Milwaukee Brewers: NL Central Title is within reach

It’s hard to believe but in the final weeks of the season, the Milwaukee Brewers are still within reach of winning the NL Central title.

The 2019 season for the Milwaukee Brewers has been a roller coaster ride, to say the least, but here we are in mid-September and their playoff hopes are still alive and well.

Although at numerous times throughout the summer we all probably questioned whether or not this was a playoff team, the Milwaukee Brewers now find themselves tied for the final wildcard spot with the Chicago Cubs. I’ll be the first to admit that I thought the wildcard was their only avenue to the postseason, but that doesn’t appear to be true anymore.

While the Brewers and Cubs struggled to find any sort of consistency, the St. Louis Cardinals seized control of the NL Central over the summer with a combined record of 34-18 in the months of July and August. Even as recent as last week, the Cardinals had a seven-game lead over Milwaukee that seemed insurmountable.

However, the Brewers have caught fire as of late as they are on a six-game winning streak and have a record of 8-2 in the month of September. All of a sudden that seven-game lead has now shrunk to four and Milwaukee is in a prime position to make up some more ground.

What was supposed to be a high-powered offense at the beginning of the season turned out to be a very hot and cold one. Yet as of late, some very important bats have begun to heat up at just the right time.

In the month of September, Trent Grisham, who will primarily be filling in for Christian Yelich, has a batting average of .333 and a .934 OPS. Meanwhile, Lorenzo Cain who has been well under his career averages at the plate this season has played much better as of late with a .304 average and .708 OPS in the last week. We also have to mention Yasmani Grandal who is having a career year across the board and has belted four home runs in the seven games.

As devastating as the loss of Christian Yelich is and no one will replace his production, the Brewers’ offense did get a big boost on Wednesday with the return of Mike Moustakas to the starting lineup as he hit two crucial home runs against the Miami Marlins and Keston Hiura is now available as well.

In addition to some bats heating up in September, the Milwaukee Brewers also have a favorable schedule to finish the season with. Of their final 17 games, 14 come against teams with losing records. And their one series facing a team above .500, of course, comes against the Cardinals. There’s no better way to make up some ground than facing the opponent that you’re trailing.

Now, anything less than a series victory against St. Louis will really damage any hopes that the Brewers have of winning the NL Central, but if they can prevail, the Cardinals remaining series’ come against the Washington Nationals, the Chicago Cubs twice, and the Arizona Diamondbacks – all of which are playoff contenders. Not exactly an easy road to finish the season with.

With that said, it certainly won’t be an easy task, especially considering that the Cardinals’ series is in St. Louis where the Brewers are just 1-5 this season. However, the remaining schedules for these two teams are quite different and Milwaukee will have plenty of opportunities to make up some ground in the final weeks.

I don’t know what it is, but there once again seems to be some September magic around this Milwaukee Brewers team and as we’ve seen a million times before in baseball, it’s all about getting hot at just the right time.