponents 73-39 during this stretch including a sweep of the Marlins, Pirates, and winning a road series at division leader St Louis.
On Wednesday night, the Brewers proved all the doubters wrong with a resounding 9-2 win at Cincinnati and clinched the final National League playoff spot for the 2019 postseason. Somehow doing it all without Yelich in the process.
The Brewers know that they're in the postseason, and that's all they know as of now. With the first place Cardinals dropping another tonight in Arizona, the Brewers are one game from a division championship. A division crown assures the Brewers of a full playoff series, albeit against the 100+ game winners, the Los Angles Dodgers. If the season ended today, the Brewers would play a one game wild card contest at the Washington Nationals. That wild card game though has a real chance to be in Milwaukee. The Nats are one game ahead of the Brewers in the wild card standings. The Nats also have a three game series scheduled with American League wild card combatant Cleveland. With the Indians battling for their playoff hopes, the will give everything they have at Washington. The Brewers still need to tend to their own business with an afternoon game tomorrow in Cincinnati and then finish the season at Colorado.
Your Milwaukee Brewers are in the playoffs, by Sunday night we will all now where, who and when. Stay tuned!