It's the weekend
which means it's another edition of Make the Call on the Civic Media
Radio Network.
I'm Jimmy Cusco, the sports director here at Civic Media.
Happy to have you along for the next hour while we talk all things sports here in Wisconsin.
And joining me this week, as always, from the Northwoods in a smoke-covered haze somewhere.
I can't really see you even on the camera here.
Great Gunderson up in Park Falls.
Gray, are you doing okay up there, man?
I'm alive.
I'm within range of a microphone, and I'm conscious for now.
If I drop out, I'll be fine in just a couple minutes.
It's like the inside of Ricky Williams' van up there, man.
Holy smokes.
All right, let's go to Madison, and we hear from Parker Olson in the capital city and at HQ.
Parker, there's a lot going on in Madison right now.
There's always a lot going on in Madison.
It is also smoky here, too.
I can't see all the way across the lakes, and it was kind of hard to make out the capital on the way coming downtown.
It was very odd.
Not a fan of those, Jimmy.
It's amazing being here in the bottom left corner of the state out of harm's way.
That being said, we have a lot of sports to talk about today.
But before we talk sports, we got to mention that Mike Clemens will have us with a sports week in review coming up later in the show about a half hour from now.
But before we do talk sports, we do have to talk weather.
So let's all put on the amateur meteorologist hat and start our top eight at eight.
With a weather question, and that is this, and again, a top eight at eight is our top sports or not sports stories for the weekend.
This is decidedly, well, it's kind of not sports because we're talking about the weather.
What is the worst weather or environmental condition that you could play a sporting event in?
Because we've seen this week a number of cancellations due to the wildfire smoke.
My question to you guys, what would be the worst conditions to play it?
I've got to, I mean, you've got to obviously eliminate the things that would cancel a game.
Lightning's not going to be on the table.
So what would people push through that's going to basically be the worst?
Freezing rain.
Freezing rain.
You'll still play in freezing rain.
I'm thinking football here.
And man, your fingers are going to sting.
Doesn't matter what you do.
If you move, oh, just, yeah, freezing rain.
I didn't even think of that great.
That's a really, really good shout.
I was gonna just say with like, I was thinking like very typical things that like the Colorado Rockies, the Denver Broncos, they've all got the elevation right, but that's a standard thing.
Miami standard has a lot of heat as well.
But no, yeah, freezing rain, even that kind of overrules everything.
That's not good.
That sucks.
I'm gonna go with this and I'm speaking to this as a broadcaster and as a special teams coach, but the worst weather condition I can deal with precipitation.
I can deal with temperature I cannot deal with wind wind affects everything with your outdoors anyway It can push or pull a baseball or football or whatever There's wind inside you're having some problems in your venue for basketball or hockey But that being said as a broadcaster and you have wind blowing right into a microphone sounds terrible hate the wind
So win to me is the the worst condition to play sports and obviously you can cancel for a number of reasons I've been on a broadcast where there was an active tornado warning and I could see the tornado and I was still broadcasting but That's a story for another day The things you'll do for semi-pro football broadcasts in the twin cities But I think win is the toughest to accommodate for doesn't matter so much if you're say playing offensive line But boy when you're a kicker quarterback, etc.
It makes things kind of messy
Let's move to number seven in our top eight at eight.
Speaking of Messi, who you got in the World Cup, Argentina or Spain?
Smooth, very smooth.
I will stick with Messi and I will say Argentina.
I think it'd be really cool to see him getting the World Cup here.
Yeah, I mean, it's very basic, but it'd be fun.
It'd be cool.
Who doesn't like a superstar at winning at all?
chatting with Mike Clemens Friday morning.
He mentioned that Spain has a little bit of favorite backing there, and I've got to rely on that with some of my ignorance, but I know Messi is down in Argentina.
And the other day I saw him in stoppage time pull off what looked completely impossible.
It was the most ridiculous kick of a soccer ball.
I almost said football.
The most ridiculous athletic achievement I've ever seen.
If I look at a group of three guys standing in front of me, that's blocking me.
He just saw, yeah, no, no, well, curved the bullet.
I was watching James McEvoy and Wanted and Angelina Jolie was there.
It was ridiculous.
It was the most ridiculous sports maneuver I've ever seen.
The Argentina
rally to win to make it to the final was incredible.
I mean it had I think everybody got breaking Twitter, you know, like people were really into it My kids are wearing their their their Lionel Massey jerseys All week this week to everything Spain is the favorite.
Let me name all and Spain definitely the favorite You see all the posts about him just like walking around New York and he's like a celebrity now He's walking around everywhere people are taking photos with him all that stuff, but I think it'll be very exciting
If I pick against who my kids want to win, I'll probably get in trouble.
So I guess I'll have to say Argentina, although I do think Spain is a pretty heavy favorite.
The difference between Spain and a lot of teams is that it's not just one, you know, one or two or three guys.
Like it is, the defense is legit and they move the ball really well.
So, and I'm only speaking to this as something of a, not as much of a soccer enthusiast as I am other sports, but since I have to broadcast it and my kids are in it, I've gotten to learn it quite a bit and you can just see.
how well they move it.
So Argentina, because I don't want my kids to be like, dad, why'd you pick against us?
But, you know, Spain, because, you know, Spain is also, you know, very, very good in the favorite in this.
I don't have a way to segue into number six.
I can't yamal my way into this, but number six in our top eight at eight is this, the MLB and the NHL dropped their schedules yesterday at the same time.
So unlike the NFL, this wasn't a bill for primetime moment, but I have to ask.
Does anything stand out to you about the scheduled drops?
Or do you think, especially in the case of the MLB, it's kind of a moot point because we're heading for a lockout
anyway?
Oh, I'm just going to blow past the lockout comment because I don't really want to think about that right now.
I'm excited because it's baseball time again.
We're done with the all-star break.
We're back to playing baseball, Jimmy.
Not thinking about no baseball.
Okay, the schedule.
The thing that stands out to me is I think it's the earliest that MLB will ever start.
I want to say I saw March 24th is the opening day.
That is ridiculously early.
It should be more towards my birthday right at the end of the first week of April.
I would have thought it was usually what it should be.
Seems very, very early for baseball in March, but...
Who knows?
The other thing I want to say real quick is the routine-ness of it.
The brewers, they do a very, very routine, just very much like they do this year.
Pretty much every Thursday it seems like they've got an off day, and they're usually home for two, maybe three series, and they're on the road for two, maybe three series, and then back and then forth, then back and forth.
It's very scheduling.
It's very nice.
I like the uniformity of it.
One thing I'll point out with the Brewer's Scheduler, two things that set out to be about the Brewer's part of it.
And again, speaking the NHL schedule, we don't have a pro hockey team in Wisconsin, so there's not a lot to say about it.
But for the MLB, just for the Brewer's sake, there are two things that jumped out to me immediately.
One is this, the Brewer's have exactly two days off between the end of April, April 30th and June 2nd.
They have two days off in the early part of the season, and those are both in the month of May.
The other part that stands out to me is much like this year.
They're not gonna have a July 4th game, but they're also gonna be away from home.
for a really long amount of time.
So they will be away from home for the first half of July.
They don't play a home game in July until the third week, July 16th next year.
So they go from the first to the 15th.
That's two full weeks without a game.
And if you extend that to mid June from June 17th through July 15th, so full month, they play just six home games in that stretch.
So for people that want to get out in the middle of the summer to see the Brewers, they don't have a whole lot of home games in June and July.
A lot of
home games are packed early in the year and then again sort of in the end towards the end of August and September.
I said October there because I wishful thinking that we're World Series Contenders next year, right?
We have a lot more to talk about with the Brewers coming up here in just a bit as well.
But before we do that, let's move to number five on our top 8-8-8.
It is the post-Yanis apocalypse in Milwaukee.
The NBA is now investigating the buck's most recent
roster move.
The one that got people up in arms on social media, they signed Gary Trent to a whole lot of money for a whole lot of years.
And the reasoning behind the investigation is it's very thinly veiled that they underpaid him for the years he was here with Yanis.
And then as soon as Yanis was gone and they had the flexibility, they opened up the bank.
So how much pain are you willing to tolerate this season when you see
The fact that the bucks are are overspending on guys like Gary Trent Jr.
To the point that the NBA has to investigate this
the the the immediate gut reaction to this is three to five terrible Backroom like I feel like it happened in front of everybody, you know, it just I don't know I feel like catching a kid red-handed with a story that doesn't make sense at all I like I don't want to pile on to the negative reactions that already existed around the signing
But I'll admit, there's a large, large degree of, guys, come on, that I'm feeling here.
Am I alone there, Parker?
Back me up or call me crazy.
No, you're kinda right.
I mean, it's fun.
To me, the funniest thing about it is that last week we were feeling, we were still doing our kind of post-martem, saying like, you know what, we have accepted that Yannis is gone, and you know what, this year doesn't matter all that much.
If it's good, awesome.
If it's not, who cares?
When you're getting invested by the NBA, pretty much right off of the bat, you haven't even gotten to the season yet.
It's it's quickly the doom is getting here faster than I thought Jimmy the doom and gloom It's settling in I
think the earlier moves that they made made sense, right?
It was all short-term You know no risk long-term short-term whatever we deal with it.
We build assets
But then you lock in somebody, you overpay for four years of Gary Trent Jr., which only becomes sort of valuable in his final years in expiring contract.
So basically you're locked in for three years with this guy at the salary.
So the bucks are to become viable again in the short term.
They hit on a draft pick.
Somebody decides like hey, I don't want to be in Los Angeles or wherever.
I'm gonna play Milwaukee try to bring another championship there They don't have the flexibility to do something like that because they just ate up a bunch of their cap to bring in this guy I keep this guy and that's the part I think that bothers fans is that if they had any quick path to getting back to success This this is a big roadblock in that and that they just committed a lot of money to essentially
A borderline rotation guy and that's the part to I think that doesn't sit well with vans We have a couple minutes here.
So let's move to top four or number four on our top eight eight eight And we are gonna talk more about the brewers later in the show We're gonna deep dive in the second half forecast for the brewers But I got to ask because they made a trade this week in which they sent Prince fielder's son to Houston to bring in a couple of pitchers And I'm wondering do you guys think that this is a signal that more changes are on the way for the brewers?
I think that this is the brewer's bracing for a very unfortunate...
possibility that Brandon Woodruff has done more than anything that is kind of where my mind went on this.
I don't know necessarily that there are going to be more changes.
It sort of feels to me, obviously, when you get you get rid of one player and you gain two, you gain something there numbers wise, that sort of does feel like they're collecting some capital that sort of feels like we might one of these guys who was in this trade very potentially could be being sent away pretty quickly.
I don't necessarily know that that's exactly what's gonna happen, but I would not be shocked if there's another move.
We'll see.
Great.
Do you have a kind of similar feel on that?
Yeah, it's kind of an anything is possible kind of thing.
This hopefully is just preparing for the worst that never comes.
But if you're preparing for the worst and it looks like this, then you recognize there's a realistic chance that one of these players is right where you don't want them to be at a really important moment.
That's that's a realistic possibility at this point because there's no evidence that any other particular event is coming for this.
You know, that's it's
That's a lot of words to say we don't know what's going on until we actually know what's going on.
So hopefully this is just a lot of precaution that doesn't end up bearing fruit.
To me, this is a way for them to buy low and potentially
short term eat up some innings to save the arm of Mizorowski who's out with an injury or not out with an injury but like they're resting him over the all-star break for fatigue with Harrison going on the aisle with Woodruff on the 60-day aisle.
I feel like this is just a way for them to eat some innings and potentially by low on a couple of guys who they feel like have
Major League potential, or in the case of McCullers, who was a former All-Star, maybe getting him back to form, although I should add there that he has missed three entire seasons with injuries in his career.
So it is, again, a very by-low situation.
And again, I think it's more of a, let's eat some eating.
So Harrison Mizorowski and et cetera, I don't have to carry us through here the dog days of the summer.
We had to take a break before we get to the next stop in our top 88.
You are listening to the call part of the civic media radio network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
Welcome back.
It's the top 8-8 as part of Make the Call here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
We're up to number three.
And this is kind of a two-parter in this segment.
We're going to talk Packers Training Camp.
It's our preview.
Training Camp, which begins a week from Wednesday for the Packers.
And we're going to focus on the defensive side of the ball this week.
So guys, you've got to ask, first of all, is number three in this top 8-8.
If there's a position group that you're specifically watching during training camp this year, one that really stands out to you as potentially being a group to watch, something, you know, whether it's improvement, whether it's new faces, whatever it is, is there a position group that we should really be focused on as we work through training camp this year?
Personally, I'm keeping a sharp eye on the linebackers and what they're doing in training camp because they stand one of the biggest chances of the biggest change.
Forgive me, my wording today is just absolute nonsense.
They probably are going to see the biggest difference from what they've been doing in previous years to what's coming this coming year.
Gannon has refused to commit to a three four versus four three instead.
It's a pro style defense, which means you might have a given linebacker will be coming a defensive end.
for a couple plays and you get this kind of weird hybridization tendency.
I expect whatever it is, you're going to see people like Edge Cooper covering passes effectively as much as doing anything else, but we're still going to keep people like Micah Parsons rushing the passer, whereas arguably you could have those two roles swapped under the different systems that new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon might be running.
That said, position group that I'm looking at is the linebackers because, again,
It's all going to depend on them for much of the defensive plays.
Covering people like Ted Ends might come down to people like Edg Cooper.
So we've got to figure out how to not get torn up by tight ends like we have in years past and running backs in the passing game.
So middle of the defense, I'm looking at the middle of the defense.
Parker, what do you got?
I mean,
One way that you can make that middle tier of your defense better is that you make the front really good and you take some of the load off of those guys that are further back in the field, right?
I'm looking at the defensive line and who can be helping out Micah Parsons, right?
I'm kind of excited about Dennis Sutton that they just brought in from the NFL Draft, obviously a Penn State guy, so I'm hoping that he's gonna have some really natural chemistry with Micah Parsons.
I don't know that there really is necessarily, I haven't heard anything about this, but to me it's a match made like,
Oh yeah, these guys are gonna get along just fine.
If he can help out that defensive line, then I am kinda thinking that what you might be worrying about with the corners, with the linebackers, some of that's gonna be brought down because of how good that front can be.
If that front can take away any opportunity for an offense to just, as the Packers have struggled with, they might be able to actually win some battles in the trenches a little bit better now.
I would like that a lot, and that would make the defense a lot easier.
For me, it's defensive backs, first and foremost.
They really try to invest in this area to kind of shore up, you know, the passing attacks that they're going to see between the Bears, Lions, Vikings, you know, for six of the games of the year.
And then obviously, when you got to pace the higher two teams like the Rams and others as you play throughout the year, I think the secondary is definitely the area to watch in camp.
I'm just
Really interested to see how under a new defensive coordinator, you know, how do they adjust schemes?
How do they mix coverages things like that?
Where do guys play?
To me the defensive backfield is kind of where I really see a lot of attention being shown this year This is kind of a lead-in then to number two in our top 8-8 So we talked about our favorite position groups and Parker you've already went off on one of your top players to watch this year But on the defensive side of the ball, is there a player?
that you're most interested, you know, like maybe needs to take a big step up.
Maybe it's someone in an elevated role, whatever it is, and maybe it's a superstar turning to form.
Is there a guy on defense that we're really paying attention to here throughout training camp?
For me on this one, it's actually going to be a veteran acquired in free agency.
That's going to be Benjamin St.
Juice, cornerback acquired.
from the Chargers.
I've spoken about him before.
It's no secret why.
It's because he's bigger than any corner we've signed and had on the active roster.
I think it probably the last decade.
He's six foot three and he's hovering around 200 pounds.
And that is a tight end disassembly tool if you're a defensive coordinator.
I'm hoping, I'm hoping that he's effective with whatever Jonathan Gannon tries to do with him because much like somebody like Edge Cooper asked to do a tough job,
It'll be hopefully a little easier for a big corner to do that job.
You ask me, corners have maybe the hardest job next to quarters, quarterbacks on an NFL field.
They're purely reactive.
They usually can't know what's coming.
They might have an idea, but I mean, you're one good move away from being toasted and there you're looking like you need to get fired.
So I feel for cornerbacks.
I feel for Benjamin St.
Juist.
I'm super excited to see him out there.
I'm actually looking at somebody else who was brought in in free agency.
I think Zaire Franklin could be really interesting here.
I am really thinking that that veteran can really add to that linebacking group.
And as you already talked about a little bit great, that linebacker group is somebody that is a group that you got to keep the eye on.
Zaire Franklin is somebody who really could bring in some help there.
Yeah, I think adding a veteran there is super helpful for this packer team, which we've been hearing for years about how young they are.
Zaire Franklin is not very young.
So it's going to be, I think, a really good addition there.
And it'll always interesting to see how guys mesh in training camp.
It's kind of the first time that you can really go, okay, this is what the team is going to look like.
And this is what we can expect coming up here in the season.
For me, I'm staying in the defensive backfield because I am absolutely intrigued as to what they do with Brandon Ceasey.
I really kind of excited for him because I like versatile players who can kind of line up wherever you need him to.
And it just feels like he's got a mix of abilities that can put a maybe not as like your lockdown corner necessarily as a rookie right away, but someone who could play the slot, someone who could play some safety rope around whatever you need him to do.
Also, he wears a great
Uniform number my high school number number two, which is a great number So I'm a little biased in that but more to the point They picked this guy high for a reason and I think just the effect the ability to Be able to kind of move around and play whether it's a maybe it's a slot corner Maybe maybe somewhere over the top.
I feel like wherever they decide to play him in the mix of personnel It does it opens up things because if he can play multiple spots in the field in the defensive backfield where there are some improvements It can really help and you know, let's me forget, you know, they do have some
great talent over the top back there as well.
You know, it's not like there's any short of talent in the defensive backfield.
Zebra McKinney is back for the Packers.
You know, he'll be great back there too.
But I just, for me, I'm going to circle the top graphic for the Packers this year as the guy to watch for me this year.
And I just, again, I just feel like with all the teams are going to see that throw the ball as much as they throw the ball this year that anybody in the defensive backfield is going to get a lot of attention for better or worse as we play out.
throughout the season.
We have to take another break and step aside.
But when we return, we're going to deep dive on our second half preview for the Milwaukee Brewers, which is already underway in Milwaukee in the series against the Marlins this weekend.
We'll talk about that next right here.
I'll make the call part of the Civic Media radio network.
Welcome back to make the call on civic media Halfway through make the call here on the civic media radio network joining us in about 20 minutes will be Mike Clemens with a week in review of all things sports here in Wisconsin It's been another big week and nothing bigger than coming up of the all-star break and heading into the second half with the Milwaukee Brewers at this time of year the Brewers currently in first place in the Anaheim Central by a Decent margin the remaining schedule is sort of middle of the pack so
We'll see if they can hang on and win the division, get back to the playoffs and all that.
And that's kind of what we're here to do is talk about the second half of the season for the Brewers or the second part, I should say, since we're past the halfway point.
And when we look at this forecast, I want to start it with this guys.
They traded for the two pitchers from the Astros this week.
I thought it was more of a short term, not necessarily like trade deadline, playoff maneuvering.
It was more of a Harrison's hurt, Woodruff is really hurt.
Mizorowski's fatigue, we need to eat some innings with guys who have major league experience.
That's how I read it this week.
I don't know that there's a Scoobl move coming or anything on that level, but it felt like they needed some guys to eat some major league innings and that was what the move was here.
And what that indicates to me and how I'm going to start this is that the Brewers feel pretty good about how things are put together right now outside of the pitching injuries and fatigue.
that the Brewers feel pretty good about the state of the roster going in here to the second part of the season.
They really do.
Yeah.
I mean, the one thing that I think worries me is the bullpen is so clearly there's an A and there's a B. And the B bullpen has not.
quite done the trick.
And frankly, even Aaron Ashby, when he comes into a game that the Brewers aren't behind in or tied in, he seems to not be as good.
I've seen people joking around on Twitter being like, you know, anytime Ashby comes in while we're winning, it doesn't go as well for a guy who has like 11 wins on the year.
It's a little odd.
I think that the bullpen does need some actual help, but Jimmy, I think you're pretty on the nose that they are just going to be kind of eating innings.
I think that's a very, very good possibility because you are getting into the dog days here.
You are getting to the point where it's like, yeah, and maybe not right now because we're coming straight off the Elstar break, but we are in a point that's like, man, we could maybe use somebody to help, right?
I mentioned earlier about possibly bringing in some capital for an upcoming trade.
If it is a trade, I don't think it's going to be a school bowl.
I don't think that the brewers are in the mood for trying to get a massive name like that and lose potentially a lot for it, right?
Really, go ahead, Jimmy.
I was gonna say I'm with you on that I just I'm backing up your point here and saying that the brewers There's only one team that's allowed fewer runs and that's the Dodgers and it's a difference of six runs.
So in all baseball So I'm with you I don't think that they're gonna market the the mortgage the future to bring in pitching now when it's pretty clear that pitching is your
strength.
No for sure I
But like I said, I do worry about that be bullpen a lot.
Um, so yeah, I don't know.
Great.
Do you see a big move coming up here?
Do you think that they are going to be making really a strong effort at getting a school board or someone like that?
I think it would be kind of odd to pair a big move to what would be relatively small ones that they've just recently made.
I don't think you do both, you know, you either shore up with what's already on hand the way they've been doing, or you go out and you grab a big piece.
Though I'm willing to be wrong.
No is simply no I don't expect any any fireworks after this kind of maneuver
By the way, but I quick correct myself here.
They are third in runs allowed this year my bad third behind the Dodgers and behind the Red Sox, but it's again within six runs The other thing to me that stands out for the Brewers going into this back half of the year do they need to make a big move?
Look at the remaining schedule.
It's under 500 the rest of the way the Brewers this year have 35 wins against teams that are over
500.
They are plus 15 in the win.
They have 15 more wins than lost.
They're 35 and 20 against teams over 500.
They're 59 and 37 overall.
That's plus 22.
So they've done really well against the good teams on their schedule.
Only one other team in baseball has 30 or more wins against teams over 500.
That's the Dodgers with 30.
So the Brewers have already played
a very difficult schedule.
There's not really anybody close to the Brewers and Dodgers on that front in terms of playing a difficult schedule and having success against it.
Some teams have played, some winning teams have not done so well, but the Brewers have the best record in baseball against teams over 500.
And I feel like if there's moves to make, it's not going to be the big
we're going to trade four top prospects and bring in a big arm.
It's going to be like we saw this week, just ways to kind of supplement what they already have and save those guys for later in the year because, you know, we don't need Mizorowski throwing 105 miles an hour against, you know, whoever the drag to the standings here in July, when we could really use him in October chasing a World Series
title.
Jimmy, I want to ask you, because I was thinking about who you would potentially trade and the Brewers have got such a good farm system.
I was wondering, do you think it's possible that some of the guys that they have brought up, guys like Luis Lara, guys like Cooper Pratt, is it possible that some of these guys have been brought up into the big leagues onto the actual Brewers team?
Is it possible that they've been brought up to show, to prove
to other teams that they are big league ready and that they are even more valuable than just as a prospect that they are actually they're legit ready to play on your big league roster right now.
Is it possible that the Brewers are going to take one of those and try to get somebody?
I don't think that for guys like Pratt it makes sense in that aspect because they they just shrewdly signed him to a long-term deal that pays him well and doesn't it won't break the bank for them like those guys the guys that they have made those
Commitments to before they were major leagueers.
those guys are off the table.
I feel like those guys are basically untouchable.
If they do trade a guy that they have, they worked so hard to sign that early.
I feel like that kind of goes against the spirit of what they've tried to do as an organization.
But for the guys that they haven't signed long-term that are prospects, I feel like those are the guys that are actually on the table.
The guys that aren't operating under those seven-year deals where they get $49 million now and they could make more later, but nothing's for sure in baseball.
I feel like that's where
You might see you know see some of those guys like seeing you know Prince Fielder's kid Jaden fielder Getting traded to Houston for a couple of arms to help eat some innings like that's the kind of move that the Brewers can afford to make because they are stacked at certain positions You know in the mileage system I think of outfielder like where it feels like they've got outfielders for days And I remember there was a lot of hand-wringing when they traded transition moves been in the major league since the trade There's you know, there's gonna be guys that appear blocked at any point, but we see it every year at the Brewers they
Retool everything and you just never know who's gonna come up if anything I feel like if the brewers make a move beyond just getting pitching Pitching relief the relief pitching for relief pitching if you will It might be to find themselves someone who could play corner infield spots to you know Give them a little more defense.
Maybe somebody with some third and first base versatility Just because we've seen some errors from the corners of the infield But aside from that a lot of the stuff we're looking at when we talk about brewers second half
They've got an amazing record.
I mean, they're second in the National League right now behind the Dodgers and and what they're trying to do is kind of, you know, give themselves a chance going into, you know, October, November, trying to save some of the guys on their team from having to do heavy lifting for the next two and a half months.
Are you telling me that we're talking about playoffs, Jimmy?
Playoffs I know right we're talking playoffs and and I think that's it's fair because the brewers have made it And pretty much every year on other Murphy they started it with council They've they're fighting themselves in a good position each year And I think that's the goal you get in and the best way to get you know The best chance is getting in avoiding the wild card playing games you get in and you know and you go from there because October everything kind of flips and
It feels like this year, the Brewers have the 1-2 punch in the rotation if they're healthy, right?
Between Mizorowski and Harrison, it feels like they've got a good 1-2 combo in the playoffs.
You don't need five pitchers.
You need three or four starters, and they've got one and two figured out.
For me, I just feel like any moves they make between now and the end of the season or between now and the trade deadline are going to be in support of the idea that they've got a really good roster in tech.
They're just going to find ways to patch holes over some of the weaknesses or
Give themselves some versatility going down the stretch.
Yeah, I think I think you're right.
And I think it's really interesting when you start talking about playoffs because especially in the second half, right?
Because we've talked about it's a it's a pretty easy schedule for the birds.
It's pretty middle of the road.
They have got a
pretty fair opportunity here to kind of just cruise to the finish and potentially end up as the number one seed, potentially end up as the two, get right past that wild card round, don't even play in it, and just end up in the Divisional Series as your starting point in October.
If the brewers can do that and they've got some of those pieces,
then they are gonna be really scary.
And you're right, I think that that 1-2 of Miz and Harrison is gonna be something that they can really, really use in the playoffs because, I mean, the thing that worries me though is the pitching that hasn't been the problem in the playoffs, right?
They had opportunities against the Dodgers, but they couldn't cash in to save their lives, frankly.
The runs weren't there.
So I kind of...
I almost wonder if they're going to go get a bat.
I don't know.
It'll be interesting.
And Gray, I think you can speak to this and this kind of transcends all sports, but it's not so much that we're looking at this in a vacuum of the brewers, but you got to look at the bigger picture.
I mean, the Cubs have been playing extremely well.
I mean, as good as the brewers have been, the Cubs have been playing very well.
In their own right, they're five games back of the Brewers.
That's nothing with two and a half months to go.
And in the National League, it's pretty crowded at the top, the Dodgers, the Brewers, the Cubs, the Phillies, the Braves, even the Marlins who they're playing right now.
And the Marlins entered the weekend seven games over 500.
So you can't look at things in a vacuum necessarily.
There's a lot going on around Milwaukee as well.
I agree with the, it's the time remaining.
And it's, I know we just got out of the break.
So it may feel like there's a limited time left.
And of course there is a limited time left, but there's room for the roller coaster to go both directions yet before the season's end.
So if, if something goes awry, relax, if it goes up really fast, be ready for something to go sideways.
It just be ready for anything.
It's sports.
It's funny too.
When we, we sitting here during the all-star break week, you know, the American league wins the all-star game, but then I,
I was curious about where would the Brewers be if they were in the American League.
The answer is they really could coast to the finish because yuck.
The AL West, the leading team, has two games over 500, for example.
AL Central, five games over 500.
The Chicago White Sox, who were just awful a year ago, are leading their division right now after the All-Star break, which is crazy.
But back to the point, I think that if you're looking at just the field of contenders,
The Brewers do find themselves in a good situation, just given that they've played a lot of the difficult teams already.
They obviously have some tough series, but I just remember back, we were talking like in May when they had that stretch where they were playing the Phillies and the Braves.
They're all kind of stacked in there.
And they got through it all pretty well.
They had that stretch.
They played the Dodgers, the Cubs.
They were sweeping teams.
They were blowing them out.
And you just felt like, OK, all right, there's a good.
potential.
The ceiling is very high for this Brewer's team, and maybe the question, as Parker you alluded to, maybe where the floor is if they can't get offense going.
I feel like though the ceiling this year is a lot higher because they do have top-end pitching.
Yeah, I think so too.
I think that feeling is very easily pushed out because of how good the pitching has been.
And with good pitching, you don't need to be quite as good with bats, obviously.
But the burrs have been good with bats.
You've talked about this, they've got one of the best run differentials in the league that is in a large part because of how good the pitching has been.
But if you can keep that going in playoffs, you've got a really good shot.
I hope they've got a really good shot.
I think they do have a really good shot.
Yeah, that's where I'm, I don't know.
I'm hoping that the Brewers can make some kind of move that makes me go, hmm.
Okay, that can be something that
I use.
You didn't even move the needle for you.
I see.
I think just, I'm sorry, I know.
I feel very ready, but it would be really nice, because I've gotten a little used to walking into playoffs and going, this could be the one.
But I haven't had anything that's really done it yet.
So I don't know.
Well, to all the quote, one of the greatest athletes in all sports, the ceiling is the roof and the roof today will be open because of the wildfire smoke.
Brewers and Marlins this weekend.
They do have some interesting games coming up.
Um, here the rest of the month, they do get the Rockies, you know, they still play like the angels.
Some of these teams that are the bottom of the standing.
So they do have some easy games coming up, easier games coming up, but, um, it really does feel like, uh, for the brewers that, uh, there, there's a lot of potentially good things in store as we play on drill year.
So we have to step aside, wrap up with some of our final thoughts and get out of the way from like Clemens with a sports week review.
That's coming up next here.
I make the call part of the city media, any of them.
