Milwaukee Brewers fans pay tribute to the late Bob Uecker
The Milwaukee Brewers honored the life of the legendary Bob Uecker on Sunday Aug. 24 at American Family Field.
It had been a while, but after a 14-game winning streak, the Milwaukee Brewers came back to baseball reality when they finally lost more games than they won in a week.
Due to a 3-6 stretch, the Brewers’ nine-game division lead was trimmed to five before their 7-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Aug. 25.
While the Brewers remain atop the various MLB power rankings as the only club with at least 80 wins, losing two straight series for the first time since June was cause for pause for some of the national writers doing the rankings.
While most agreed that it’s not time to panic and the Brewers have done more than enough to deserve the No. 1 spot after a rough week, other contending teams have gained ground.
Here’s a snapshot of what writers are saying in the rankings:
While it’s unfair to expect him to look like the next Randy Johnson every time out, Jacob Misiorowski has struggled with consistency since returning from the injured list, as Johnny Flores Jr. notes:
“For the league-leading Brewers, a lot has gone right. Freddy Peralta is shoving, Christian Yelich is hitting, and they’re the annual beneficiaries of ‘guy goes to new team and begins to rake’ in Andrew Vaughn and Isaac Collins.
“We’ll instead turn our attention to someone with (checks notes) about a month’s worth of service time. In Misiorowski’s first three starts, he pitched to a 1.16 ERA, then scuffled in his fourth start and bounced back. But in his last two starts, he’s combined for eight runs in 5â…“ innings. Yikes!
“Between Triple A and the majors, the All-Star is up to 102 innings pitched, more than he’s ever totaled in any season since being drafted in 2022. That’s what happened. Fatigue is a real thing, and Misiorowski is in the thick of it.”
Joel Reuter is one of many pundits who think the Brewers’ stronghold on the top spot isn’t as tight now:
“The Brewers emerged as the dominant team in baseball earlier this month, but the gap to the rest of the field narrowed last week when they suffered a pair of series losses to the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants.”
Still, as Matt Snyder writes, they still have the best record in baseball:
“They built themselves enough of a cushion to stay put here at the top, but the Brewers have now lost six of nine.”
Will Leitch writes that like Misiorowski, the Brewers’ bullpen is human, too:
“There actually has been a little bit of tumult in Brewers land of late. They’ve lost six of their last nine (immediately following that 14-game win streak), the most recent two of which were because of the bullpen springing leaks. They gave up seven runs in the sixth and the seventh on Saturday and then blew a lead in the ninth on Sunday, helping douse those good Ueck vibes. (Though just a little.)”
How you play is often more important than who you play, but the Brewers have a challenging upcoming schedule over the next week that Tom Brew suggests could tighten the division race:
“The Milwaukee Brewers have come back to earth a bit in the past week, but they’re still tops on my list. They have an interesting stretch ahead with Arizona, Toronto and Philadelphia as we head into September.”
But it’s not time for fans to panic, Gabe Lacques said:
“Mildly shaky week, as Trevor Megill blows two saves, but winning two of five at Wrigley solidifies division edge.”