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Crown ‘em
Why the Brewers will win the Central Division
By Curtis Claassen
However, I say the Brewers are going to win this division and bring Milwaukee back to the playoffs for the first time in a quarter century. The reason? The last week of the schedule.
With just two weeks remaining in the Major League Baseball season, it has officially become a two-team race in the National League Central Division. The Brewers and Cubs have done nothing short of putting their fans through an exciting yet nerve-wracking last two months. This epic divisional race is one of the tightest in recent memory.
The last two weeks will surely be filled with a lot of emotion and intense moments. Entering play on Friday, the Cubs are a half-game ahead of the Brewers. However, I say the Brewers are going to win this division and bring Milwaukee back to the playoffs for the first time in a quarter century. The reason? The last week of the schedule.
Before that week, the Brewers don't have an easy trip to complete, as they head down south to play three games against the Astros, then head to "Hot-lanta" to play four against the Braves. Though the Crew has traditionally struggled in these two cities, both Houston and Atlanta are out of the playoff race and have been struggling of late. The Brewers, at worst, need to go 4-3 in this stretch, and I believe they will. The Cubby Bears may have an easier week, as Cincinnati and Pittsburgh each pay a visit to the friendly confines. The Cubs have six games against these two teams and probably will be able to go 4-2. This would put the Cubs a half-game ahead of the Brewers going into the final week.
But here is where the Brewers win the division.
The Brewers welcome the Cardinals and Padres to Miller Park in the final week of the regular season. The Cardinals will be well out of the playoffs and will not care anymore because, to be honest, they would probably see the Brewers win the division rather than their most hated of rivals, the Cubs. We'll say the Brewers take two of three games here. They then finish up a four game series against the Padres. The key may be if the Padres are still in a playoff race. By this time, the Brewers may hope, the Padres will have clinched a playoff berth so they won't have much to play for and rest some of their starters. Either way, we all know how close the Brewers would be to taste what it's like to be in the playoffs, the team and their fans will be too much for the visiting Padres. The Brewers may even consider keeping the Miller Park roof open for this series to cool off the visitors from sunny San Diego. A sweep would be ideal, but say the Brewers take just three of four in this final series. If these predictions hold up for the Brewers, they will finish the season at 85-77.
The Cubs start off their last week playing three games against the lowly Marlins in Miami, a stadium that usually generates very small crowds. However, as bad as the Marlins are, I think they will get up for this series and fans will come out to the park, because wherever the Cubs go, they always bring out a large audience. The Marlins may enjoy the role of spoiler and take two out of three against the Cubs in a rematch of the 2003 National League Division Series. You know, the Steve Bartman series? The last series of the year has the Cubs heading back northward to Cincinnati. With the power of Brandon Phillips, Ken Griffey Jr., and Adam Dunn in the middle of the Reds lineup, they can take two of three against Chicago. This finishes off the Cubs at 83-79, which means, they will have to wait at least 100 more years to finally get a shot at another World Series championship.
As for the Crew, the city of Milwaukee will once again enjoy October baseball. For Brewers fans of the last 25 years, who have experienced all the pain and suffering of not making the playoffs, that loyalty and patience will finally pay off.
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