Your NL Central champions!!! They started slow and ended seemingly even slower, and then bowed out of the postseason almost immediately... but it was still the best Brewers team of my lifetime and continued what's almost inarguably been the greatest 4-year stretch in Brewers history (postseason every season!).
The Brewers will really have a shot next year if Yelich can recapture his 2019 form
Lineup: Arguably the best Brewers team ever, but not because of the lineup -- it stinks!!! The best hitter is 340 pt Avasail Garcia and his OB 8, 17-20 HR card. Yikes. However, it's a solid lineup top to bottom at least, with 6/8 hitters being OB 8 and Yelich adding an OB 9, with OB 7 Escobar adding a lot of XBH pop (and being tied for 3rd most expensive hitter). Cain and Wong are solid guys with more chart pop than I expected. Yelich is going to be an early round draft pick in most leagues, even if he wildly disappointed this fan, simply because he's an OB 9 for under 200 pts -- that's huge for the bottom of your lineup in a 5000 pt league. Adames was the breakout star for Milwaukee, but unfortunately his subpar stats in TB factor into his card, thereby limiting him to this 310 pt card... which is still arguably the best Brewers SS card in the last decade. Vogelbach has an extremely empty chart and no speed, but as an OB 8 for 130 pts, I anticipate people draft him for the end of their lineup.
Bench: Surprisingly deep and versatile bench that is fun to mix-and-match with the lineup. Obviously, no one is a star, but Urias is the 5th most expensive hitter on the team -- I'd probably play him over Escobar in most lineups. Jace is a solid pick option that'll go in many drafts as a 2B with OB 8 for a mere 150 pts. However, I know from the 2021 draft that recently happened (check out the video on those teams
HERE) that JBJ was perhaps the most coveted player in the draft for a few teams and I think he went fairly early. He is the perfect punt: 10 pts with elite defense and elite speed. Manny Pina is the weird card that'll probably not be picked, even with the epic +11 arm, because his chart is TOO GOOD, thereby making him too expensive to be a true punt. I expect managers to look at someone like Stallings (cheaper and OB 8 with same arm) rather than roll the dice on a 200+ pt OB 6.
Rotation: This is the crown jewel of the Brewers team, and they have a three-headed monster at the top of the rotation. Indeed, Freddy Peralta was a THIRD Tier 1 starter entering the last week of the season... and promptly blew it thanks to a pair of awful final starts. I was in shambles!!! Nevertheless, Milwaukee still rolls out Burnes and Woodruff as an incredible Tier 1, no doubles combo. Burnes was a deserving Cy Young winner and essentially has the "Pedro" card of legend. For 20 pts less and an extra GB + Control, you can snag Woodruff instead. Either way, these two would be monstrous in a 7 game series together. Milwaukee has another pair of Tier 3 starters to support their big 3, and neither Houser nor Lauer give up doubles! Definitely one of the best rotations in the set, competing directly with the Dodgers in my opinion.
Bullpen: Another year, another Tier 1 Josh Hader with a massive K range for 300ish points. He's a foundational bullpen piece, no question about it. Devin Williams is not the Control 6, 1-18 out he was in 2020, but no one expected him to be. He ended up VERY close to his "hot stove" projection, bringing the Brewers a Tier 3 with no doubles set up man who'll get a ton of strikeouts (thanks to his amazing curveball). In fact, he's supported by four additional Tier 3 pitchers! That gives Milwaukee a lot of depth, even if they only have one elite bullpen arm. My favorite of the bunch is probably Cousins since you can't do any damage off his chart (only 18-20 walk)!
Overall: My beloved Brewers come in at 6920 points, which is definitely at least partially inflated by having a full 26 players made (creator bias ;)). This is a team that's built for regular season Showdown success -- strong pitching without a ton of falloff in the lineup or bullpen, but lacks the elite talent (outside of its big 2 in the rotation) to take over a playoff series. In short, I'm not surprised they failed to beat Atlanta and I'd be surprised if they went on a deep postseason run in 2022.... they need another big bat in the lineup to make that jump. Maybe that's Yelich fixing his bat, but I'm doubtful that happens, so for now I'm going to enjoy seeing a 90+ win team in Milwaukee!
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