Brewers Remind Us: It's Hard to Win It All
By jasonperone
We're less than two days after the last Milwaukee Brewers game of the 2018 season and I promise, this isn't to rub it in or pick at a wound. Watching what that team did this season made me reflect on what our Green Bay Packers have also done in recent years.
How many times have we seen a Packers team destined for greatness and seemingly charmed to achieve the pinnacle of the NFL game: a Super Bowl title? And how many times, since 2010, have we seen those teams somehow come up short?
The Brewers had it all going for them. Just because they didn't reach their goal of a World Series doesn't diminish what that team is and will be (most of the team appears poised to return in 2019).
It almost seems unholy (hyperbole, I know) that the Brewers couldn't finish this season with a World Series appearance and give baseball one hell of a story. But that's often the way sports go. What should be isn't always what is.
So we come back to the Packers. So many times, right here on this very site, we've seen fans debate over and over about how frustrated they are that the team hasn't been back to a championship game in nearly eight years.
I've never been a fan of the concept that luck plays a part in the outcome of seasons and who wins a championship. But here we have another strong case of "the best team didn't win" with the Los Angeles Dodgers moving on.
Whether it was game management, a play that was made here, another one missed there, they all contribute to the outcome. If one thing goes differently, we're talking about a different result.
Many still feel that the best years of Aaron Rodgers' career aren't being maximized with every season that ends before a Super Bowl appearance. Others say "we should appreciate the success they have had instead of focusing on what they haven't done.
Remember that even in 2010 with so many studs on that Packers team and as hot as they were, they still needed most of the four quarters to beat a Bears team led by Caleb Hanie for most of the day.
In 1996, the Packers who led the league in both offense and defense, had to overcome a deficit at home (having never lost a playoff game at Lambeau Field at that point) to reach a Super Bowl.
It's never as easy as executing near perfectly and making all of the right coaching decisions. It's not always about having the best player(s). It's about winning a game on a given day and in the NFL, that couldn't be more true.
Winning isn't easy and the Packers have done more of it than not over the recent years. Let's just hope they have "their given day" sooner than later.
-------------------
Jason is a freelance writer on staff since 2012 and also co-hosts Cheesehead TV Live, Pulse of the Pack and Pack A Day podcasts. You can follow him on Twitter here
Comments (23)
jeremyjjbrown
October 22, 2018 at 07:11 am
They didn't go all the way but it was still a remarkable season. Hopefully they learn and grow. Hopefully Schoop is somewhere else next season.
dobber
October 22, 2018 at 07:23 am
I think Schoop is better than he showed. He's one of the few controllable assets they have at that quagmire of 2B going into next season. Maybe they flip him, maybe they don't. I'd be inclined to keep him.
RCPackerFan
October 22, 2018 at 08:02 am
Schoop was not the same player he was in Baltimore.
IF, he could get to that level (maybe a year with the team will help), he could really help the team.
Maybe see what he does in spring training?
dobber
October 22, 2018 at 09:11 am
I think he was pressing, and he was fighting for ABs: not a great combo. He's shown that he can be a productive piece in this modern, yucky, "swing and miss" baseball of the 2010s. At this point, I think he's likely to start 2019 as the everyday 2B. I don't know how long his leash will be.
RCPackerFan
October 22, 2018 at 09:56 am
Yeah I agree. I do think the changing teams really affected him. Sometimes people take a while to fit in and feel comfortable.
At this point unless they get a really good deal for him, it probably would be worth keeping. But I would look for another player or upgrade at 2nd.
jeremyjjbrown
October 22, 2018 at 11:38 am
"Maybe see what he does in spring training?"
Have to pay over 10 million for that. No thanks.
RCPackerFan
October 22, 2018 at 01:59 pm
For that price. No. I didn't know what his contract situation was.
GBPDAN1
October 22, 2018 at 08:10 am
It was a remarkable season. I was so wishing we would beat the Dodgers as I now live in LA and would have loved to seen the Brewers in the WS. I don't like that baseball, for the most part, is a rich man's game. Brewers 90m payroll, Dodgers 190m, Boston 220m, etc.
I love seeing the bottom payroll teams win. We have a great team for the money.
RCPackerFan
October 22, 2018 at 08:01 am
Some fans of their teams don't want to admit that winning it all is not easy. Even the team that has won it more than anyone else can easily say that they had luck in their wins. The Patriots last win while it was an epic comeback, it took as much luck as anything to win.
Most figured the Cubs were the team to beat, and the Brewers made a miraculous run to come back and take the division. Brewers had an amazing run. They took it to a game 7 of the NLCS. Hopefully next year they will finish what they started!
But looking at that, the Cubs were favored and they didn't even make it to the NLDS.
Packers have had a bit of an unlucky path after their 2010 title. 2011 they were an unstoppable offense. Until the events that happened against the Giants. 2014 game, if any 1 of what 12 ways goes differently they are in the Super Bowl. 2015-2017 were all injury filled years that depleted the team.
2018 is off to a slower start then we hoped for, but they are still in control of their destiny. Lets not forget that Rodgers missed over half of the last season, and didn't play in the preseason, then got hurt in game 1 and has been dealing with it since.
Now they are coming off of a bye, they will be returning some key players. (3 starters).
If we are going to make a run, it starts this week!
dobber
October 22, 2018 at 08:59 am
"If we are going to make a run, it starts this week!"
If the Packers get to 10 wins, they're a playoff team. 10-5-1 trumps any 10-6 team and likey puts them in as at least a WC. Yes, it does matter who they beat and, yes, it matters when they win. But going into the season, these two games (Rams, Pats) all but the most optimistic fans likely penciled in as Ls. It's not the end of the world if they get beat by the Rams, but it could be a great springboard if they win.
As I look at this 5-game stretch (@LAR, @NE, MIA, @SEA, @MIN), they need to go 3-2 to legitimize themselves as an NFC contender. 2-3 means they're in 'run the table' mode again, or--at 1-4--looking at a 9-win season at best, which won't get the job done. Miami and Seattle look like the more winnable of the 5. That means they have to beat at least one of those three remaining teams on the road...no small task.
RCPackerFan
October 22, 2018 at 10:02 am
yeah, i agree with everything you said.
Realistically if they can go 2-2 in the 4 away games, that will be really good!
If they can split the Rams/Patriots games, and split the Seahawks/VIkings games that would be huge.
Just my thinking, beating the Rams off a bye will be easier then the Patriots. Because they will have 2 long flights when they get to the Patriots. Then they are home and a short week play at Seattle, which is always tough for visiting teams to play a Thursday night game and Seattle is one of the harder places to play at. But they get a mini bye to take on the Vikings. Schedule wise I think it will be easier to beat the Rams and Vikings. I think it will its possible they will win 1-3 games in that 4 away game stretch. Who knows, maybe they come out of the bye like a new team and win all 4. It can happen but its unlikely.
dobber
October 22, 2018 at 02:02 pm
I agree: split the road games, protect home field against Miami, and they're set up pretty well for the stretch run. It won't be easy for them, but if they go at least 3-2 over the next 5, they'll be playing well enough that those are all winnable.
RCPackerFan
October 22, 2018 at 02:05 pm
agreed!
Man you have to stop drinking the koolaid. ;)
dobber
October 22, 2018 at 09:35 pm
OH YEAAAAHHHH!!!
RCPackerFan
October 23, 2018 at 06:34 am
lol
fastmoving
October 22, 2018 at 08:36 am
I dont know if the 2010 Pack was loaded with "so many studs" at the beginning of that playoff run.
They just become studs because they won it all, at least in the public eye. and there is alway a huge part of luck involved. one lucky bounce and you start to catch fire. momentum is a great thing if it works in your favore.
But we got luccky to get in the post season. The Philly win was shacky and Tramon INT could have been a Vick TD as well. after we destroyed ATL the second half in Chicago was not so sure either and if Bishop and CM3 did not get the fumble, just at the right time, we could have lost the final too.
Now people remeber the team was loaded with studs, but back than we had no run game. Nick Collins droped a lot of easy INTs the first 3 years of his carrer and Bishop was seen as a pre season hero who never played in the regular season. AJ Hawk to slow and could not tackle, Zombo too bad, Shield to short, Bush was hated for his misstakes.
the team just faced the same questions and critiqs like the 2018 squad. a lot of fans wanted some guys fired thrue the regular season (and the conditions coach because it was his fault that so many players were on IR). But they wone the whole thing and in the next second everything was different.
it can always happen, if we are in a good position. but there are a lot of thing involved nobody can control. the player can only play as hard as they can and hope the best. the parity makes the NFL so special but it makes it also hard to win it all every year or even every decade. ask all the teams who never won a SB, ask the Vikings who actually had some good teams too, since 1967, and nothing (none) to show for.
dobber
October 22, 2018 at 08:49 am
"one lucky bounce and you start to catch fire. momentum is a great thing if it works in your favore."
This is how Eli Manning has two rings...
TarynsEyes
October 22, 2018 at 10:44 am
" But here we have another strong case of "the best team didn't win" with the Los Angeles Dodgers moving on.
Wrong...the chance to beat the ' best ' team was Manager'ed away.
jasonperone
October 22, 2018 at 11:12 am
But if it was "Manager'ed away" then doesn't that mean it's possible that LA wasn't the best team but rather, they benefited from mistakes made on the other side? I can tell you this, the Dodgers are hardly the best team in these playoffs on either side. But I look forward to your soliloquy and wordsmithery
RCPackerFan
October 22, 2018 at 11:24 am
What manager moves did you not like?
TarynsEyes
October 22, 2018 at 11:45 am
What Cousel did the whole series was awesome, he had the Dodgers use of hitters,starting lineup and subs, being directed by his use of pitchers right up until game 7 and using Hader that early...the mistake that the better team,backed into a corner,hopes comes about and it did.
The Brewers played great pitching and took advantage of Dodger pitching at times, but the better team won.
Neither the Brewers or Dodgers look to have enough vs Boston, but LA's experience will make it a closer series than the Brewers.
RCPackerFan
October 22, 2018 at 02:04 pm
In all honesty, I thought Councel was good. The only move I really didn't like was bringing Hader in so early. I would have went with another Pitcher (Woodruff) and kept Hader in the waiting. I get why they did it, I just wouldn't have done it.
IMO, the thing that killed them was their batting. Cain, Yelich, Aguilar and Moustakas all struggled in the games they lost. They didn't come up big enough in the games.
And they ended up with 14? strikeouts in the game. You only get 27 outs in a game and over half of them were strikeouts? Simply put the bat on the ball. Don't need to go for power just make contact. Good things can happen by making contact. Noting good can come from a strikeout.
I don't think LA was necessarily better, but they played better in the game that mattered most.
I agree that I think Boston wins it.
dobber
October 22, 2018 at 09:41 pm
The announcers got after Counsell for bringing in Hader early. It didn't matter. The Dodgers' pitchers had stoned the Brewers hitters. The damage was done before Hader ever came on the field.
"Simply put the bat on the ball. Don't need to go for power just make contact. Good things can happen by making contact. "
Welcome to the crappy, yucky era of "swing and miss" baseball. It can't end soon enough. Thank you, analytics.