When expectations were raised, inexperienced Brewers fell back
Expectations make all the difference in the world as to how a team is assessed, both externally and internally.
If expectations are low, there is no pressure. Anything accomplished above the level of expectation is considered, as Boomer Scott once said, gravy on the cake.
When expectations are raised, however, it’s a whole new ball game. Anything done below that level is considered a disappointment, and the atmosphere changes from positive to negative in the blink of an eye.
Which brings us to the 2017 Brewers. At the beginning of the season, expectations from the outside world were moderate at best, with the team in the second year of an acknowledged large-scale rebuilding plan.
The ’16 Brewers fared a bit better than expected (7389), leading to hopes for continued improvement. But when this year’s edition played much, much better
during the first half than projected, the team generally was perceived to be ahead of schedule in returning to competitive mode.
With a home run-propelled offense and a resiliency that allowed them to bounce back from tough losses, the Brewers became one of the feel-good stories in the majors during the first half. They pushed hard to the all-star break, going 9-2 over the last 11 games to build a 50-41 record and 5 1⁄2-game lead over the defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs.
Suddenly, people switched from asking what was wrong with the Cubs to what was right with the Brewers. Right then and there, expectations were raised. Could the upstart Milwaukeeans see this through and win the division? Had their talent level been underestimated by prognosticators?
For their part, the Brewers said and did all the right things at the break. They talked about continuing to have fun, embracing their newfound status as contenders and just keeping the train moving down the tracks. They showed no signs of feeling pressure to see this thing through.
When the Brewers began the second half by outscoring Philadelphia, 9-6, at Miller Park, all seemed right with the world. They were 10 games over .500 and facing a schedule that was considered to be soft coming out of the break.
But, as if someone flipped a switch, the offense went ice-cold. The Brewers went from one of the highest-scoring teams in the first half to one challenged to scratch across even meager run totals on a nightly basis.
They went to Pittsburgh for a four-game series and scored a total of nine runs, getting swept. The offensive malaise continued for a month before the Brewers finally broke free Friday night against Cincinnati, only to lose, 11-10.
More so than all but a few clubs, the Brewers’ offense is reliant on home runs for success. When the long-ball frequency greatly diminished, from 1.52 per game in the first half to 1.0 in the first month after the break, the offense struggled to produce runs (a drop of 4.96 per game to 3.12 over 26 games).
Making matters worse, nobody could get a clutch hit. At one point, the Brewers went 0 for 33 with runners in scoring position, a franchise record for futility in the clutch. As so often happens when an offense struggles for an extended period, the drought began to feed on itself.
Players always deny that they are pressing under such circumstances, which is pure nonsense. It’s only natural to try to do more during such periods, with predictable results. Instead of trying harder, players need to try easier, but that’s far easier said than done.
It finally got to the point Thursday night where a players-only meeting was held after a particularly listless 7-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins, resulting in a four-game sweep and five-game losing streak that dropped the Brewers into third place (extended to six games Friday). Veteran right-hander Matt Garza, who organized the meeting, was asked how he knew it was time to talk.
“Just by facial expressions,” he said. “You can see some guys carrying more weight than others, and taking losses harder than they had in the past.”
Garza, one of the few players in the clubhouse who has been around long enough to experience playoff races, correctly noted how inexperienced the Brewers are in such matters. The players obviously were not responding well to the importance of games, and it was time to remind them how free-and-easy their attitude was during the overachieving first half.
“It’s just something that’s escaped us these last few weeks after the all-star break, and it’s something we haven’t gotten back to,” righthander Zach Davies admitted.
“You start focusing on the negatives instead of taking positives out of each game. We’re trying to figure out a way to get back to that.”
Ryan Braun, the topranking member in service time among position players, also spoke during that meeting. Garza and Braun could see the inexperienced players in the clubhouse had gotten outside of their game, were feeling the pressure and not enjoying themselves as much.
Having fun certainly
isn’t easy when the team is losing but squeezing sawdust out of the bat handles isn’t the answer, either. How do players get back to having fun, Garza was asked?
“Winning,” he said with a smile. “Just come out here and playing with the energy we’ve had in the past. The ‘no pressure’ feeling. We’ve got a bunch of young guys and this is new to them.”
The funny thing about baseball is that teams are perceived and judged according to the path they took to get to their current position. At the beginning of the season, when expectations were low, fans would have been excited at the prospect of the Brewers being around .500 nearly two weeks into August and in the thick of the NL Central race.
But, because the Brewers roared into the all-star break with a 5
1⁄2-game lead, their current standing is looked upon with disappointment by many. And the players felt compelled to meet and talk about it.
“That’s the silver lining in this, if there is one,” Counsell said of his club still being in the race. “That’s why I say every night there is opportunity in front of us, no matter what’s going on. That’s very important to keep in mind.
“We’ve seen in a span of five weeks, or really a month, how much it has changed for each team with a streak. We were the first ones to go on a streak. Then the Cubs went on a streak. Then, the Cardinals went on a streak. And it changed really quickly for each team, and left us all bunched together. There is opportunity in front of us. That’s still the feeling you come to the park with every day.
“Every team will say, ‘We have to do a little bit better.’ I’ll say the same thing for us. I’m talking in general, not just this losing streak. There is a point where the rubber meets the road, and if you’ve got to earn it. We realize that.”
Thus far, the inexperienced Brewers have not been up to the challenge. Perhaps expectations were raised too much at this stage of their rebuild.